Anyone got poppy seeds, by any chance?
If I figure it out, I might have pink and white saponarias aka Bouncing Bette's aka soapwort to trade, but I'm not confident in collecting those seeds yet...
SPECTACULAR 2007 COTTAGE GARDEN FRESH FALL SEED SWAP!
I've been poking at my Bouncing Bette also... and I can't quite figure it out... anyone know what we should be looking for?
Critter, the info. is here. So far mine appear to be dried, but getting to them is a pain...
http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/db19.html
G6 - I wintersowed tons of that Delphinium, but the Cosmnos swallowed it up and none grew and bloomed. They were both "nnew to me" plants and I had no idea the Cosmos would grow so fast and so big. :)
The bouncing bet has a spike with little caylxes running up and down the spike, right?
You can bend it over with a large sheet cake pan under it to collect the seeds and the ones that are ready release and drop. You have to bend them every which was to get each side at the lowest point.
Or you wait for part of the caylx's to turn brown and run your hand from the bottom of the stem up and out to the tip and strip them off (you are just getting the brown ones, ease up when you get to the green ones, but if you collect some green ones, they will turn brown in 3 days) and you'll get all the caylxes -- the seed more or less stays inside them.
You will have a handful of brown stuff every time you do this.
To get the seed out of the caylx, let them sit on a tray for 4 days to thoroughly dry and put them in something that spins -- like a salad spinner. I put them in the blender once -- but it didn't work that well. LOL! You can also crush them individually or in small groups with your fingers and the seeds are always at the bottom of the bowl. They are heavier then the dried caylx and you can also put them in a shallow bowl and try to winnow them, but do it outside because you can also puff the seeds out.
For sending these seeds, I like to count out 15 - 25 so I know the person will at least get that many and then stuff a bunch of chaff in the envie. I figure they can clean part of the seeds if they want more than I provided. :)
(I'm not a very good swap hostess to be saying that, am I?)
Suzy
Thanks!! How big are the bouncing bet seeds? Will I know them when I see them? I'm thinking the brown calyxes I checked out probably dropped their seeds already, but it looks like there are more coming.
Are basils "cottage garden" fare? I've got lemon, lime, and purple basils going to seed... I grow them mostly for their scent and foliage, seldom pick any for the kitchen.
Great Tips, Suzy! I love the salad spinner idea, so I'll give that a ..... ~ whirl~.
heheh
I figure any "edible ornamental" can play a role in a cottage garden! I'll see if I can get some of the basil seeds dried and dechaffed by the end of next month... if not, I'll have them to offer this winter.
Are people interested in other "edible ornamentals" like Bolivian Rainbow peppers? I think I'd grow that one just for its purple foliage, even if it didn't produce loads of hot little peppers!
Cottage gardens are traditionally full of herbs, veg', fruit, ornamentals and animals ...
True! But most of the chat on this forum tends to be about the flowers... so I wasn't sure about the level of interest...
Herbs are in the original list up in Suzy's first post, so you're good.
"Flowers - Herbs - Shrubs, but not vegetables or trees*. "
hmmm, what about "vegetables" that I plant around in my landscape beds, like 'Wild Cherry' tomato, 'Fish Pepper', 'Bolivian Rainbow' pepper, 'Sweet Pickles' pepper, etc.? I guess 'Pretty Purple Pepper' (a dwarf ornamental variety) doesn't count as a "vegetable" -- it's technically edible, but definitely not grown for consumption.
I'm probably over-thinking this!
heh heh, hey, aren't they technically fruits??? lol
Arlene (Cattjovi), Welcome to the swap! I especially love those Lady in Red Salvias!
You'll know the seeds when you see them, Jill (Critter). They look just like seeds. LOL! They pretty much stay inside their chalice-shaped caylx until they are forced out, so I bet they are still inside. They usually shrink a little by drying a little, then the stems elongate and start bending over from their own weight, and more so when the fall and winter winds & rain come.
If you have a place for them to fall, you can make a broom or bouquet out of them and hit them against something. They'll fall out for sure then, but I don't have that kind of room, and I'm afraid of losing a lot of seed on my back swing. They are much, much heavier than the chaff and will fall to the bottom of any vessel, so something tall and narrow will get them separated.
On the vegetables, I think a lot of it depends on how ornamental they are (flowers and foliage) , but also how much room they take up. However, I am pretty sure I will get some requests for purple foliage and fragrance, and it sounds like a lot of them would be popular under both those headings.
Do people feel like paying $1.05 for proof that I am mailing your seeds back to you? How about this: If you want it, go ahead and pay for it in loose stamps or a dollar bill and I'll buy it. If I don't see the extra money and a note, then I won't.
To all -- Speaking of your note to include with the seeds -- right now it is just conversation and chat, the only thing that really counts is that little note you send to me. I *might* remember Critter doesn't want orange and peach, but I might not. No way I can remember 20+ people's choices and there has to be a note outlining every detail of what you want me to know.
Wrightie, No Poppy seeds here. The chipmunks climbed my poppy plants and took the pods off, just as they were ripening. It was astonishing! I had never seen anything like it and I wish I knew how to work my video phone or whatever it is that I have. I was so mad I was providing their little chipmunk highs from the opium poppies!
Oh, and I never did the salad spinner idea -- I just thought it probably would work if I had one. I just sat in front of the TV and grabbed a little bit between my thumb and index-middle fingers and squeezed the pods until the seed popped out. The annoying thing is there appears to be only one seed per caylx...I was hoping there would be 5 or 6, so it is slow going.
I have Salvia 'Coral Nymph' seeds -- which sounds sweet and little, so I sowed and planted a dozen -- they are 36" high and about 18 in diameter -- hard to tell because I planted them way too close together. But the hummers check them out 2x a day like clockwork. I pulled 3 out like weeds because they were leaning into the grass.
Suzy
I think I'll take a page out of Wrightie's book and post a general list, too.
I'm looking for
cut flowers
red annuals, or any annuals
small perennials
cucumbers I can make refrigerator pickles with -- this is sort of a lark.
I don't technically have much full sun, but I get by by planting in patches of sunlight in great soil and doing a lot of staking.
The photo is of a red four o'clock I might have some seeds of and red snapdragons I know I have a lot of seeds of and a red rubin basil I have some seeds of.
Suzy
PC,
While I was looking for a picture to post in my last message, I found a full-on shot of the Coral Dahlia.
Suzy
I would love some of garden6's orange and pink cosmos seeds and some of critterologist's basil seeds :)
Wrightie - The foxgloves are native here in my area, each stalk goes from cream to dark purple and some are all white/cream. I have attached a picture.
This message was edited Sep 19, 2007 10:08 PM
Here is an upclose of the foxglove :0)
rachierabbit, do your foxgloves bloom annually or biannually?
They are gorgeous.
The Melampodium and White Swan echinacea sound fabulous too!
Budbloom,
Biannually. But they are definetly worth the wait. The show this summer lasted for over a month and a half!
Yes! (Scribbling on list of wants that grows and grows)
Wow, it was like Christmas morning when I opened up this thread.
Illoquin, my CG is in my backyard where I have mature Oak trees, so I have mainly part sun back there as well. It can be frustrating - my front yard is Full Sun, but I don't want to go to crazy with perennials out there. That coral Dahlia is very pretty - is it in part sun? Shame about your chipmunks' drug habit - you might consider holding an intervention.
Rachierabbit, I *adore* those foxgloves. I would like to officially express interest in them.
I need to go out and hobble around my yard hunting & pecking for interesting seeds.
I have collected tons of the Evening Primrose so far, along with Rose of Sharon. Will check the hollyhocks for dryness today...
Don't worry, I'll definitely include a note about my wishes & preferences!
I think that anybody who doesn't trust you to send seeds back wouldn't sign up for this swap. Proof of mailing or even certified mail don't guard against seeds getting lost in the mail, and the USPS doesn't have anything like tracking... even delivery confirmation seems to be pretty iffy (I've had people thank me for packages that arrived, and when I checked the delivery number still wasn't showing that the package had been mailed, much less delivered).
So I guess you can tell that I won't be putting an extra dollar into my envelope for that, LOL.
Suzy, I re-sowed and re-planted my cucumbers several times, so I have no idea which ones are hybrids out there, and I won't be saving seeds from them... But I only grow "pickling" cucumbers, because I prefer their crisp, sweet flavor to any "slicing" cuke that I've tried. If your space is limited, the bush types do pretty well and start producing fairly early, but I get longer production from long vining ones. This year, I stuck a hill of cukes at one end of my veggie strip and just moved the vines as they grew so that they run along the front edge of the bed... that worked pretty well, and I think I'll be planting cukes at both ends of that bed next year.
I found some 'Coral Nymph' salvia tucked among my plants after our recent plant swap... they're only 8 inches tall, and I don't think they're going to bloom or set seeds before frost... I guess I'll stick them at one end of a light shelf and see if they survive the winter. They'd be nice out in the butterfly garden!
Oh, and if anybody has some of the more colorful milkweeds (Asclepias incarnata), I'd love some seed! Mine are cream to pale pink... nice, but I think I've seen deeper pink ones in catalogs (could've been hybrids) that would be pretty with the lighter ones I have. I do have plenty of seed of my A. incarnata, so I'll send some of that along for the swap.
Suzy-I am going to make it easy on you-I like everything so pass me left overs-LOL
~Robbi
So far I have added Echinacea purpurea and swamp milkweed (these really don't need a swamp) for the monarchs-still to add Star of Yelta and maybe mt. Fuji morning glori if it dries fast enough. will be adding a few more as things dry.
Yes! 'Sweet Pickles' has upward-pointing peppers, like some of those "ornamental" chiles, but it's very tasty and not hot. Even the seeds aren't bitter, so they are great to eat out of hand or to pickle whole (as their name implies). My later-harvested "extra" seeds weren't strictly isolated, but I'll get them from down at the end of the bed away from most of the other peppers (there are some C. chinense there, but they started fruiting much later)... I haven't had trouble before with this one not coming true, even without bagging blooms.
Hi, Suzy! Sure, count me in! Like Critter, many of my seeds are not ready for harvest now, but should be ready by late October. Most of my seeds are either annuals or perennials hardy to USDA zone 3 or warmer, some zones 2. I definitely can offer seeds for Northern Gardeners! So far, I have collected Meconopsis betonicifolia (blue poppy), as well as several silenes and catchflies. My chocolate lilies are almost ready, as well as a lovely somniferum poppy called Queen's poppy. It's an old variety. I've harvested some Geranium phaeum, and I'll probably have a mix of Geranium pratense ready soon. If my Geranium Purple Haze keeps putting out seed, I should have some of that, as well. Ooops, I'm rambling on....
Oh, be still my heart. Weezingreens, it is my ultimate dream to be able to grow blue poppies, but as a Northerner living in the "Deep South" (lol), I fear that that will not happen any time soon! Please please please, could you post a photo of your poppies in bloom, if you have any???
I have been tempted to try to grow them through our Winter months, but I sorta doubt that that would work...
This message was edited Sep 20, 2007 1:47 PM
Here's a photo of Meconopsis betonicifolia in bloom. It was a better performer than M. Lingholm this year, for some reason. I harvest the seeds, give them a day or so to dry, then put them in the freezer. They should be planted fresh or just out of the freezer. I successfully started two or three trays of them indoors this spring, and the plants are coming along nicely. Those that survive the winter should bloom next year. In a climate that isn't kind to many of the beautiful plants from warmer climes, it is nice to have such an exotic growing here.
Here's a picture of the Papaver somniferum 'Queen's Poppy'. I loved the rich salmony pink with the white dots at the base of the petal. It bloomed prolifically, left large seed heads, and had a nice upright habit. The pods are still green, but should afford lots of seeds by late October.
I think more of my seeds will be ready to send in by Oct 31 - may I join? Sure hate for my seeds not to get planted somewhere.
Wrightie, if you get those blue Meconopsis to flower here in Maryland, can you imagine the fuss over at the County & State fairs over that? You'd probably get plastered with blue ribbons - lol.
I see a lot of old friends here - waving to you and hello to new ones
karen
Hi, Karen. In order to grow the Meconopsis in your area, you'll need to plant them in an area with dappled light and good moisture. That's pretty much the situation here all summer long! They grow in Palmer on a hillside at the Blue Poppy Farm, and their summers get hot. The lack of a dormant winter period may be an issue, however.
my post crossed Weez's poppies - yup, gorgeous. Will come back tonight to read rest of thread - have one of Iloquin's favorite (not!) vines to fool with - am trying to color-code variations of JMG cultivars that think they can foil my attempts to keep their pods identifiable later on - hah!
hmmm, Weez. Critter, do you think you might try, too?
WZ!! How cool and how cottagey! We don't think of some of those things now because they've been out of bloom and surpassed in our minds by our Zinnias and Black Eyed Susans, but they are so cottagey!
That reminds me to ask the group about some common things like Calendula, Bachelor Buttons and __________ Pansies or Violas or whatever else blooms in the spring. I've forgotten already!
G6 - Great photo - and nice placement. Vey pretty!
Distantkin - Yes, I got a lot of leftovers last year and was extremely happy. They were easy and bloomed their heads off from seed for me, so what's not to like? There are some I make fun of, like that Covent Garden Gypsophila that's in every seed rack and always has a 10c package, but it was a great little cut flower-filler and I actually liked it a lot.
Yes, peeps, the blue poppies are wonderful, but unless you are in Idaho, North Dakota (maybe), Minnesota or the UP, they just won't be happy. Not sure about Maine and New Hampshire.
I'm going to run off and see what kind of recipe I can find for pickled peppers. :) I have an urge to can now that the kids are gone. :)
WZ, I'm glad you joined up! Thanks!
Suzy
Weezingreens, can you tell me the typical temp' ranges during your growing season for your Meconopsis? I'm under the impression that AK gets some pretty hot days and cold nights in the summer, no? Gosh, I was so desperate to try the blue poppies that I picked up a few packets while in England this year, knowing full well that they needed to be fresh seeds. No luck, of course. Do you think it's worth throwing my unopened packs in the freezer for a couple weeks then trying to plant some out in October? I suspect that they will not take, but I would love to see just one bloom - ONCE. :)
Whoops, I was typing while you were, Illoquin... I'm still tempted to scatter the meconopsis seeds all over my winter beds - LOL. Better than putting them on the compost pile. Then again, it's almost poppyseed cake season...