Bachelor buttons. . .not sure how great they are as cut flowers.
Cut flowers for next year
Coneflowers. . .prob no blooms til next year. . .if it'll survive the summer heat down here.
Canna from seed (1 out of 6 germinated). . .overwintering in the greenhouse.
Agapanthus (lily of the nile)
A well deserved pat on the back! All your babies look perfect, great job! And you've posted a couple I'm sowing and am glad to see what the seedlings look like.
From the conversation last fall on ranunculus, I was wondering if you tried any? I love them, but here its either too hot or too cold at any point to do well for long outdoors. When I have a cool greenhouse, I'll definitely be growing a few in winter. I was thinking they may be a good winter/spring bloomer in your area, and probably hardy there.
Did you start your agapanthus from seed? I have some germinating now :-)
All your seedlings look very healthy Karma. How long will the Canna take to flower?
Neal, I bought a few packs of the ranunculus, but haven't planted them yet. I'm not sure how they'll do, but I saw some in bloom at HD. I hope I'm not too late in planting them. I also have ixia and anemone bulbs that need to be planted.
Were the agapanthus seeds easy to germinate? Any special techniques or were they wintersown? How exciting you got them growing from seed! I dug up my sister's aggie and divided them for myself. It's nice to know it's not impossible to grow them from seeds. Mine are a deep purple, almost navy. . .I think it's purple cloud. Have never seen any planted around here.
Terri, I have no idea how long Canna will take to flower. I soaked and nicked all the seeds before planting. A lot of work for only one to germinate. Should have just asked for a few off-shoots from my neighbor. But it was exciting to see it sprout.
This is my first go at agapanthus and I just sowed them indoors under lights. I was surprised to see germination starting so quick, about 2 weeks.
I think if you go ahead and get the ranunculus planted you may see a nice show from them before the weather gets hot, that's what makes them melt.
Wished I had more room indoors. The only spot I have right now is on top of my freezer, but my plumeria seedlings are taking over! Have you ever made hawaiin leis at the flower shop, or do they come already made? Would love to have enough plumeria flowers one day to make a lei. I've had no luck growing orchids.
I have maid leis before, but its more cost effective to get them in already maid (which I found out after the fact, LOL). Orchids Direct is a company that imports from growers and they offer dendrobium leis at a good price. I believe they sell to the public as well as to businesses. They offer an amazing selection of cut orchids at really good prices.
http://orchidsdirect.com/
some pretty pictures to look at whether you want to order or not :-)
Love the info, gemini! That would be so cool to make for a garden party.
Um....I guess I need to plant my ranunculus as well. Oh, to have 5 extra hours a day!
May princess Tammy always have Ranunculus!
Thanks for the pretty pictures Gemini-sage, lovely!
Thank you thank you thank you Neal! Will have to call for prices and shipping.
If you call, ask for Valerie and tell her Neal had you call. She's super.
Karma... You asked if your hohhlyhock shouldn't be bigger than that by now. Nope, I have close to 500 of them out here and that all the size mine are too. They are gonna sit there like that til the weather gets nice and warm and they get enough hours of sun then they wil take off. About the middle of March I wil start fertilizing mine and usually by May they are up and have buds ready to open on them.
Thanks Star! If you have any more advice, you're welcome to share. I don't have much experience sowing seeds. . .and would love any input you may have. 500?!?!?
Just keep an eye out for Hollyhock rust. It can come if the humidity gets high and keep an eye out for any pests.
Here the reciepe for a spray if ya notice any spots on yours.
Healthy Hollyhock Spray
Here is a recipe I have used on occasion. I got it from a Sharon Lovejoy column in an old Country Living Gardener magazine.
Healthy Hollyhock spray
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 T. canola oil
1/2 tsp. DW soap or Murphy's Oil Soap (I used Murphy's)
1/2 cup white vinegar
Mix with 1 gal. water and spray on hollyhocks every few days. I don't do it regularly, just when I see evidence of rust starting.
500 , yep for a fund raising project.
Hi Star, Thanks for the Hollyhock reciepe. Last year I was lucky and didn't have any rust on the leaves, but I have had it in previous years. Just a couple of questions, what is Canola oil and DW soap? we must have different names for these items!!
Canola oil is what ya find in the vegatable oil section. The Dw is dishwashing detergent. Sorry about that. Just now realized that the abbreviations for dear wife LOL
Thanks Star, It looks like I might have the rust already this year. Went out to check on the Hollyhocks, not looking that good. I will mix up some of your magic potion and see if it works, thanks again.
Thanks for the warning Star. What does the rust look like? I'm not seeing anything wrong with yours, but the littles holes in the leaves. Is that a cause of rust? Help!
Looking at your picture again terri. . .the yellow spots are rust? Will have to be on the lookout for them.
Anyone with experience in growing bells of ireland from seed? The one seedling I have has shriveled up and is about to croak! Along with larkspur, it will be going on my giving up list.
I grew bells a few years ago, and while I did have a few to mature and flower, they were short and stunted and never reached cutting potential. I had started them indoors under lights and transplanted out. Since then I've learned they like cooler temps, and have wintersown some. No sprouts yet, and these are old seed, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. A friend of mine who liked experimenting with various methods of seed starting used what I'd call a modified wintersowing method and had great success with them last year. He grew them in big containers, and sowed the seed directly into them early, while it was still pretty cool. As the seedlings emerged he covered them with straw to protect them and in June he had a lovely display. Later in summer when it got hot and dry they struggled.
Did you direct sow your larkspur? I think the key is when you sow, which for you would be much earlier than here. March is the best time here to spring sow, while its cool out and we're still getting regular frosts. I've also had good luck sowing in early autumn; they germinate and remain little green rosettes through the winter and start growing when spring comes, and typically bloom earlier than spring sown. Once summer heat sets in, they start to decline, but through June and much of July are stunning. I'm wondering if they would be a good winter grower for you. Perhaps autumn sowing would be worth a try.
I've added several more things to the cutting garden lately. We picked up a bunch of cheap, bagged roses with that in mind. If they do well and end up being permanent, great, but at $4 they were as cheap as a lot of annuals and worth it for a few cut blooms. Have also wintersown some tall brain celocia; there's something kind of gross looking about them, but I like em anyway, lol. I've been thinking about some big dahlias, and out of cheapness decided to start some from seed after I found giant decoratives at Swallowtail Gardens. Then I came across a dahlia tuber co op that I couldn't pass up. So by golly, I'm gonna have dahlias! I have no idea how I'm going to deal with all these seedlings; they like to be warm and since practically every seed germinated, finding space under lights is going to drive me nuts.
sorry to butt in, but thought y'all might be interseted in this
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/827116/
Neal, I "wintersowed" the bells. Wintersow in quotations because our winter isn't consistently cold. In fact last week, we were in the 80's, and that's when I noticed the bells going downhill. You must be right about their fondness for cooler weather. I also wintersowed larkspur, at the same time as the bells. Nothing yet. I also sowed them in the fall last year. Yarrow germinated and larkspur never showed up. I may just have to buy them as plants.
I started getting to roses as well, especially the david austin ones. But have to tighten up on my budget. . .therefore seeds have been the way to go or grow. Your garden sounds lovely. Hope to see pictures in the spring. I agree about the celosia, but they are very interesting in arrangements.
A few more seeds have germinated here. Pink candle celosia, double pink hollyhock, angelonia, foxglove, and lupine. I hope they aren't all cool weather loving plants.
Kathy, you are not butting in! Thanks for the link.
Lana
karma, the hollyhock and foxglove should do well for you. don't know about the others
Thanks! Angelonia should do well. I collected the seeds from my garden last year.
My first snapdragon bloom from seed!
Amaranthus, all chewed up. : (
Sweet peas
Cosmos getting ready to bloom. . .don't know how much longer.
Ranunculus, no show!
But the hydrangeas are full of buds. . .getting ready for a big show I hope.
Karma, you have sweet peas already! how lovely. Everything seems to be doing really well, you are always going to get plants chewed up by something or other sometimes!
I haven't seen my Amaranthus coming up yet, hope its still there! Yours is a lovely colour. It's really nice to see flowers from all your hard work sowing seeds.