HIGEZAKI (beard flower)

my moms favorite flower was double impatiens i have tons of them planted around my pond that she loved so i try to stay outside in my gardens because i feel closer to her and since sept 20th is around the corner it is going to be hard even harder since my bd is the 17th so im not looking forward to my bd at all
well thxs for the advice and i will put some bloom buster on it tomorrow and see what happens thxs for hepling me

{{{Hugs}}} I know all too well what you are going through ...

thanks Becky and Melisa... i'd love to trade for some BAW Melisa... BAW is my absolute favourite vine... i started growing one during my very first grow out over the winter and that plant is still blooming... i planted some more to get the willow version but i didn't get any this year :-( maybe next year :-))))

i'm going to have to bag a fair few blooms of the BlueHIGE and vine #2 as well :-)))))

any tips around bagging blooms anyone?

i think the mixed seeds idea was ok but it seems most people like to have seeds from selected vines(i do too).... i cannot hand pollinate each bloom as i do not have the time so i'm hopeing bagging is the next best solution....

Ceej, for me, the purpureas were much easier than the nils to produce bagged seeds - I didn't have to send anyone open pollinated seeds - they were that easy. I just bagged buds the night before they were to open with baggies inscribed with the date, and wiggled them in the morning.

This was with the Indigo Feathers that I sent to various folks. They set seed so much more prolifically and faster than the nils I grew.

Indigo Feathers does seem much earlier to bloom and set seed than Gypsy Bride, so I think there may be a range of time periods between germination and flowering among the higes.

Karen

ps - I just learned from evr that Demono Mutant Asagaos (includes Blue Asagao Willow) have an extra step in propagation by seed. Keep an eye on evr's Mutant thread - she'll post a better set of directions on how to propagate these by seed, along with a more expanded list of Demono mutants. The Demono and Masaki Mutant Asagaos from the Japanese Edo period all belong to Ipomoea nil (includes the Windmill Asagao someone posted somewhere recently around here). Many thanks to Atenkley for helping us out on this one.

Edited to add link to evr's mutant thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1012211/




This message was edited Aug 13, 2009 11:27 AM

thanks Karen... i'll pop down my allotment this evening and bag a few buds and pop down in the morning to give them a shake... the indigo feathers i planted off you had one seed marked bagged... it was the one i didn't plant tho'

looking forward to Eva's thread :-))

Colin - I apologize that you only got one bagged Indigo Feathers seed from me. I had a good year in 2007, but by the time you got on my radar, I must have given or traded most of them away already. Here's what the parent looked like. (Due to late start this summer, my MGs are in little cups and qt-size yogurt containers for seed collecting after frost - not as much fun as letting 'em loose in the garden over the arbors grrr)

there's no need to apologize Karen... you sent me loads of lovely varieties and i appreciate them very much... thanks for the pic of the parent vine... it looks like it had very full flowers and green sepals... the one i thought might me Indigo feathers is probably Blue Split and vice versa.... :-))

this is from some seeds that i purchased a "species nova sky blue flowers"
i think they are lovely... they are a tad bluer than the pic shows...

another pic of SNSBF

one more....

Colin - Oh yes!!!! Very lovely! They have a pastel elegance to them!

They're beautiful Colin. Love the color.

Gorgeous!

I can't believe that there is so many Varieties of MG. I love the wet Budgies (?) They look so delicate
the colors are Fantastic. Thanks for all the beautiful pictures. They are great. Helps to build dreams.

thanks everyone... you can probably guess that i'm totally taken with them :-) i've bagged some for trading and will send the any mixed fancy flowered purpurea seed i get to Becky for the swap....(they will have split flowered mixed in too)

heres a hot pink one

and a pale pink one

this is dark pink....

please post your fancy flowered purpureas...

sunset serenade

Emmas purple flaked

Positively Beautiful. Do you plant them every year or do they come up on their own?

it's my first year Rides... :-)))

You are doing a grand job. Those flowers are so beautiful. I know you are enjoying
them, cause we sure are. I have never seen such a strange bloom, with al the colors.
You did wonderful. I have MG but none like that. Can't wait for the trade.

They're wonderful Colin. I've got feathered hige's coming along from Emma. Don't know if they will feather since they're all in 3 in pots.
I would love
to be able to say I've got feathered blooms for the 1st time.

thanks everyone :-) i think everyone should have some they stay open all day, change colour, and don't mind the wind and rain.... and they set less seed... wich i think is good for most people...

split personality:

Colin - I thought I had posted on this thread to comment on all your lovely blooms! Apparently that is when my computer went down and the post never made it here! LOL!

They are gorgeous! I can't even tell you which one is my favorite because I love them all! Where did you grow them all? In pots?

Hi Becky... i'm growing them at my allotment up strings something like the pic, but i do have lots in pots :-)

i don't think i've taken a picture of the whole plants.... but heres a few flowers at the top of a string :-)

and a few more for good measure :-)

and here's one with a bee just about to land... just 'cos i wanna :-)))

Colin, all lovely flowers.
Is England experiencing a decline in the bee population like
we are here in the states?

yes Jakie i think it's worldwide :-(... the MGs keep the Bumble Bees busy though :-))))

http://www.saveourbees.org.uk/index.asp

i used to keep bees, but gave up due to... well initially it was the local rise in oil seed rape being grown, which makes the most awful honey that sets in the comb if your not quick enough, but it was the varroa that finished it off in the nineties :-s

This message was edited Sep 30, 2009 6:50 AM

Jakie... have you seen the size of Dany's Bumble bees here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=7112902
massive :-)))

and this one i posted earlier in Ronnie's thread:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=6993258
cute :-)

edited to change name... sorry Jakie and thanks Becky :-)

This message was edited Sep 29, 2009 8:01 AM

they are almost an endangered species, due to a virus that they are getting. Poor honeybees. That is why bumblebees are so important now as a pollinator. My Grandpa used to raise honeybees, It was so neat. I know you sort of miss it, don't you? Love the bee pics.

Colin, we have the giant bumble bees here too. They were so crazy after the pandurata's, they didn't pay any attention to me taking
pics, thank goodness.

Colin - What a neat photo of the different blooms all together for comparison! Beautiful!!! Love the shot of the bee heading towards the bloom! Very awesome shot! :-)

I believe you were addressing Jackie (not Karen)? As far as the bumble bees go, I have plenty of those big boys flying around my yard, too. They are rather terroritorial and even try to intimindate me ... doesn't work ... even when they bump me! LOL!

No honey bees here either. I have heard that the bee keepers here have lost most of their honey bees to whatever is killing them. So sad. I love honey from the local citrus trees, but with low production of hives, honey will probably be priced out of my $$ range now. A total bummer! I wonder if honey bees could become extinct?

Sorry Jakie... :-S i think i'd like the giant bumble bees :-)

Rides: i do miss beekeeping... I've heard that the chinese have to pollinate their pear trees by hand... can you imagine having to do that... doesn't bare thinking about...

Becky... thankyou ;-)) and i don't think we have the same virus affecting the bees here, but i think it does in europe :-( we had mites, the only way of clearing the hive in the beggining was to shake icing sugar over the bees so that they would find the mites and remove them as they tried to clean themselves... it sort of worked but ruined the honey.... we then got these chemicaly coated plastic strips(bayvarol) to stick in the hives but they all waned away and died anyway... it was absolutely awful at the time.

on a lighter note: i have some bumble bee boxes in various places and three have bees in them this year :-) and we are allowed to keep bees at my allotment so i might have another go just for the bees... we still have yellow fields eveywhere here...

One of th ice cream Companies Hagen Diaz Has a little video on the honeybee crisis , you may want to look it up.
It's a cute presentation. Maybe our bees will get better and the plants will be better pollinated. Pollinating pear trees
by hand seems desperate, but sometime we have to do things like that to keep going on.

Pollinating smaller plants or even some of our vines, but pollinating trees ... oh my! Now that it s a job! Sheesh!

Colin - What are bumble bee boxes? I've heard of honey bee boxes, but not boxes for bumble bees! I would love to see a photo! :-)

I just found this thread.. it is gorgeous your collection of higes. I have the hot pink and was wondering if it could cross with a blue to get a purple of some sort..

Hi Becky... i've just done a search for hand pollinating pears trees in China...... and it takes thousands of people to get the job done.... Sheesh indeed :-s
http://www.newsweek.com/id/141461/output/print


here's some links to bee boxes etc.:

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/v3/wildlife-wildlife-care-c-779_879.html?gclid=CKqMg8DcmJ0CFV2X2AodtFNhTw
http://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/acatalog/Bird_Food_Bees_42.html
http://www.co-operative.coop/ethicsinaction/takeaction/planbee/what-you-can-do-to-help-bees/
http://www.buckingham-nurseries.co.uk/acatalog/Index_Pollination_Bees_27.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7240456.stm
http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/