Cottage Garden Seed Swap and Chat #40

tcs, it sure would be nice if they were perennials. But do love that color blue, my favorite.
Am out trimming back flowers in one bed. Peonies are good to go.

Maxine

That daylily is beautiful.
Think anyone will want lily seed? I don't know what kind they are,
just white lilies that went crazy. Got over six foot tall. If the pods are brown, I can cut them off, right??

ridesredmule, when to plant kinda depends, on things like your zone and the specific kind of seed. I wintersow the majority of things, start a few inside under lights, and direct sow a few things. Hibiscus are one of those I wintersow, but most anything you'd want a head start on can be started indoors. Lily seed pods will be brown and completely dry when ready, and may be opening up from the top. The 3 stacks of flat seed should fall out of the pod easily if they're ready. Is it a trumpet shaped Lily? Trumpet lilies are among the easier ones to start from seed.

Rides... Ther e perennials that I starting now down here. If weathe r is ood. if ya start em now you got most of October and maybe parts of November that they cna germinate and grow and I leave mine in 4" pot in winter and they do fine.

I got three or four different color s of Ageratum. Just don't remembe r which one s off hand, but wil have soem going into swap.

Not sur e abotu the like Asiatic type lilies, but with Daylilies. If you squeeze the tops gently and they start to split open they done and you cna pick th epod s and open the rest of the way up and take out.

Thanks tcs & starlight!
Star I am pretty sure there is 6 plants in there. About a garden spade apart. There was probably about 3 seedlings per plant to start. I always sow at least 3 seeds in a 6 pack and usually I don't thin them because I figure out of 3 one will perform well. : ) It seems to work for most annuals. Keepes them looking like a big clump when they are full grown. : )

speaking of cuttings...

I got a few in the mail and i have no idea what to do with them.
I do have some root hormone stuff somewhere [just have to find it]
but then what??

a gal sent me some Agastaches... one is Black Adder, which i am very excited about.
hope i dont kill them....

Terese

All purpose method for cuttings... stick in little pot of barely moist potting mix, then cover (with a dome, a baggie, whatever)... use a couple of chopsticks or something to keep the plastic from touching leaves on the cuttings. Cuttings only need 2 or 4 leaves on the top -- more than that can lead to wilting. I often pinch the tips of my cuttings so they'll put their energy into roots rather than new leaves.

I believe it is like a plain white "Easter"-type. They have the best perfume smell. They just don't last long enough. I'll get them, they are drying.
I really love the help you all give.

thanks Jill.... and i hope all is "JOYous" in your household... haven't had a chance to catch up on the threads....

**dang typo**

This message was edited Sep 27, 2009 5:22 PM

I have been wondering for several days why, on certain occasions, some inside and some outside, all of a sudden it smells like I've stepped in doggie doo. None on my shoes or anywhere to be found nearby. No, I haven't gone in my pants and I had a shower this morning. Well today I found the answer when I went to empty the seed pods of penstemon (husker red, I think). I swear that the seeds smell like doggie doo, and I smell it every time I'm within 3 feet of them. I can't imagine that they're contaminated in any way. Could it be a kind of natural defense to keep animals away? Has anyone else had this experience?

PS Sure hope some of you are going to want these seeds after all I'm going through to get them ready for you guys!

Got to admit... i have not sniffed my Husker seeds lately. Mine are just under ripe.... not ready for pickin yet... but if i remember, i'll check them tomorrow.

Well beware, tcs - and do please let me know.

It's not just me! I just did a search and found this:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/seedsave/msg0213043129164.html

interesting.....

i never noticed it before. last year I collected a ton of seeds from them.

hmmm. The aroma from mine is truly unavoidable. Maybe people will prefer your seeds.

Things are going JOYously indeed around here! I just posted new photos today on her thread in the prayer forum. :-)

I'm trying to get a few garden projects finished up before bulb planting season! I am probably teetering on the edge of insanity with Joyanna's crocus lawn (a DG effort in lieu of a more traditional shower, LOL... isn't that cool? DGers are coming here October 24 to help plant, too). I've got 1500 bulbs coming from Bleek, and I think I'll order about that many from Van Engelen this week. I know I'm good for putting in a kilobulb, myself, more if need be, and I figure that during an hour or so of planting in teams we should be able to put in one or two kilobulbs (10 people coming so far).

I blush to admit there are still a few WS plants in pots that need to go "out there" somewhere.

Another stinky one is the bloom of TB iris Timeless Moment. (cat box for sure).

There's a thread in the Perennials forum about Penstemons, and some folks were talking about various varieties having smelly seeds, some like dirty feet.

The pod of the Datura seeds is horrible! The first one I picked, I couldn't imagine taking it inside to dry. Fortunately there was no rain in the forcast, so I just left it on the patio table. Good thing I did, because the ants came up, and cleaned off all the soft stuff that surrounds the seeds for me!

I've noticed the datura smelling really bad, too, and have almost decided not to allow it to grow again for that reason. Didn't realize it was the pods. Guess I could just trash those before they ripen to avoid the smell. Has anyone tried this?

Tonya

mittsy, how peculiar. I've never heard of a tb iris with a bad smell. Maybe it's called Timeless Moment because you can't get away from it quick enough.
Neal, I'll go have a look at the penstemon thread. Thanks.
kl, do the seeds inside the pods smell too when they dry?

Tonya, I too will be thinking twice before letting the penstemons go to seed again in my yard.

I haven't noticed the seeds smelling bad, just the pod once it's broken open. The leaves don't smell great either, if you rub against them, but the flowers smelled wonderful for most of the summer, I would actually go out just to smell the datura... they seem to not smell quite as nice now... not sure why that would be?

Cooler temps perhaps?

we're quite cool, especially today.... went out and sniffed the Huskers seed pod, nothing unusual... broke it open ... nothing unusual with the seeds either.

On an aside... I'm noticing that with most of my spent blooms... not many actual seeds this year.
My Coreopsis Early Sunrise most seem to be seedless.... I'll find just a few seeds in one of about 10-20 spent blooms.
many of my Cosmos are this way too.

but then plants like Yarrow - which are over populating my beds ... have abundant seeds.

Will anyone want Tansy? I don't want to gather seed if it's not wanted.

Mittsy. yep ther e gonan be soem folsk wanting it for sure. Just gather what ya feel liek and if that all ther e is, then the piggie s cna have a mud wrestlign competion for it. LOL

That's not the problem, I have a lot of it just running short of time.

oh, I'll have Tansy seed too, if you don't get time mittsy.

herbspirit or tcs1366 - will either of you be able to offer perennial native lupin seeds?

Michaela -- I will have to check to see if i have any Lupine ... not sure if i ever had any.
... just checked my spreadsheet.... doesnt look like I have any.

sorry.

I have some Purple lupine my
cousin sent me fro Anchorage. I have plenty.
Let me know. I'm sorry, I know I'm barging in, I don't mean to be bad.
Just to share.

yep, I will have some (actually lots!) when the swap begins.
(as of right now at least 20-30 bags)

This message was edited Sep 28, 2009 9:48 PM

>>perennial native lupin

I wouldnt mind having some seeds... those look very pretty.

ridesredmule, have you been able to grow that lupine there in GA? I've had no luck whatsoever with lupine here :(

Well, you see, I have been made Director for the Proposed Undergraduate Degree in Sustainability at the College where I work. I want to have as a class project the development of a butterfly garden using native plants. - hence I will be specifically interested in those seeds this year - including the native lupin.

Thanks herbspirit! When we start posting seeds, I will try to get my name in early for some lupins.

Seandor - a lot of the seeds I have for trade this year are natives that attract butterflies, hummingbirds and bees. I like to garden with the area natives, and if not an area native, at least with the common type of the plant (rather than a hybrid) as a lot of them are medicinal as well. I do a lot with medicinal plants and herbs.

I had a cottage garden before I knew I had one (before I knew it was called that), I have flowers that are edible and medicinal and native, mixed with herbs and even some veggies here and there. And trees that are useful too. I was out gathering shagbark hickory nuts this weekend in my yard, as the trees were so politely dropping them for me. It was either the trees dropping them or the squirrels bombing me... :)

I use natives as I'm basically a lazy gardener. I don't want to replant every year. It has to be perennial or an annual self-seeder. And if it doesn't work in my zone, it has to be super pretty for me to keep it. I have 9 beds at the moment (about to add 3 more to a new patio garden I am building. I have to use natives, otherwise it's too much work!

Seandor, would you like some Butterfly weed. My sister has some growing in her front yard. The pods are still green, no where near ready to harvest but could leave a bubble envelope addressed to you and I'm sure she'd mail it after they ripen. The flowers are bright orange.

Seandor, very cool! Be sure to post in the butterfly & hummingbird gardening forum, also... a lot of folks specialize in host & nectar plants!

Good idea, Critter . . . Mittsy - I would love some orange butterfly weed.

My hope is that the first time I teach this course, I will teach the students how to winter-sow seeds - then we will use those plants in the garden. No instant gratification! Instead, I hope the students learn patience and respect for the rhythm of nature. ^_^

There is a large berm at the end of a parking lot that we can use. We do have reasonable rain during the summer here - but even so, once established the plants will have to last up to 10 days without a good soaking.

And of course, we will want plants that are disease resistant, and attract butterflies (yep, I have parsley on the list).

I am thinking of assigning each student (or group of students) a particular local butterfly to research and determine the plants needed at the larval and adult stage for that species.

What do you think? Any other ideas?

Cheers, Michaela aka Seandor (SEE andor)