Hi! I am just a newbie and hope to be able to trade seeds next year. What seeds would be the most advantageous to have in order to maximize my trading potential? For instance, I bought California Poppy seeds and i was sent 4,500 in one package!!!! Obviously, if everyone receives that many, no one is lacking for California Poppy seeds!
I have ordered lisianthus plants from Burbies - assuming I can get seeds from them, would anyone be interested? I have a Red Lion Amaryllis that I hope to collect seeds from - are these interesting?
Is there some unusual plant I could order, collect seeds from and parlay that into effective trades?
Cheers,
Seandor
Most desirable seeds . . .
I think, it's hard to pick the "winners" since people's interests are so different.
What I see more and more of is the interest in natives.
Myself, I am going to be more religious about collecting the seeds of all the plants
that I have. Even if you offer seeds for free, you'll find that a lot of people prefer trades
so you'll get offers of new seeds for sure.
i agree too.
with amaryllis i have lots of fun with them. you can get babies off the bottoms or seeds from the pods. you can cross polinate to get hibrids usually to make new colors. they have to be so old of bulbs to bloom is the thing i don't like usually about 3-4 year old bulbs. i have a yellow goddes, apple blossom and a misty. i have seeds for a few different kinds some are hibrids. i'm winter sewing some of the seeds now. i hope to add some new varieties to my collection.
my kid's love them as ours get about 3ft tall with the flower stock and the leaves as well. they are huge but very beautiful and a well worth wait for seeing the blooms. if you force them inside they will give you lots of blooms during the winter which is really neat. alot of people usually look for these in bulbs and seeds but the huge bulbs are more sought after(like mine are about 6" around, they look like a huge onion and weight about a pound a piece, the ones this size) and the rare harder to find kinds. red lion, apple blossom and minerva are 3 of the most common ones to find. the goddess, misty, lemon-lime and alot of the others are more harder to find ones so they would be some of the more sought after ones.
i hope i answered what you where asking about them. if not just ask i'll answer the best i can.
silkie
Thank-you silkie and enya_34 This gives me a place to start . . :-)
What's common to one person might be just the treasure somebody else is looking for! The first year I joined DG, I had very little to start trading with, but I had collected an enormous bag of zinnia seeds... So I sent them out by the sandwich baggie (including plenty of chaff) when I found folks willing to trade. I admit, I thought people were mostly just being kind about sharing their seeds in return for "common" zinnias. Until... This year, I found myself without any zinnia seeds at all (weather and timing last fall), and I've quite happily done trades for them until I now have a nice assortment. Then I understood that sending somebody an assortment of seeds in return for a fat packet of zinnia seeds is a trade that can make both traders quite happy!
Now, if somebody is offering rare or valuable seeds and asking for other unusual seeds in trade, they probably aren't going to want to trade for poppies... but as long as you're polite and willing to accept "no" as a reasonable answer, it doesn't hurt to offer! I seem to remember that there's some good advice along those lines in the Trading Primer... take a moment to look through it.
I was like critter,
the first time I traded seeds were tons of cosmos, that was all I had.. but they were baggies full. Then I ran out and the next year had to start asking some cosmos too. So, just collect all you see and even at friends and relatives. Once you start noticing seeds, you will find them everywhere.
A.
Great! I do have some lovely plants - a Lemon Queen Perennial Sunflower, some burgandy Blanket Flower (not their real name - it begins with 'g' but I doubt I can spell it!), I have Apricot Foxglove that should bloom this year (planted last fall), so I should be able to get seed from that. I have delphinium, some pink tickseed (it has another proper name that begins with c - but can never remember it), I also planted Veronica Sunny Blue Border, Dianthus Allwoodi (?) Helen, several tall phlox - Laura, David Lavender, Blue Boy, and Blue Ice, Oh - and I ordered some really beautiful mums - can you grow mums from seeds? So I should be able to collect some nice seeds to trade next year.
This does not include the seeds I wintered sowed that I can plant - the perennials won't have seeds for a year or two - but maybe some of the annuals will germinate.
And maybe I will get some seeds from the lisianthus I ordered (a moment of weakness LOL)
Now - a question about plant patents - how does this work? Will plant police hunt me down if I take seeds or cuttings from plants I own but are patented?
that is a good question i have roses that are patented and i was wondering that also.
sounds like you will have lots of pretties soon. before you know it you'll have so many seeds ya won't know what to do with them all!
silkie
Seanador,
Once you start trading and you will need to mark your packets with the latin name, you will get really good at the spelling!
It is important to use the proper names as lots of things have the same common name. I grow many exotics but recently decided I needed poppies so traded unusual things for poppies and morning glorys. Boy was I happy with all the fat packets with the poppies and mgs! Watch for people doing sase. You can use some and save some for trading and when people do sase they are usually very, very generous. Another place to look for seeds is parks and gardens. Most do not mind if you get some seeds and lots of time the plants are marked.
Be very careful, very careful, you are entering a very addictive hobby.
Rebecca
Tell me about it . . . Since last fall I when my DH put in a new garden for me, I can't tell you how much money I have spent . . . and there is still more to buy! I never thought of parks - the large city park is just seven blocks from here . . . ummm there might be stuff there!
Right now the biggest problem is where to put plants -poor DH might have to dig another garden for me!
I only have a city lot- but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself and be totally overwhelmed.
Seandor
I agree with all of the above but a couple of things to add - look out for the organised seed swaps - these give you such a variety back, some things you may not want and some suprises - that you didn't know you would like!
Best advice is to find plants that you want and add them to your want list. If both of your Want and Have list are listed on DG - many people will contact you directly
(Find the plant first in Plantfiles..scroll to the trading section and click on Haves or Wants....if you do it this way rather than listing the items mannually - it takes you directly to the plant ...much easier for people to view your lists!)
If you would like a packet of my extras, send me a d-mail giving me your address and I'll put a pack together for you. (No worries re postage etc)
Sue
Seandor, you can collect, grow, trade, (and maybe even sell?) seeds of patented plants (with the possible exception of certain corn and soybean patents) but asexual propagation is illegal. Seed is sexual propagation and isn't covered under patent laws, because there's a good chance it won't come true to the parent plant anyway.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_plants_propagation/article/0,1785,HGTV_3611_1397126,00.html
Thanks Claypa . . . I didn't want to be arrested in the middle of the night LOL
It's a civil 'tort', I guess... no "cuff 'em and stuff 'em".
While I'm here I'll mention that I notice a lot of Datura and Morning Glory fanciers........
This message was edited Mar 9, 2007 9:17 AM
Blue impatens are hard to get seed of, infact any of the imps really even bedding types.
If its pretty and hard to colect the seed then its worth trying to collect.
Everyone has hibiscus and hollyhock seed (well it seems like that) lol
Mike
Thanks for the info on the patented plants. I have been wondering about that myself lately!
Right - blue impatience. I will definitely check that out. :-) We always buy lots of impatience for our yard - people really try to grow these from seed? I would think they would be a lot of work :-)
Impatiens are easy enough to grow from seed, but I find I have to start them 10-12 weeks before plantint out time (inside, under lights) in order to get blooms without waiting forever. So if you're, well, impatient LOL then you'll have to stick to purchasing them in nursery cell packs!
One thing that is popular is the wave type petunias. The seeds are very expensive. There is a general idea that they do not put on seed, but this is not true. The seed pods are tiny but full of seeds. One basket will give you lots of seeds. Rhodochiton is a tropical vine that is great for baskets. You can overwinter indoors, they will continue blooming indoors. They produce flowers and seeds year round, you just harvest them whenever you want. Very popular for trading. Asarina does pretty much the same, again expensive seed that is popular.
Your are going to find yourself inspecting all interesting plants for seeds. I take plastic seed baggies in the car and a shapie marker, just in case something interesting pops up. Get the seed pods in the baggie, write your description on the bag, get them home and put them in something to let them dry out. Yogurt containers work well, leave the top off till they dry, use a sharpie to write the name on the outside of the cup. I have a line of yogurt containers on the shelf of my office, I also use film canisters. They are harder to come by but if you talk to the people at a store near you that does film processing they will save them for you. The clear ones are easiest you can write on the sides. The black ones you have to write on the top. Then pop them in the fridge till you need them.
Happy seed hunting!!
Rebecca
Wow! a seed sleuth! This opens all kinds of possibilities. . . . This is too cool!
Once you get saving you will have a seed stash in the fridge like this. hehhe
Mike
Mike_freck - how organized!!!!!! That's awesome!!!
Seandor my advice is to collect what YOU like and want to grow. There will always be someone that wants what you have!!! Label the baggies as you see fit - if you are comfortable with the Latin names (or know them) fine! If not - that's fine too!! The person who asked for you seeds will know what they asked for! Never forget it's all for fun and virtually free for all parties involved so don't stress over it!!
I was huge into seed trading for quite some time then finally backed off b/c I found I had too many to plant! It really can be addicting!!! Like collecting anything.. I had to BACK AWAY from the seeds!! LOL!!
Have fun!!
Nicole
Oh yea and a great collecting item to have is lunch size paper bags. I went to my local liquor store and asked - they handed me a stack for free!! :)
Nicole
Mike_Feck - what a treasure trove! I can get small sissors, paper bags, etc. and start collecting. I have found some very pretty seed packs I can print :-) Thank ncgardenaddict and rebbecanne and others for all your great advice. I think maybe I will buy blue impatients and collect the seeds for trading :-)
Cheers,
Michaela
Seandor:
Great topic for a thread. I have saved some seeds in the past , but now that I am a new person in DG, these are questions that I have thought of...what will others want, so I can trade. Have you seen that you can even trade seed packets or parts of them that you will not be using...you just have to state that up front and if they are older ones if they are. Read the primer, if you haven't already. It does help.
Actually you have some great seeds (or plants if you did not save them just yet). I would trade with you. I think you have some good stuff.
I have just traded a few times already this week (my first week in DG!). Thanks everyone -I loved the ideas of supplies to have in the car. Now, when I visit a friend's garden or at the local parks, I won't just look at the flowers and plants...I will be inspecting for seed heads! I haven't even started, and I have been thinking about this a lot. It is addictive....I'M HOOKED!!!
Just a thought. I found my local drug store had paper bags that were not square on the bottom. They work really well to put seed pods in to dry. The lunch bags work well except that they have overlapping paper on the bottom and sometimes its difficult to get the small seeds out. I made friends with a lady at the drug store and she gives me extras, way easier to get small seeds out.
Rebecca
Hi blue impatiensWow Ive never seen where do you get them???.....sharon
When I googled an image, what I found were images of a rather lavender looking impatiens or a small blue hooded flower apparently from tibet.
That photo of my seed stash is just one lot .heheh Here is the extras! Or large quantities.
I think the blue isn't as blue as you'd hope but hey its still a blue imp!
Mike
Then you wil need to keep track of them all ... where they came from.. how many you have for swaps etc.
So you end up with a file on your pc like this.
Mike
OH Lord! Well, I guess if I start out small it won't be too bad lol :-)
hehe, You have to remember that your weeds are my prize plants!
I'm still looking for poison ivy seed! lol
Strange but no one seems to have any.
Mike
The berries tend to be out of reach, up high in a tree, and birds gobble them up pretty quickly... I could send a small plant any old time, though!
Cheers Claypa, i'm kind of joking about the poison ivy. I fear it would take over my garden and with a small child running around might be best to go with out for a couple of years.
Mike