Drying and cleaning some ;
rose campion
Datura
Larkspur
baptisia
columbine
penstemon
SPECTACULAR 2007 COTTAGE GARDEN FRESH FALL SEED SWAP!
I can see I need to send lots of packages to get all of these goodies :o)
Robbi
So I was looking through my seed stash a little while ago and discovered that I have Ornamental Onion, Allium aflatunense 'Purple Sensation' that I picked back in June. That probably doesn't qualify for this swap, but I can throw some in if anyone is interested...
Wow! I leave for a day, and look at all the seeds!
Right now I have 4 members of the Fighting Illini Marching Band staying here in between a trip to the local high school (FRi Night Football Game) and Indiana Univ in Bloomington (Sat afternoon football game). The things it, they are boys and I only know about girls! I did buy extra milk and meat and cheese, but I am already thinking I need to go to the store.
Ok, Back to the swap.
Wrightie, all the seeds from this year are good for the swap. I made a mistake in the subject line in the order of the words, so I can see how you thought that they were too old, but they aren't. It's a fall swap of fresh 2007 seeds.
Have a good night, I told the boys I'd take them sightseeing at 11:00. LOL!
You're all doing a great job, and I'm with Robbi -- I'll need to see what else I can harvest. I did find some ANAPHALIS marg. New Snow ' Neuschnee' : PEARLY EVERLASTING from Bluestone Perennials. I saw it on a list for butterflies and picked it up this year.
Suzy
Oh, I should be paying more attention! Suzy, is it too late to sign up? I have a brand new cottage garden this year and I'm amazed at the number of wintersown perennials that have bloomed for me already.
I'm not sure exactly what I will have seed from. I have already collected quite a lot from 'Lauren Springer's Grape' poppy (a gorgeous purple). I also have 'Ruby Giant' coneflower, 'Highland White Dream' shasta daisy, 'Munstead' lavender and 'Perfumed Delight' sweet pea (annual). I may have quite a few more in the next few weeks.
Jan
I picked some dead ripe 'Sweet Pickles' peppers this afternoon, plus some fresh perennial helianthus (exact sp. unknown, it's the one that's "Not Chocolate Daisy" LOL) and lavender color Gomphrena. The basil seeds aren't ripe yet... but I do have a lot of catnip seed drying already.
It looks like I'll also have plenty of seed for 'Lemon Gem' marigold, which I think is a lovely cottage garden plant for planters and borders.
Gram, Sure, You're in! It's going to be wonderful, I can tell already.
Critter, Those Lemon Gem marigolds are wonderful -- I never seem to get much seed from them, tho. It sounds like you've gotten a lot, did you do anything special?
Suzy
I noticed today that I may be able to collect a wee bit of Standing Cypress seed: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62372/
The seeds just hang on in the old 'Lemon Gem' blooms like they do with any marigold... nothing special. Maybe there's just some culture difference that makes yours drop their seeds or form fewer of them?
Thanks much! I'll pay special attention to what I can collect now. I think it's too late for dill - there are already about a million tiny dill volunteers popping up LOL.
Looks like there is going to be a wonderful variety of seeds :-) I know I'd like phlox, violas, nasturtium. oooooh, what fun to think about!
here's a pic of the 'Lauren Springer's Grape' poppy. wintersown this year and it bloomed beautifully already. it's perennial. it's a much deeper purple than this...my camera doesn't capture it well
good lawd, that is one gorgeous poppy, grampapa!
wrightie, I am in love with it! I think this is the last bloom, so I should be done collecting the seed soon.
Grampapa,
What a gorgeous poppy! I added it to my list!
Jan, how tall are they? Very pretty!
Love those signet marigolds, Critter. I've grown Tangerine Gem, Lemon Gem, Paprika, and Lulu. The funky lemon scented, ferny foliage is almost as nice as the flowers! I'm hoping to have some Great Bellflower seed later this fall. That would be a good Cottage Garden plant. It is great for the back, as it grows between 5-6 feet tall! By the time the big blue bells cover the stems, it needs staking, but it is worth it.
Tres fabulous - please keep the tall stuff coming - I need it more than anything else!
Weezin', is that you with those fleurs? Certainly not how you envision Alaska, lol. Very pretty!
Please put me down on the exchange. I noticed several different dates. What is the official date to send in seeds? I have only two kinds of seeds right now, but will have more later.
I have lemonslice manihot and hardy pink hibiscus.
Charlene
Hi Charlene,
The date is October 31. That's the date they need to be here by.
If you've seen it listed as a different date somewhere, could you let me know the exact post, please? Thanks!
Critter, You're probably just a better gardener than I.
Gram - Outstanding poppy!
WZ - The Great Bellflower is awesome! I am going to run and look up Paprika and Lulu. I love those ferny marigolds!
The boys from the Fighting Illini band are gone. Three boys drank nearly a gallon of milk, and ate 10 extra jumbo eggs, and a loaf of bread. Plus nearly a pack of smoked turkey. They left their rooms and bathrooms spotless. We really had a good time with them.
Suzy
As if! LOL I think those marigolds just like my planter boxes.
if it is not too late I'd like to join in too!
I have some 2007
* yellow 4 o'clocks
* pastel blue Will Goodwin Clematis
* white stokesia (I think, I'm not exactly sure where the seeds are, seems like in a bottom layer of the pod?)
* lavender lunaria (money plant)
* lavender rose of sharon 'blue bird'
* burgundy amaranth
and I still have to wait on ripening
*shiso perilla red
* salvia blue bedder
* white garlic chives
I'm not clear on what you package each kind of seed in?
~Diana
Diana, there are lots of different ways to pack them. I happened to pick up some very small paper envelopes from an office supply store. I think they referred to them as "coin" envelopes. You could also pick up some small zip style bags. There are drawbacks to any type of envelope that you use, whether it be paper or plastic. If you like, you can also make your own envelopes out of a piece of paper...
I use the little zip top bags, but I do make sure seeds are completely dry before packing them. I use an address label template to print up label slips (on regular paper, just print and cut apart) that I tuck inside the bags. That's just the system that seems to be working for me.
You can get 1x2 inch zip top bags fairly cheaply at WalMart, but you have to look in the craft section, and they're usually a bit hidden away. But they are about $1 per 100 there. :-)
You can pick up the little zip locks at Michaels or another craft/ bead store... but when you send the seeds to Suzy, you'll want to put them in a bubble envelope.
Suzy, you don't have to feel bad if you need to cut this off - it's getting huge!
Shall I do a spread sheet for you?
what really works well, although it is extra trouble, is for very small seeds, to put them in one of the paper (glassine?) coin/stamp envelopes that wrightie referred to and then put it in one of the little ziplocs. the tiny seeds tend to stick inside the ziplocs. but whatever works that will get those precious seeds from your house to mine works for me :0)
yesterday I collected:
pink mallow
salvia 'Victoria Blue'
Jupiter's Beard
bachelor's buttons (purple)
here's the pink mallow...doesn't get any more 'cottagey' than this. this is from January's wintersowing.
I did manage to save a few dill seeds. I won't send any unless someone express an interest, so d-mail if you want some. I don't have a lot.
here's the Victoria Blue salvia, also from January's wintersowing. the pic doesn't do the color justice. it's a wonderful deep violet-blue
Pagancat, forgot to answer your question about the grape poppies. they got about 14", but supposed to be 24-30".
and I have a CORRECTION on the GRAPE POPPY: it is NOT perennial. the seed I bought was marked perennial, but just now when I was looking up the height, I see in PlantFiles and on other sites that it is an annual. it self-seeds.
here's Jupiter's Beard (Centranthus ruber)
and the whole plant
I love salvias! 'Victoria Blue' is an annual in my garden, and it's a flowering fool! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2871/
That pink mallow is gorgeous, too!
And your mention of dill reminds me that I should look for seeds on my bronze fennel... :-)
I'm not a fan of the fully double, frilly hollyhocks.. they just look "overblown" to me, although I do admire them in other people's gardens... but I love that semidouble bicolor one, pamsue!
I've got a burgundy single hollyhock, sole survivor from a Burpee mix ('Happy Lights'). It bloomed last year, and to my great surprise it came back and bloomed again this year! (I'm sure it's the same plant that came back and not a seedling... for one thing, seedlings from last year's plant wouldn't be blooming until next year.) But Hart has mentioned having some old-fashioned hollyhocks that are perennial for her, so maybe some of the older varieties aren't biennial. I did collect a few earlier seeds that seem mostly intact, but some sort of weevil got the later ones (look for a small hole in the perimeter of the seed -- if you see a hole, the seed is probably no longer viable).
hi jill
thanks
my hollyhocks live for a few years the clumps get larger as the years go by..the bi color one is on the third year this year.it was a skimpy little plant the first year and i almost yanked it ....some of them do bloom the second year and get fully established in the third year
some are perennials for me and some are just biennials or annuals..depending on the variety and the zone you are in, i think
pam
My hollyhocks are near the back of the border, and the seedlings seem to be a bunny buffet favorite, so I'm not expecting any self-sown seedling to come along... I think I'll have to wintersow and then baby them in pots if I want hollyhocks in my garden. I think I desperately need that bicolor one... if I don't luck out in the swap, I'll be Dmailing you!
Pam, They are all gorgeous!
Here is a little blurb from wintersown.org
"Hollyhocks are well known for cross-pollination. The seeds of one plant may produce a myriad of flower variations. All are extremely beautiful. I always anxiously wait to see the colors from a new batch of hollyhock seedlings because each one is lovelier than the next. "
http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Hollyhock_Seeds.html
Critter, all Hollyhocks have a notch or hole in the perimeter -- the embryo is in the middle and it's a hole in the middle that indicates the weevul.
Here is a picture of a good Hollyhock seed with the notch:
http://theseedsite.co.uk/db1a.html
Suzy
Oh, geez, now I'm really confused. The weevil hole would be in the center of the seed and not on its perimeter edge??? I threw my HH seeds in the freezer, but was going to pull them out in a week or so and then sort through them for any bad seeds. Maybe, just maybe I don't have weevils afterall...
thanks for all the pkg tips :)
this is the will goodwin clematis, a lovely color that does fade a bit in bright sun. The seeds have the 'feather', or whatever you call it, attached that doesn't easily break off, any suggestions?
