Seed Swap & Chat # 56 Whacha planting ??

I don't have anything munching on mine I thought the coneflowers were pest resistant too never noticed any bugs on my other ones.

KL, I plan on raising some cats this year just wish my butterfly weeds didn't get that wilt I had last year or before that I forget, guess I'll be watching for cats on my rue this year I don't have but a couple of orange butterfly weeds left and a whole bunch of those plastic shoe box containers, I WS a bunch of butterfly weeds but very few are coming up my whole pallet of soil less mix I got stays too dry and I'm afraid no more will come up. The cats are so hard to see on the rue or the birds get them before I see them get big so saving the ones on the rue might be a better thing anyway I'd run out of leaves on the orange ones I have plenty of rue :) Which ones are the ones on the rue aren't they the black swallowtails?

KL the first one is a flower can't think of the name of it right now but it reseeds like crazy I had some in my bed in front of the house and dug them all out and put them by the road. The second isn't a butterfly weed not sure what that is. I'll look at my spreadsheet and see what it is.

Lea, the Black Swallowtails like Rue, Dill, Fennel and Parsley from what I"m told. I've found them on the Parsley and Dill so far, and fed the latest some Rue and he loved it!

Don't give up on the Butterfly weed! I had a jug wintersowed, and had 2 or 3 good sized seedlings, was about to plant them out and toss the rest, and wouldn't you know it, I didn't have time to get around to it, and the rest up and sprouted a few days later. Strange! A few at once, and then 20 more a month later! Lucky thing too, because as I find neighbors and people to give plants to, they're all interested in the butterfly weed! Going to put some at the elementary school too, they just started a butterfly garden... but have no plants yet... I can take care of that ;-)

That first mystery is Rose Campion, Lynchnis Coronaria I think. It's so pretty with the Sweet William, I'll just have to keep an eye out for seed pods!

Here's the first one KL :)

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=lychnis+coronaria&rlz=1W1GGLL_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=5ZrqS4fTHoP68Aac2bGaCA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDMQsAQwAw

I like the foiliage on them they are fuzzy like rabbit ears.

I know the butterfly weeds are sporadic but it just worries me lol I'm having so much trouble with this soil less mix I don't like this dirt drying out so fast! I used to WS them all of the time I've always had butterfly weeds all kinds of them it's so bare this year without them! That wilt really cleaned me out :( Even if I have a bunch of them germinate it wouldn't be enough for them lol

I like them now that I know they're not Lambs Ears (Stachys). Had to really hold myself back from pulling them before they flowered. Just got rid of my lambs ears in the front, and didn't want more popping up!

Kl, I loved my Lynchnis so much last year that i couldn't help ordering a new one. This one is sterile, hence the ordering of the plant. LYCHNIS coronaria Gardener's World, I got it from Bluestone, here is what they said about it, "The unique double flowers, resembling miniature carnations, improve upon the species with larger size and rich, velvety, blood-red color. The plants are sterile so the blooms last and last. The flowers contrast beautifully with the silvery, wooly foliage on erect stems."
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/LYGWP.html

I'm hoping it is all true! lol
I'm hoping I can propagate some stems to get a few more of them.

I'm hoping for some Black Swallowtails this year since you said they like Rue, Dill, and Parsley. I knew they liked dill, so I got some in the piggy swap this year. I do have a Rue growing that I started from seed from the piggy swap 2 years ago. For a 2 year old plant it is doing well! And I always have parsley growing somewhere.

I've had a butterfly all over my Alliums this spring. :o) It kind of looks like a monarch, but isn't.

Oh, and I'm so excited, the barren 3ft stick Pee Gee Hydrangea I got from Spring Hill Nursery is leafing out up and down the stem. Hurray!

Kl, I'm not sure if I put any seeds in the piggy swap for my mexacali 'red rocks' Penstemons. And they are planted at the cottage, so I'm not sure if they are what you have. But maybe they are ....?
Look at this web page, he has a lot of good pic's of the leaves of differend penstemons:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.robsplants.com/images/portrait/PenstemonMexicali050618lvs.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.robsplants.com/plants/penstemon.php&usg=__TraM748qPK4oAhWUDjmCiVH4GHE=&h=250&w=250&sz=34&hl=en&start=15&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=n_8WOODvUwU7LM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpenstemon%2Bmexicali%2Bred%2Brocks%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADBR_enUS257US257%26tbs%3Disch:1

With all this talk of FoxGlove, you are making me want to try it again. I've tried it from traded seed and it never grew. and I've bought the plants twice, both died before the next year. With more of my gardens turning into partial sun gardens with the trees in the back getting large, maybe I will give them another try ... with seeds from the piggy swap that is. :o)

Not much blooming for us yet, the alliums now and the iris are just opening.



This message was edited May 13, 2010 8:12 AM

Thanks toofew, that's the exact page i found recently! Great photos of the foliage, which most other sites neglect!

On the foxglove, I've had reliable luck with Wintersowing it. Did 4 different varieties this year, and they all germinated. They're really slow to get some size that way, but since they don't need to be big until a year later... no big deal! Here are some that I sowed Jan/Feb '09 in the back of this bed... this is actually a week or two old, they're really gorgeous now!

That Lynchnis is really tempting... I'll see how this does this year with reseeding and see if I need to go there!

I love my Lynchnis also :) Has anyone grown the Lynchnis seeds I sent in the swap?

ants

twofew, that Lychnis is beautiful! I have never had any luck propagating them from cuttings. Please do let me know if you are successful :) Here is a close up of the bloom on mine.

ants

Some plants in this bed are from last years swap. The tallest foliage is Feverfew that bloomed nicely last year, but looks like its going to be amazing this year. In the middle of the pic is Penstemon smallii, I think from seeds from critter, and they're full of buds. This is the first blooms for them.

These Painted Daisies were wintersown in '08, and these are their first blooms. I was expecting to see blooms last year, but now I'm glad I exercised some patience because I'm just loving them. I plan on saving seeds from them to offer next year, and hoping I can divide them and get more plants started that way.

Hot tip on that Penstemon... Dutch iris 'Tiger Eye' blooms at the same time for me for an awesome "color echo!" I originally got seeds for P. smallii from gerris2. :-)

ants, is that a picture of your angel blush? It's beautiful! A friend dug one up for me last week, so I hope to have one blooming in my garden this year.

Neal, your painted daisies are stunning along side the peonies!
What is the flower in the top left?

Someone mentioned earlier that their Rue was buddding or blooming, so during the 'rain break' yesterday, I happened to run out and take a peek at mine ... yep, I have buds!

Did I mention that I found a couple of the seed pods on the hellebores. smiling here.

Off to work, but its supposed to stop raining today, so maybe I will get a few things planted after.

Hope yo all have a great day!

toofew, those are Shirley Poppies, aren't they pretty! A few orangy reds have opened in there, and I've been cutting them in hopes of keeping the next generation all pinks and whites. They're blooming earlier than I've had them bloom before, but they're from self sown seedlings that appeared last fall. I sowed more in that bed early this spring and it looks like that will provide a continuing show into summer.

I'm loving those Painted Daisies, never dreamed they'd be blooming alongside Peonies! They are indeed a match made in Heaven :-)

Jill, have you tried P.smallii 'Violet Dusk'? I WSd some this year, and am looking forward to comparing them. Do Dutch Iris return well for you? I always get great bloom the first year, then they decline like Tulips. Out of 50 blue ones I planted in fall of 07, I had no blooms in 09, and 3 showed up this year. I though maybe our winters were a little too severe for them, but I've got Callas and Agapanthus that overwinter in the ground, so that no longer seems likely.

Neal, how are your P. Smallii 'Violet Dusk' doing? I WSd some also, and while they are strong, they are TINY! Everything else seems to have taken off, and they just are staying less than 1" tall. I guess all the penstemons are fairly small still, these are just the smallest. Mabye they're too close together and resent crowding? I've potted some up, so I can see in a few weeks if that was it.

Hi ^_^

LeBug, the real large, fuzzy salvias -- Salvia ‘artemis’ argentea white -- that you gave me the seeds for are getting buds for the first time this year!!! I shared some plants with my neighbor last year and theirs are budding too. Her garden is much more spacious and the plants look stunning in it. Ours are planted in a border along a berm and they are a bit squished. I'll post a photo when they bloom.

I'm still real behind with our most recent swap seeds. I didn't get a lot started inside this year. I actually started seeds from our previous swap. I'm hoping to get the direct sow veggies in the ground asap though.

For the first time EVER I have white aphids on my wild lupines. Just ordered some Lady Beetles... they can't arrive soon enough!

Neal, I've tried Dutch Iris 3 times now. The first time in an area that was not a good idea.
the last 2 times I planted it right by my Pineapple lily that keeps coming back. They never make it through the winter. I am zoned 6b.

I spent a wonderful afternoon after work yesterday out in the gardens. Got a lot of my salvias planted.
It will be a while before any of them bloom, but the Blue Black Salvia I bought at the store is blooming. :o)

Hubby got the shower floor installed yesterday ... finally seeing progress.

My "Eye of the Tiger" dutch iris did fine for several years, but I think there were only a few blooms this year. The miniature dutch iris do really well for me, multiplying from year to year.

Oh my gosh, Wind, I see Perilla seedlings there. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT allow them to go to seed. You will have a flood of volunteers spilling throughout your garden each year if you do, and then I'll feel guilty, because I shared seeds for them a couple years ago.

:-( Critter, I had a giant Perilla last year that I completely let go to seed (was mixed in with a prickly Datura that I didn't want to mess with) and got NO volunteers, and lost the cuttings I took too! Weird. Decided to go for regular old Coleus this year, in a little smaller space.

Kelly, all my Penstemons are doing really well. 'Violet Dusk' are kinda small, they have 4-6 true leaves and are in the ground now. Seems once in the ground they take off and start growing faster. I plant them in hunks of seedlings and they do fine.

Toofew, just doesn't make sense does it? If the Pineapple Lily survives, Dutch Iris definitely should be fine. Mine always survive that first winter but decline after that. I wonder if they're kinda like Tulips, preferring deep planting and dry dormancy?

Here are Penstemon smallii from last years swap. These are in a sunnier position than those in the previous pic, and have started blooming first.

Kelly, some of the modern hybrids of Perilla don't reseed like the burgundy forms.

I always let one plant go to seed, as I do like the color in the garden, and they'll grow where other plants struggle. I have several rampant reseeders I use as filler plants and to keep spaces looking full till I decide to plant something else there, or am desperate for space for something new.

Lea, my Salvia argentia is budding too! Such cool plants!

My Penstemons don't bloom until their second summer (when winter sowed).

You're right, rampant volunteering isn't always a bad thing.. I guess the saving grace is that the Perilla seedlings (and even any older plants) are pretty easy to pull out.. it's not like burdock or thistles!

P. smallii starts blooming the 2nd year. I think I read they can be short lived perennials, which would confirm my previous experience with them. I had some from Bluestone a few years ago that were gorgeous for 3 or 4 years and then declined and disappeared. Some report that they start reseeding themselves and make themselves a permanent presence in the garden, although I don't recall seeing self set seedlings. Could be I just didn't know to look for them and weeded them out.

thanks Jill and Neal. I was sort of thinking 2nd yr.

My "Mystica" will bloom this year... excited about that. I really love Penstemons.

Critter, you're too funny! You spotted the perilla right. Well, for a while we did have seedlings all over the place and even in the lawn, but over time, they lost their spot to other ground covers.

BTW, the real bright lime green thyme from you is quite happy :)

Today, I'll be planting out Yvonne's Salvia, Lady in Red, Naughty Marietta Marigolds and Heirloom Marigolds, and a bunch of Dahlia tubers.

We added 3 new raised beds to our veggie garden, but don't have the dirt yet. Have to order some today...

Hey Wind ;) I’ve been planting most of my seeds from the last swap too so you aren’t alone lol I didn’t get a whole lot of seeds from this swap but catching up from last year is getting to be a job lol Those seedlings look nice and healthy :))

My silver sages are starting to bloom but my leaves aren’t as big as they usually are for some reason I grew a few more this year so I could put a couple in my side yard too. Once they bloom cut the blooms off then the leaves start to come out again. I don’t think they liked this wet winter we had.

Critter, know what you mean about the Perilla I have volunteers from years ago still showing up in my beds lol But yes they are easy to pull but just can’t believe I haven’t grown them for years and still they pop up everywhere!

So Burdock reseeds like that I just bought a plant at the nursery and was going to plant it in my side yard for the foliage first time growing this so when it goes to flower just take the flowers off didn’t even know it flowered :) What do you do with this stuff in the kitchen lol I haven’t a clue :)

Speaking of the kitchen I have this African family that lives across the street, the older lady just walks around my yard and looking at all of my seedlings in pots and my flowers in the yard every day I offered her a chair the other day while I was transplanting and she sat there and mumbled the whole time can’t understand a word she says and she can’t understand me either I asked her son what her name is it’s Ruth.

Well yesterday she brought me something wrapped up in a wal mart bag and a big bowl of uncooked rice, a frozen fish was in the bag lol I had to smile that was so sweet but haven’t a clue how to fix it so I’m waiting to catch her son while he’s over there so he can ask her what I’m suppose to do with it, I’m not much of a cook LOL

Neal your sages are beautiful! Thought I lost some of my penstemons and was digging around in my middle bed yesterday and found them all didn’t realize I had the Red Rocks back there just thought I had it out front and lost it for this year so transplanted it out front yesterday right away :)

Wondering about my Barbatus penstemon it’s so tall right now not sure if I can transplant it or not I wonder if I cut it in half, it’s almost three feet high, if it would be alright does anyone know has anyone trimmed it before so it wouldn’t be so tall? Looks like I could, it either it won’t bloom this year or will wait forever but I could handle that as long as I don’t kill it. And I read where Red Rocks is suppose to get 3-4’ tall mine have only gotten a couple of feet tall in the past not 3-4’. I thought I lost those and only had them out front forgot I had some in the middle bed :)

Thistle? I’m still digging Canadian thistle out of my beds and yard from letting a plant grow two years ago LOL In my defense I love the pink blooms on them but not all this digging all year and the year before on the seedlings LOL I have learned my lesson LOL It’s for sure you can’t keep up with the deadheading of blooms on that one LOL

I clump transplanted some snow in summer seedlings yesterday really hated to do the clumps with it but they are so small yet a lot of my seedlings in my jugs are so small and just feel like I have to get them out and transplant them.

If anyone got the blue star seeds from me I didn’t think I could WS those but I got about seven plants I was so happy had no idea I would have such luck with those! Easy peasy lol

Lea, I wintersowed those blue stars from you too. I think every one germinated, got them planted just a few days ago and they're looking really good.

I wish I could work my camera mine are blooming right now and are soo pretty I got that plant from Pollyk :) It was such a nice size I split it into two lol Now I have all kinds of babies to plant :)) Those seeds are so strange lol

I planted some wintersown clematis -Clematis tangutica and Clematis tangutica 'Radar Love' and 3 lavender rose of sharon.

Spent most of the afternoon cleaning the back patio and fighting weeds in the "tiger garden". I resorted to putting cut brown paper bags around the plants. (I started with newspaper, but it looked awful, unlike my stylish brown paper bags) I even had weeds popping up under the hostas! Baby hostas have trouble growing under those monsters! (A noid large
green, probably 'Sum and Substance') I wish weeds were more sensitive to juglone. These were mostly the creeping white stuff -vetch, I think-and purple pokeberries. Would you believe that people give that rash inducing, toxic, ugly weed a positive rating in the plant files?????

When I was a kid, my friend, Heidi, and I decided to gather pokeberries and stomp on them with our feet, probably inspired by 'I Love Lucy.' I had purple stained feet that broke out in a terrible rash I was miserable for a few days. Not as bad as stepping on a yellow jacket a few days before my dance recital.....

Got Lychnis seeds left over if anyone interested in having some.
"Dancing Ladies" and "Angel Blush"(Ants) & "Ragged Robin".

I do have a yellow that I planted 3 yrs ago & its just gotten bigger
every year. It will have to be moved soon as its outgrown its walk-way
area.

Yesterday at Walmart they had pots of Calibrachoa $6.
They are advertising them as "Celebration Mix".

Thanks to Rides & Ella for the dahlia seeds - they are growing
wonderfully.

This message was edited May 16, 2010 8:00 AM

OH -- I am sooooooo happy to announce that the Jap Iris' i WS'ed in 07 are finally going to bloom this year!!

I'd just about given up on them.

I know I had seeds for Purple and Yellow. I had a bunch in a pot, i think they were yellow and after 2 yrs, they finally died.... but the ones i planted 'out back' -- i can see the things ready to bloom.

bet i will miss them too. I'm heading North [today or tomorrow] and actually start an office job this week.
So -- i will be planting like a mad woman today... getting just about everything in the ground.

anyone know what this is....

it grows wild on sides of roads, etc.

I did eventually pull it out, since i did not plant it -- though it is pretty and had a nice aroma.

ops... i need to find a better photo... they are about 3' tall.

Looks like Garden Phlox to me :)

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=garden+phlox&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&searcher%5Bgrex%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

ants

It is phlox. It grows here also.

yup ... this is the one
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/2839/

oh well, guess i shouldn't have pulled it.

My cats broke my Garden Phlox in half last year & I stuck the broken part in a pot of dirt & it grew roots :)

ants