What have you tried?

Have any of you planted Cherry Brandy Rud from seed collected from your own plants? And if so, what did they look like? Do these come up from the same plant the next year? They sure do take a long time being ugly before looking good. Makes you want to put a sack over their heads. I was so disappointed in them. I collected some seed and will try again.

I have some Maya Rud seeds if any of you want some. Now those are really neat ones. Look like the Teddy Bear Sunflowers only smaller and they last for a long time. Right up until the rain did them in. I have had the same plant growing for about 4 years now.

Jeanette

TC,
No, sorry, I don't. I've mostly grown veggies.

This spring will be my very first attempt at growing flowers on any real scale, since I sowed marigold seeds in our front porch flowerbed years ago in my teens. And nobody could safely sit on the front porch the whole summer. Who knew the bees love marigolds???

But, they sure were pretty! So pretty that, even though my mother was pretty mad about the bees, she didn't demand that I pull up the pretty blooms!

Jnette,
You got a pic of the Maya Rud?

No gg I don't. Sorry.

I would love some Maya Ruds. I have some other varieties if you're intersted in a trade.

TC, I have some Larkspur. I can put them in the mail tomorrow. I cannot remember the color. There are such a wide variety of colors in Ruds. I cannot keep up! LoL all I know is that I like them all!

here were the smaller ones aside my fence.

Diamond... here is my spreadsheet... see if there is anything you'd like for those Larkspur.

my Haves list isn't completely up to date.. but you can check that too.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Avcsp97ckJSUcEZ2ZmZPZUhQc1RxeEEzc29TQzNpYUE&hl=en

Dmail me your address diamond and I will put some in the mail.

Jeanette

here is a cherry brandy I ws last year.. not sure if they were commercial seed or collected from the person I received them from.. it was still small in sept when I took this photo

Terese, I have your seeds packaged up and ready for the mail. At the very latest I will have them in the mail tomorrow.


Jnette, thanks for the offer of the Maya Ruds. I have a list of seeds I can share with you. What are you looking for?

I will be working in H & G show selling seeds next month. If there are any seeds that you all are having a hard time finding, send me a dmail and I will be on the lookout for you.

Gymgirl, heres a pic of the Maya Rud from this site.

thanks Diamond... is there anything you want in return?

No thank you, Terese. I checked you want list to see if I could surprise you with a little something extra but I didn't have any of the seeds on your want list. Are you looking for anything that's not listed on your want list?

i dont have a lot of wants... most are hostas... which i will probably end up buying.

diamond, I just thought of something I have always wanted but keep forgetting to order when I get seeds, and that is lisianthus. I would love to have some if you have seeds.

And, yes diamond that is my Maya. The flowers on it last clear up until the rain or frost destroys the flowers. I don't think I have ever seen them lose their petals. Also, the same plant has been growing for about 4 years now.

Jnette,

I will check my seeds stash. that one doesn't sound familiar. I had to look it up and Lisianthus is a beautiful flower. I will be work the Home and Garden show seed counter. I will keep an eye out for that one. I reminds me of a mix between a poppy and a rose. LoL

I know everyeone's been talking aobut them on the CG thread.

LeBug offered me some a while back, but since they are not hardy to my zone, i turned her down. They are quite beautiful though.

LOL, maybe I need to go to Lea. No, but if I only grew perennials then I wouldn't have the color I am looking for.

Jeanette

Anyone ever ws Belamcanda chinensis (chinese tiger lily, balckberry lily)?

I'm going to try with some seeds I collected from mine ('Hello Yello'), I don't know if they come true from seed, i kinda hope they don't.

I put a jug out last night. I have a few lilies I want to try but a couple are not perennials for zone 5, so I will have to wait until spring for those.

Diamond... I just got some of the Blackberry lily seeds. It's not a seed I would have requested... but i will try them.

and odd name, as i've read they are orange blooms.

LoL I thought the EXACT same thing! I read that they produce seeds that look like blackberries. I was surprised that those are perennials in zone 5 The fans remind me of Irises. Sounds like they're easy to grow from seed. Usually easy for some means difficult for me. LoL

They're in the same family as irises. Here's what they look like when they go to seed.

edit: dummy me, I dried the seeds with the fruit still on. They're soaking as we speak.

This message was edited Jan 19, 2010 7:30 PM

I'm usually more interested in plant with larger flowers but the Blackberry Lily caught my eye for some reason. Are you soaking them before you WS?

Diamond... i have no clue. I know i got a baggie of them, but i haven't gone past that point. Maybe i'll dig them out today and take a peek at them.

I wont soak them. My first year WS'ing, i followed some directions for thicker seeds, and soaked them, just like i was told... they all rotted. The WS process [mother nature] will take care of the thick seeds coat with the freeze and thaw cycles... the way i understand it ... they say to soak and or nick, to soften/break thru the coat.

Ok, I wondered about that. LoL I worry the entire time I have seeds germinating. Until I see some green, I am fretting over them as though they are my kids. LoL

TC,
Just put em' in the growing medium and let em go!

Karen's made a believer outta me!

"It you plant it, it will grow!"

[Famous line to a gardener trying to grow an airplant. Not to be confused with a line from a famous move about a guy trying to grow a baseball in a cornfield.]

This is my first year WS and started a few jugs about 10 days ago when we had a mini false Spring and it was warm enough I could be outside without chattering my teeth.

So far I've planted Hollyhocks, Formosan Lily, Catchfly, Red Lupine, Swiss Giant Pansy, Blackberry Lily, Purple Foxglove, Coreopsis, Spirea, Allium, Penstemon, Butterfly Bush, Heuchera, Agastache, Liatris, Catnip, Cleome, Helianthus, Campanula, Bee Balm, and Snow in Summer. That's the majority off the top of my head. I'm keeping a spreadsheet and leaving the rest up to Mother Nature.

Next month I'm planning to sow more, still saving jugs.

I had also saved a few of those rotisserie chicken containers and used them too. They sure look like min-greenhouses to me. Anybody else using those or have used them? Just curious if they're as good as jugs?

I used some of those last year. They seemed to work OK. Hard to tell, more of my failures happened in those, but not sure if that was the container or the particular seeds that ended up in them. Not as much room for soil in the bottom, and mine were all bumpy on the bottom, so a pain to cut drainage in. I'd imagine they'll be fine though! I've also used the large lettuce containers from Sams. They're basically huge shoe boxes of clear plastic. They worked really well.

i too used one, once... i found them too shallow. the roots really have no where to go... I'd think if they were using for some thing that will get planted quickly it would work... though i do have to say... i did get germination and i think they survived.

i'll have to check my images to see if i have one of that.

Thanks for the input. I only used 2 and wondered about their shallow bottoms, plus you're right kl...they are a pain to drill and pretty flimsy. I'll check tomorrow to see what's planted in mine, maybe I'll get lucky. That's really how I feel about the whole shebang since I've never done this before. tsc, pics of yours would be great, hope you can also let me know what you had planted.

Can't remember if anyone mentioned it here... or somewhere else. But someone said they used a glue gun to melt holes in their milk jugs. I tried it yesterday for the first time (not a glue gun girl, so happy to find another use for the one in the closet!) and it worked great! I was seriously concerned that I was going to lose a finger last year from all the box cutter use. This worked great on the milk jugs, just had to burn a few extra since they are so small (tiny glue gun). Didn't work on the clear 2 liter type plastic, but I'll take it!

Kelly -- Lea told me about the glue gun. I too found it did not work on 2 ltr.

Last year I 'Borrowed" DH's old soldering gun. It worked great, even on the 2 litre and the juice bottles.

now that's a tip I like... thanks!!!

Heat up a phillips screwdriver on your stove burner. It'll burn through concrete....

I use a shish kabob skewer heated on the stove. Works great for all typed of bottles.

Oh, and it doesn't get hot at the end your holding if you were wondering.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2010 5:25 AM

Glad to see you winter sowers from zone 7 on here. Last year was my first year and wasnt really that pleased with the results. Think I made all the newbie mistakes-not enough holes, panic when it rained so much and moved them under a carport and didnt move them back out quick enough, impatience, etc. Have kept up with all the winter sowing threads, and got some really good information and encouragement. I am going to try again, I will succeed!! Seems like most of the gardeners are from every zone but zone 7. So zone 7 gardeners, what is your favorite plants(s) to winter sow and when do you start your winter sowing?

Thanks,
Janie

Starting now, will probably continue until late February, or whenever I finally collect enough jugs! My best successes last year (my first year) were Echinacea, Foxglove, Penstemon, Poppies, Helenium, Campanula glomerata, Liatris, Cleome. I'm going to direct sow the poppies this year. I didn't have any trouble transplanting, but so many came up that I'm looking for time savings now!

Oh! Had to get back on the computer to add Columbine! How could I have forgotten them?! They did fantastic, and I have lot of little plants all over my yard that I'm expecting to bloom this year.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2010 10:09 AM

Chiming in on the rotisserie containers--maybe if you were planting shallow rooted stuff say--moss rose, alyssum or lobelia--those might be OK depth wise.