Source for unusual MG seeds?

I just found this forum, and am wondering about a source for all of these unusual MG's I see posted here. Especially Frosted Plum. I grow Grandpa Ott's which self sows bountifully every year and grows to great heights.

Hi Caitlin,

A year or so ago, you posted somewhere on DG asking how others gardened without chemicals, and I wrote you a tome in response, but it went pouf. Anyhoo, I can't say I use no chemicals, but I do try to minimize them as much as possible. Nice to see you on this forum.

In answer to your question about sources of MGs, following are some sources recommended by some members on this forum:

http://onaleeseeds.bizhosting.com/morning_glory_and__moonvine_seeds.html
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/728668/

Some sellers on DG: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3797659

There used to be pretty frequent seed swaps on the Seed Trading forum, where I met some traders who were happy to trade various kinds of seed from the morning glory family for seed from my garden - those encounters were serendipital.

It wouldn't hurt to dmail someone who has posted a pic of Frosted Plum and see if they'd be willing to trade for anything - if they have a harvest of seed, it might not be ready for trade until December if they're growing it outdoors in my neck of the woods.

You might consider trying to obtain any of the smokey types and trying your own crosses - that would give you more wiggle room. You could dmail me in December to see if I managed to get anything past the local deer population this summer.

Hope this helps,
Karen

This message was edited Aug 14, 2007 3:16 PM

ahh plum frost..that would be my dream JMG...

pamsue

Thanks for that info Blue...This is my 1st year growing MG. I never knew the vast varieties they came in! They are breathtaking AND very easy to grow. Here in the desert breath taking and easy to grow are almost never used in the same sentence LOL. I am looking for Picotee, Remar and Kniolas Black Knight if by any chance some one has an abundence :-)

Wineaux;I will have carmen MG seeds to collect from my Mg vine for sasbe if interested.
email me for a photo or you can go to my Dg member page and check out my photobucket and you will find a picture of carmen MG.

I don't have Plum Frost, but agree that the sun could rise and fall alone on that one. However, y'all dmail me in December and I might have some other MG seed - must wait and see.

Karen - thanks for posting a great reply and thanks Caitlin for asking the question - I had also been wondering the same thing - how to go about getting seeds for the cool MG's everyone has been posting pictures of. I've done a bit of trading with other DG'ers, but I can see there is more to be done!! LOL.

Joanne

Oh darn! I was in McGregor just a little over a week ago. Stayed at a nice B&B (pictured). We could have met up and I could have given you a nice variety of seeds!

1st time to McGregor...nice little town!

Sandy

I too have been to McGregor Iowa on a family excursion many years ago and do have a picture to remember the place. We were all posed with an old tractor there

pamsue

Hi All, I've been advised that the lionnet website is no longer working, so I deleted it. In case you didn't get the 2 links that were on the bottom of it that showed you how to train MGs either by the Andon or spiral methods, they can be found here:

Andon, explanation - http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/Asagao/Yoneda_DB/E/Introduction/htmls/36.html

Andon, example - http://taxa.soken.ac.jp/Asagao/E/PCD2523/htmls/66.html

Spiral - http://taxa.soken.ac.jp/Asagao/E/PCD2523/htmls/63.html

More Spiral - http://taxa.soken.ac.jp/Asagao/E/Introduction/htmls/37.html

Fine points about pinching - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/698560/

The above pinching tips (sorry, couldn't resist) would come in handy if you were to make a "wall" of JMGs - http://taxa.soken.ac.jp/Asagao/E/Introduction/htmls/34.html (scroll to bottom)

Fortunately for us, we arranged our uprights in pairs linked by crossbars overhead, so that although the deer have been doing our side-nipping for us, the parts of the vines overhead are vine (We just closed off a 4th side of where we grow flowers here and have not seen any signs of deer since - not counting any pods until they're in, though).

Karen

Oops - can't remember whether this source is buried in the links I gave, but have y'all noticed that many plants in PlantFiles have a thingy you can click on that tells you who's looking for or fixing to sell the plant on its page? If no such activity is indicated, you can enter the information that you're looking for that plant as seed or other form on that page.

So, go to the tabs at the top of this webpage, and click on the Guides and Information tab;

Then click on PlantFiles;

At the top right, click on Search Plants;

You don't have to fill in all the information in the boxes that come up - I find that confuses the system. In this example, type in Ipomoea in the box next to Genus, and then type in Plum Frost in the box next to Cultivar and hit enter;

The name of this cultivar comes up in green, so click on that;

Near the top, you'll see "3 members have or want this plant for trade", so click on that and there you are.

I'm sorry to say I wouldn't know at this time how to make an entry for myself there. Maybe the tabs regarding trading at the top or the link for advertising at the bottom might lead to the answer - I'm sure it's in there somewhere.

One more thing about using PlantFiles to find a plant - you might try dmailing folks who have posted pics or comments to see if they might have some seed to share or trade.

Wineaux, if I ever find last year's shoebox with my Kniola's Black harvest, I'll let you know. From the looks of the volunteers coming up where it grew last year, I think I'm probably going to have to start all over again with seed from where I got them in the first place: http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/ Hudson is a fabulous source of open domain / open pollinated / heirloom seeds, both for just ornament or practical or both. The information about aboriginal or other cultures that they weave into a plant's description along with germination, cultural & viability information makes for fascinating reading, to me.

I got Hatsu Arashi from http://www.fragrantpathseeds.com/ As their name says, they specialize in fragrant plants, and they do have many unusual ones great for quite a variety of habitat. Their desert 4 O'clock (Mirabilis longiflora) came back after last winter, and I'm now enjoying its fragrance in the evening. These are very pretty swirling around the feet of MGs being grown vertically through them. Actually, they'd like to grow up with the MGs to the tune of at least 4', but I just push them down and they make nice, thick "socks" (groundcover).

PamSue, talk about nostalgia for old family farms...seems like when they go, they take the old community and its values with them - I kind of think of DG as something like those old grounded-in-the-earth times.

Blue Spiral,
I believe I was asking about combatting iris borer without chemicals. I am still digging and getting rid of the infested ones and trying to be more diligent about clean up fall and winter. I also had the idea that pest barrier netting might do the trick if it was put up before the moths hatched. We will see...
Yes, McGregor is a nice little touristy town. We live on a dairy farm a few miles away.
The pictures I see of Enola Black look an awful lot like Grandpa Ott to me. Anyone grow both of them that can compare them?
I found several seed sites that sell the less common MG's. Swallowtailgardenseeds is the least seeds for the most money...
rareseeds.com and fothergills USA has some uncommon, nice ones pretty cheap. ( I am talking uncommon for a beginner, not necessarily uncommon to the more discriminating here at this forum!)

Since this thread started out talking about PLUM FROST . . .

This just may be the year that my PLUM FROST will remain True.
Heaven knows I've been trying for 4-years. Ron doesn't seem to think that it will ever remain True because of its genes, but what fun I've had growing it and ALL of the incredible sports that I have gotten from it.

I don't know how many seeds I will get this year, but if anyone wants to grow some out for me and let me know how they do - I think that would be fun.

Here is a photo from this year of my PLUM FROST. The photo makes it look More Purple, but it is a Plum Color, just a bit darker Plum than the original.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=3807348

This photo is of one of the original blooms, which does show the true 'Plum Color', also this photo does depict the exact original color.

Emma

As a matter of fact, here they are side by side:
Sydney
Grandpa Otts
Knolia's Black

Caitlin, I just found out about a supposedly environmentally safe, nontoxic control for iris borers called Garden Shield Iris Borer Deterrent - http://www.gardenshield.com/ . They make some extraordinary claims for it. Do you know anyone who might have tried it? I was just over to the Iris forum looking for this kind of info, where I found the Connecticut Iris Society website - http://www.irisgarden.org/home.htm . And the society gave this borer deterrent pretty high marks.

Thanks for those other seed sites.

Emma - thank you. I would love to grow out just a couple of Plum Frost next year. I'm sure I would be thrilled with whatever showed up. Do you want us to ask again later this fall?

Beth, what a tidy, demure trio in that pic - wonder if that well behaved conifer has any idea how rowdy they can be?

hey emma
ive admired plum frost for some time..it would be wonderful if i could grow some out
pamsue

Emma, I would love to grow some and send back the results. MG do so well here. Next year I plan on growing as many varieties as I can find.

Pam and wineaux. . .
have you down.

Thanks,
Emma

Emma would like to try a few plum frost to grow out for you.
Thanks!
Karla

Emma me too please for the Plum Frost.

Me Too! Me Too! I will send you a small but original watercolor of my garden if you add me to your list! Bribery, yes...
sharon

Ok . . .

Have you all added.

Emma

Got you too Karen-blue,
I was just re-reading and didn't acknowledge you.
I'm keeping a copy of this thread in my Seeds to be Shipped so I don't overlook anyone.

Emma

Thanks, Emma - have done the same for when my garden seeds are cleaned this winter

emma thank you too
pamsue

Emma:Thank You!
Karla

Thanks! I may have trades you would be interested in this fall.

Ok, Beth, WONDERFUL!
I'll lots of other goodies too. . .

Emma

Blue Spiral,
Laurie F at the Iris forum says she was one of the original testers for garden shield, and she thought it was too hard to use and expensive to bother with. I guess you have to keep applying it after every rain, and only in cloudy weather, or something like that. That kind of diligence is not for me!

Thanks for letting me know, Caitlin - I'm not up for trying expensive iffies. Maybe growing so many other plants on top of my iris has been confusing those borer moths. I do have an old dark and light blue one a neighbor used to grow with her tomatoes practically on top in summer - don't know if it's especially resistant or if those tomatoes really did misdirect the moth.

That's interesting. I have wondered if there might be something to plant that would deter the moths. My old varieties have been somewhat resistant to borers, at least they left enough for the flowers to come back every year, but when I started adding the plmp juicy frilly new ones, the borers were in heaven!

Yup - my "plump juicy" modern frilly iris certainly produced some plump maggots for which I'm sure bygone aborigines had a great recipe - at least, in modern times, it beats the smell of chicken coops - lol

apologies to fastidious lurkers