Propagation: 2015 Seed Starting, Part 5, 1 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
Valal:

Heuchera Firefly is really easy. I love surface seeders because they are so obvious. The seeds are tiny. I use my little finger nail to put them on soil. It's has another advantage. Most people lose their heucheras in winter because they heave from the soil, dry out and die. While Firefly does heave over time it is incredibly forgiving and doesn't die. I add compost to the sides of it to make it lower in the soil, but last year I actually took all the heaved ones, broke off the woody sections, divided them and replanted them with 100% success.

I was given the purple opium poppies by Old House Garden as a freebie and was told to start them in fall outside. I adore California poppies and tried them years ago with no success, but I didn't know what I was doing then. The Chicago Botanic Garden always has an incredible display of Iceland poppies in the spring.

Hey Birder!
For whatever reason I could not grow myosotis. Neal (Gemini Sage) sent them to me in blue and white and I planted them but they almost immediately faded away. Of course, that soil had more clay, and I had a fair amount of sun. I was growing them with mertensia, which I managed to grow for a while. I should probably try it here. But anyway, I wanted that beautiful blue, and I wanted it in full sun and shade. Cynoglossum blooms longer, reblooms and it is that startling blue. Sometimes when I am looking for an effect I will compare plants. I choose cynoglossum over anchusa because of plant shape and form and color. I do those kinds of comparisons all the time. I purchased " A Book of Blue Flowers" by Robert Geneve, compared the two and cynoglossum won.

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Blue-Flowers-Robert-Geneve/dp/B00...

A $40 Timber Press book you can now get for 1 cent!

This is an amazing book, written in 2006. When I bought my house in 1996 I was obsessed by blue and white flowers. I see white as a color, and established a white section in my garden just off the front porch, to enjoy at night. I asked my landscaper to do it but she put it west and everyhting dies so I reestablished it starting with once blooming Damask Rose 'Madame Hardy'. (pic 1) Then I added a mess of white flowers - feverfew, borage, salvia cocinea (this second pic is actually one year earlier), then added two white reblooming roses for continuity of bloom and discovered lilium Crystal Blanca (B&D Lilies) a tougher, shorter version of Casablanca, and plunked it to one side.
A new Madame Hardy is in my front bed. I have every other plant here, or the seeds for it, and I am going to recreate it.

The great part about it was that it was on the north side of my house and gave me privacy from some very prying neighbors, whose expensive but neglected plants were worked in to my design (nice white pine - but there were three and two died). It was east of my prunus yedoensis and at night the soft shade cast over the bed was amazing.

The other book that is amazing is "The Garden Color Book" by Paul Williams.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/garden-color-book-paul-willi...

An astounding book, it takes plants through the color spectrum from lightest to darkest. I concentrated on blue.

These two books are absolutely amazing, and dirt cheap. I was lucky to get them at the beginning of my design period.

Pam:

My petunias are 90% as nice. I would sometimes supplement them with purchases since I was using them in my hanging baskets. Since they are so inexpensive, I advise buying them. I'm just one of those crazy people who likes to see what is possible to grow.

My digitalis was so tough that after I pulled it to move it to my new house I went back and found literally a dozen seedlings and started pulling them out. I didn't notice the reseeding until the original plant was pulled. There was no way I was going to leave a gift.

My deutzia is mature and it is under two feet. I grew it on the north side of my house in half day sun in improved clay and it thrived. It is now at the feet under a PJM rhodie on the SOUTH side of my house and it is thriving. Don't hesitate. That is one amazing little plant, and after the rhodie blooms it does its thing. It is fully hardy in zone 5a. I can't take credit for it - I chose it from a Raulston Arboretum Connoisseur plant list. It's a freaking stunner, and believe it or not, very low maintenance. I have had to dig it up twice since I planted it too high. Didn't miss a beat.

I had always though the Proven Winners designation was just marketing. Not in this case. I recommend it to everyone. And our favorite site loves it too.

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFind...