Seed Snatchin' XIX

Not "good" LOL.. it's just that I took forever to get around to deadheading my Muscari out front, so I saw those seedpods on a daily basis for quite some time!

I just collected a few seeds of Mouse Ears... At the spring swap, Hart gave me a clump of plants that she thought might be Pussytoes, and when they bloomed we figured out they were Mouse Ears... The foliage is nearly identical, and either way I've got a flat of wonderful tough little plants to put out in my iris bed as a groundcover. The Mouse Ears have flowers that look like tiny dandelions on tall, thin stems... and they go to seed in a little puffball just like a dandelion too!

It looks like I'll be able to get a bunch of 'Lemon Gem' marigold seeds this fall from the plants in my windowbox... I want to sow them out under my little fruit trees. I keep trying to establish a sort of flowering meadow out there, but the Johnson Grass keeps getting ahead of me. (nasty stuff, gets 6 feet tall!)

I've found that ajuga has proved to be a great ground cover for me. It seems to do well in both sun and shade here. Our local pink pyrola does a nice job as a ground cover, as does the small bracken.

I've got some ajuga in a couple of my beds, and I think it'll be great once it gets established and starts really spreading. I've also got Sweet Woodruff started in my Daffodil & Daylily bed. And I've grown out a mixture of dianthus (some from seeds you've sent me, WZ -- thanks!) for a couple of borders. Lamium 'Orchid Frost' is working pretty well between some irises, but it got taller than I thought it would. In a somewhat shadier area, I've put in a bunch of Lily of the Valley pips that Gitagal generously passed along to me last spring.

I'm always on the lookout for good groundcover plants, especially low growing ones that are easy to propagate... it's wonderful to be able to wintersow a whole flat or two of plants from seed, and it's all the more special when you've snatched the seeds or received them in trade from a fellow seed snatcher!

Critter,
Take a look at Salvia purple Volcano -- something like that. I think you can get the seeds from Park's. It looks a lot like Ajuga, but is differetn and can take more sun.

Suzy

That sounds like a fun one! I've got Salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout', and it's got good foliage like that also. The blooms on PKO are fairly insignificant. It self-sows some and grows fine from wintersown seed, so I'll have to see if I've got any seed left on my plants.

I think I've still only snatched from my own yard this year... I'd better get on the ball!

critter - I'm going to be glued to you Sat...I need winter sowing for dummies!!

Not to worry, Chantell, we'll get you started this year! There's a good article today from Mitch on the subject... :-)

(You are all remembering to click on the daily gardening article, right? LOL If not, the entire set of articles is being archived here once published, http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/)

Oh, yes, then you have Purple Knockout -- that's close enough, I think.

Ummm...absolutely Critter...every day without fail *ducking head and running to read article before Sat.*

Yesterday I had to make a trip to the Big City to purchase a shower gift. That's all I needed. Just the shower gift. But of course I had to see if anybody had started marking down their garden stock first. I'm afraid I'm a bit like a woman possessed when I see a sign saying "clearance" in the garden centers. It's almost as if I go into a dream-like trance for which I cannot be held accountable. I arrived back home 5 hours later looking at my CC receipts in a state of shock wondering what in the world had just occurred. *sigh* At least I remembered to get the shower gift.

Anyhoo. I scored some cat-tail-looking seed from in front of Pier 1. I had no idea what the plant was at the time but it sure made an impressive focal point in the planter. I've since found out it's an ornamental millet and I sure hope the seed is viable and comes true. I also pinched some seeds from a shrub in front of one of the box stores. I've admired those shrubs for years, and always wanted to ask someone inside if they knew what they were so I could look for them myself. But I also always figured that the odds of a clerk knowing their landscaping shrubs was slim to none so I never bothered with it. Now that I'm a bonified seed snatcher maybe I'll end up with some of them anyway! :D



This message was edited Sep 11, 2007 2:19 AM

I have friends snatching seeds for me! A dear friend dropped off a fistful of iris pods (I think they were Louisian irises - will have to ask) - anyway, I figure I ended up with over 600 seeds. :-)

We were doing a craft show in Ephrata, Pa. yesterday and there was a store there that sells cut flowers. They had these huge planters with variegated sweet potato bvine, etc and the lady was cutting them way back. I asked her if I could take some cuttings h ome and she gave me an armload. I put them in the cooler and when we got home, I cut them smalled & put them in water. They look really good & tomorrow night, they will be planted in a hanging basket & wintered over in the GH. I carry a garden spade in the back of my car, also plastic baggies, scissors, and plastic containers in the car for just such an occasion.

Sounds like you are all snatching away like crazy! It's still to early to make my raid on the city flower beds, and one of my garden friends told me her plants aren't going to seed yet, either. I think our cold spring slowed things down.

Mr. Clean and I were out last night and we passed some plants at an office park that hadn't been deadheaded and I persuaded him to stop. Of course, being Mr. Clean there wasn't one thing in his car, not ONE thing to carry seeds in. The only thing in this man's car is the owner's manual in the glove box and a card to get him into his downtown parking lot. It's so unnatural!

I finally found a newspaper plastic bag that had blown into the bushes and started filling it up, going from plant to plant with glee. They were at the peak of perfection as for as snatching goes, and the bag was really full. As I was getting back into the car, I started to twist the top a little so the seeds wouldn't blow out the top and put a speck of dust in his car only to have all the seeds come out a large hole in the bottom where the bag split along the seam. Ut-oh. They all fell out, half in his car and half all over my leg and foot.

Our next stop was the carwash where I had to vacuum up all the seeds. and then, to use up the remaining 3 minutes, Mr. Clean went ahead and vacuumed up the perfectly pristine carpet on the other 3 sides of the car, just in case a speck of dust had fallen there since the last time he vacuumed. LOL!

The moral of the stroy is BYOB when you're in somebody else's car, and if you're going to marry Mr. Clean, make sure he'll vacuum out your car when it needs it. LoL!

Suzy

ROFL, but sad to think of all those lovely seeds, just sucked away....

Oh, no! I hate losing seeds like that. Fortunately, I don't live with Mr. Clean. His vehicle always has a old potato chip bag or something suitable! This time of year, you'll seldom find me traveling without my 'kit'. I like to use open cups, as I'm likely to forget to empty a bag out and the seeds mold before I discover my mistake.

My poor DH is soooooo mortified when I seed snatch from public places . . . lol

I carry seed bags in my purse.

Karen

My DH just strolls on ahead, nonchalantly, as though he has no idea who the crazy blond is or why she is molesting that plant...

Too funny!

tabasco: Mr Clean need to do an internship at my house. He'd learn what it's like to be married to a professional woman with a career, a house too big to manage, a yard too big to manage, who hates to cook or clean, doesn't do dishes or grocery shopping, or sew, well, or iron...

Like husband: "What's for dinner? "
Wife Answer:" I don't know, I have to harvest seeds. What are you bringing?"

Karen

I dug in my flower beds for two days after twisting my back and throwing myself out of alignment. Now I am having a hard time bending over, much less seed snatching. I guess I can only snatch seeds from tall plants for awhile!

My DH likes to cook, so I'm usually off the hook. Unfortunately, he's less fond of housekeeping. The old dog is shedding like last year's Christmas tree, and the clutter around this house is downright scary. It's driving me crazy, but I just can't seem to talk myself into dragging myself around the house cleaning. However, if it weren't for the rain we've been having, I'd probably be hobbling around the yard harvesting seeds!

"Like husband: "What's for dinner? "
Wife Answer:" I don't know, I have to harvest seeds. What are you bringing?"

LOLOL! I love that!

(Weez I sure hope you feel better soon!)

Naw, I gave the wrong impression, he's not hard to live with at all. Of course he's been in training for nearly 30 years, so what do you expect? LOL!

Suzy

They are usually broken in (or beaten down) by then.

I CONFESS:

Yesterday I snapped the scapes off some hosta at 2 local nurseries and tucked them in my purse!!!! They had lovely fat seed pods, and they are cultivars that didn't set pods for me this year (Grand Tiara, Paul's Glory, and Frances Williams).

Am I absolved of Eternal Curse for my theft, b/c I'm giving the seeds a chance to grow?? Or am I doomed?

You're doomed! LOL Hey, I don't think there's any crime in deadheading... those seed pods were just taking energy away from the plants... :-)

I picked up a huge green seedpod at a craft show yesterday (I hope it turns brown & ripens) of the hugest Moonflower I ever saw. None of the seedpods were brown, but it was very large, so I know the seeds were full size inside. Now all it has to do is turn brown.

I just found out something I didn't know. You can save seed from zinnia profusion orange, cherry, etc. and most of the plants will come true. Evidently they are a different kind of hybrid that they grow out in open pollinated fields. Isn't that interesting?

HI HOOOOOOOOOOOO, just jumping in here:) I am a seed picker too!! I have been picking seeds from my gardens too, several MGS,liatrilis, butterfly weed, ladybells,rose campion,several colors of rose of sharon, hibbes, clematis, only one seed pod of prarie blue eyes daylily, rats I bumped my elbow on something sharp and lost the other seed pod, looked all over but could not find it in the grass :( I am headed out tonight for my dusk stroll around the area, lots of wonderful plants with seed heads :) Wonderful ornamenal grasses too :)Hubby is always at the ready to HEAVE any seed or plant ANYTHING I happen to leave in his car or MINE :( He looks at me like I am from another planet when I NOW AND AGAIN talk at all about my plants and seeds :( Like you too, I keep plastic bags, scissors, tape and labels in the glove box, hee hee Now for the wonderment, this summer I watered the sweet annie seeds and then plants and now they are over 5 ft. tall!! I had to run outside just minutes before as hubby was out there trying to yank all of them out of their beds!! Finally I burst out the door with horror on my face as he held out the saw and started to cut them down, ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK, I cradeled them in my arms and took them to the GH. I ordered 10 lashes with a cat of 9 tails, but I guess that fell of deaf ears, LOLOL, here is a picture taken awhile back of the sweet annie.

DH just don't have a clue sometimes.

Sweet Annie is one of my favorite for fragrance, but beware, it is a very prolific self sower.

Tootsie, my 'kit' is always at the ready. This time of year, it rides shotgun in old Bruno, my rust bucket pick-up truck. I drive around Seward and surrounding areas collecting seeds and taking pictures. It's one of my favorite times of year. My husband is used to my seed snatching and waits patiently while I harvest.

Hio Weezie :)
Every time I have to get an Rx at the target store I check out the mounds of daylilies growing at the entrance!! It was ust the right times to pick the seed pods!! Also my sil took me to chinese lunch place, and what did my wandering eyes see.....daylily pods all ripe for the picking, right in front of the diner!! Wait, I yelled as she was running for the door, wait, wait, I have to pick these seed pods!! Geesh, and rolled her eyes!! I am starvin she complained, well, me too, ya just gotta wait until I get enough of these in my pockets, LOLOL Tonight, I am on the midnight prowl here at home!! I drove in and saw soooooooooo many yards with soooooooooooo many ornamental grasses, pods oh so ready to pick!!! and hibbes, and rose of sharon, colors I do not have, and MGS, in colors the same, and iris and daylilies and , and , oh, I just can't wait!!!! Help, wonder if I can find my Sons old little red wagon?? I know it has a very loud squeek in the wheels, oh heck, I know I am going to need that wagon to sit in after all that walking, LOL

So I wandered over to the Tomlinson's today and took a stroll through their gardens. They have always been the local "it" people when it comes to flower gardens ~ nothing structured, nothing formal, just lots of twists and turns and beds around every corner. I took my camara with me and got lots of shots of lantana, purple cleome, salvia, zinnia, and a beautiful two-toned portulaca that I had never before seen.

Did I mention that I also just happened to have some baggies and a pen in my pocket at the time?

And did I also mention that my dad had only moments before told me that the Tomlinson's were away on vacation?

I didn't think so.

LOL!

I'll bet that portulaca was rudely overgrowing its bounds, too... I'm sure a piece could just "accidentally" break off and end up in your pocket... it just looks like something that would root readily from a cutting (?).

:-)

My fingers are itching all the way up here in Alaska! LOL!

Wezzi, itch, itch, itch, mee too :)

The sun is stretching across the mountain outside my window, so I can see it will be a nice fall day out there. I've got to make a trip up the hill to look for cotton grass seed, and maybe I'll find some other wild plant seeds while I'm at it. I've cleaned most of my seeds I've collected so far, and they are drying in little cups now. In a day or two, I can put them in little zip bags. I love to go 'a-snatchin' on a sunny fall day!

About 3 weeks ago my older daughter visited relatives in ARK. She and her cousin walked up the mountian and ran like the dickens with they encountered SNAKES!! She said it was so hot there, as soon as they got back down they all ran for the old fish ponds which were on her Uncles property. One of the grandkids yelled HEY, WHAT IS THIS ON MY SHOULDER?? Yuck, guess all the ponds had those black ugh, things with sucker mouths!!!! She said she saw all kind of pretty flowers growing here and there, but guess she is just not into seed pickin :( The younger daughter tho, when she was just a tyke,saw a water lily in the lake and jumped overboard and yanked it out my the roots, put it in wet papers and broght it home to me!!! Ya just gotta love em :)