Lucy, hope your MIL is doing better! All that running around to the doctor wears everybody out... praying you got good news somewhere in all that. You're a good daughter (and a sweet wife) to be there for her!
Becky, those I. nil are just stunning... what is the one in the lower right of the photo, with the wide white edges? I've never seen a MG so strikingly colored! Wow!
I think I'm already making notes for my wish list... ;-)
Nectar and Host Plant GROUP SEED SWAP Info
Glad y'all are enjoying the MG photo. That is my newest garden obession! I am addicted to MGs now!
The MGs in the photo are named as follows: Starting in the upper left hand corner and going clockwise are:
Gray Fog, Morning Storm, Plum Shadows
Bottom right hand corner continuing clockwise:
Fuji Hot Pink Frost (which is the one you were asking about Critter), Lavender Chiffon, Yaguruma Blizzard, and Fuji no Sora.
The blooms in the photo are from the vines I grew this Fall. These blooms were open pollinated, so there is a possibility of some interesting crosses from some of the seeds. My FAVORITE kind of surprise!!! :-) I can make up a pack of seeds of 1 seed of each of those MGs for those who are participating in the swap and would like some of these MGs. You just have to let me know if you are wanting them. :-) That's my gift to all of you for participating in this seed swap! :-) :-) :-)
Lucy - I am sorry that your mother has been ill and you have been so busy taking care of her that you weren't able to get in on this seed swap. {{{hugs}}}
This message was edited Nov 17, 2007 9:06 PM
Yowza, Becky, those MG's are gorgeous!
So many addictions, so little space...
Thanks Critter and Becky.
My MIL is just getting so frail, that if I don't keep up with all her apointments, she would go down hill even faster than she already is. I don't mind taking care of her, she has always helped me whenever I have needed her, no questions asked. She a good MIL. : )
~Lucy
Oh Becky your mg's are gorgeous! I would love some! I am so anxious for the lists to be posted and start looking through things. I think I'll hit plantfiles hard tonight as I peruse the lists!
Hi Becky, just noticed it was your birthday and wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday! I hope you have a great day! I was thinking earlier about this swap and wondering how everyone felt about you getting first pick. Since your giving your time and effort I just thought it would be nice if we made sure you got what you wanted. Just a thought. How does everyone else feel about this?
Most definately!....if my package will ever arrive that is!!
~Happy Birthday Becky~ : )
Lucy
Yes, it is the official Cake-Day now!!! Hope you get to sleep late, have breakfast in the garden and dance the night away under the moon!! Or do whatever you desire....Happy Cake-Day Becky!!!
Thank you everyone!
I don't know if I will do first pick. If there is something that I really want and someone else wants it too, then I might just pinch a few seeds and send the pack to the other person. Some of these packs have a LOT of seeds! I might even divy up some of the full packs if more than one person wants some. My goal is that everyone gets as many packs as possible of what they were hoping for!!! What's better than getting what you want???? Ya know! :-) :-)
I hope to take a photo of all the seed packs that I have received so far. There are only 18 folks participating here, but if you looked at all the packs of seeds, you'd think it was for 30-40 people! LOL! Y'all were soooo generous for this swap!!! Everyone is sure going to be tickled when they receive their envies! :-)
And here is how I store my seeds. Tabasco turned me on to this idea! Thanks, T!!!!
Becky, I just got home from work..... Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Becky......
Ooooh, Becky! Those Morning Glories are beautiful! Are they all Japanese Morning Glories? I'd like to have some -- 2 seeds that are the same, please, if you can swing it. Morning Storm is my first choice and Fuji no Sora is my second choice. This will be my first foray into MGs because I've always been terrified they will start popping up everywhere like their cousin, and my constant nemesis, Bindweed! After seeing your photo, though, I'm thinking it will be worth it. LOL!
Do butterflies like Morning Glories? I didn't know that!
Happy Birthday, too! I hope you have a great day!
Suzy
Happy Birthday Becky!
Hope you have a wonderful day and have some birthday hummingbirds too!
Cathy
Happy Birthday Becky....................
Hope you have a wonderful day................
Mark
I love the album seed holder, Becky. I try to read all of Judy's post but I must have missed that one.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Becky,
I hope it is great one!!
Lauri
Becky, is that a business card organizer that the seed packs are slipped into? Tell me more please. Right now I have mine in an old flatware tray and can't see the names w/o thumbing through them. Do you have them sorted by sun, shade; color; perennial, annual??
This message was edited Nov 18, 2007 7:15 AM
Yes, I want to know more too. I just assumed it was a photo album.
I'd love some morning glories.
Happy Birthday, hope your hummer gives you a birthday visit!
Happy Birthday, Becky. Sure sorry I missed out on this seed swap!!! Next time,,,,,One can never have too many seeds.. uh, oh, my DH is looking over my shoulder..NOT, LOL. I love the seed organizer idea. Please tell us more when you have time. Have a wonderful sunny, flowery, hummer day...
Elaine
I am now addicted to mg's too. I would love some of those beautifl Mg seeds.
Happy,happy birthday to you Becky! Thank you so much for this seed swap. I will remember my first seed swap with the same feeling I got when I saw my first hummer:>0) Big Excitement!!!
Is there a list here showing the envies you have received?
Happy birthday!! Hope it is a great day for you! Those MGs are beautiful, I would love to try some.
:) Kim
Thank you so very much everyone for the lovely Birthday Wishes! :-) I am truly enjoying my day so far! :-)
To answer some questions:
My seed book is a 3-ring 2" wide binder with vinyl baseball card sleeves. I can buy a pack of 10 sleeves at Wally World for $1.60. I put 2 seed packs back-to-back in each pocket so that I can use both sides of the page. So with 10 pages of 9 pockets per page, I can store 180 seed packs! It doesn't get any better than that!!!
You can arrange the seeds in any order you desire. Color, annuals, perennials, nectar, host, etc. I have B & H plant seeds in one section and MG seeds in another. I haven't narrowed down the sorting to anything else yet because of this swap. I am waiting to get my seeds from this swap and then I will determine how to sort all the seeds in my binder. I may have to get ANOTHER binder because this one is almost full! LOL! But I absolutely love it. Judy sent her seeds in 3 pages for this swap and that is how I got the idea! She didn't post it anywhere. And I love it so much, I just had to share with y'all! :-) THANKS JUDY (tabasco)!!!
About Morning Glories:
Butterflies, Moths, Bees, and Hummers all like Morning Glory blooms. Apparently, they have a lot of nectar. But I mainly grow them because I love the blooms myself! :-)
The MGs I am offering are some rare Ipomoea nil seeds. Some are Japanese varieties. And you could get an unusual cross from any of these seeds as they were open pollination. (Bees will be bees! lol) These vines can get fairly long but most don't, so I don't consider them to be aggressive or invasive. The blooms are large (4-6") as is the leaves, so they make a nice coverage growing up or around a fence, trellis, in a large pot with support, etc. They are annuals. And yes! if seeds drop, it could produce another vine... which could be easily removed or relocated. I harvest the seeds and save them. They are very easy to find if you can reach them. Personally, in all honesty, I would let these grow all over my yard because they are so beautiful, but alas ... these don't. And they die when cold weather hits them. They like the warm temps of summer! What I am offering is 1 seed of each cultivar (shown in photo) in a pack for a total of 7 different seeds, so that you can grow them all out, decide which ones you like the best, collect the seeds, and grow the ones you like best again the next season! :-) And use the rest of the seeds for trades! Being MGs they bloom in the early morning, though if the blooms are shaded as the morning and afternoon goes on they remain open and change to a different color. Very cool! I plant all these in pots using Moisture Control potting soil by MiracleGro and had huge success with that mix! I fertilized them every three weeks after they start growing with Bloom Booster by MiracleGro which really kick starts the blooms! Some of the vines (Gray Fog and Yaguruma Blizzard) had 15-20 blooms on any given day! Stunning is an understatement!!! They need some full sun at some point in the day for at least a couple hours. They need water when they look wilted. But other than that, they are some of the easiest plants I've grown and some of the most amazing at the same time. Big reward for so little work! My kinda plant! :-) SO .... that is my explanation of these vine seeds! If you want a pack of them, just add it to your wish list. (If you added it here on THIS thread, I might not see it.)
YOUR SEED WISH LIST:
I will be starting another thread at 2 PM EST today with the entire list of seeds. Afterwards, those who are participating can look the list over, check out the links, and start creating your WISH LIST. Post you WISH list in the new thread so that I can easily find it. I will do my best to try to give each participant packs of seeds that they want. Unclaimed seed packs will be divyed up and added to everyone's envies (unless you tell me otherwise on your wish list). I have off starting on Wednesday of this week, so I will try to get the envies packed up and mailed out by Saturday, Nov. 24. If not, then by Monday, Nov. 26th! So everyone should start receiving them during the last week of November/first week of December.
This message was edited Nov 18, 2007 10:35 AM
This message was edited Nov 18, 2007 11:08 AM
Becky, you are the best!
Happy Happy Birthday Becky. Hope you have a wonderful day out in the yard
Thanks, svplantingfool! But actually, this swap is a success because of how generous all of the participants were with sharing their seeds! :-)
Here is a photo of how my MGs look in pots that I am currently growing out.
Thanks, Donna! :-)
The nice thing about growing plants in pots, is that you can move them around! If my plants are getting too much sun, then I move to an area with less sun or reverse that. Some plants that have a fragrance like my 4 O'Clocks .. I move closer to my back porch so that I can smell the scent in the evenings! I love growing plants in containers as much as in the ground! :-) The sky is the limit to all gardeners when it comes to choosing how to create their gardens! Enjoy everyone!
Don't forget to look for the new thread at 2 PM EST!
Y'all are gonna kill me but ...
The new thread will be started between 2:30 - 3:00 PM. Sorry, I was distracted for a short while and I'm not quite done with the links and the total list. I apologize! Hopefully, no more phone calls until after I get finished with the new thread! :-/
You are forgiven Becky. You have gone above and beyond the call anyhow, giving us this great opportunity to have such a variety of lovely seeds.. take your time, we will wait patiently till we see your post.....not to worry;)))
I got distracted, too, planting bulbs... I was afraid I'd missed the big roll-out, fanfare, tickertape, etc... :-) I'm standing by, ready to blow my cazoo!
With the ground finally moist enough to dig, I'm just getting started... 575 "little bulbs" in the ground so far... 900 giant crocus, 200 or so daffs, and a few misc. bulbs to go... plus a "neighborhood planting project" involving 1000 snow crocus that were too cheap to pass up... and that doesn't count 300 tulips & daffs I'm planting for my MIL! Yikes. I went a little overboard with crocus bulbs this year, LOL. Thankfully, they're small, and planting goes quickly.
The seed list is posted:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/791409/
OK.... I'd like to choose some plants for my wish list with an eye to increasing the number of host plants in my garden. Obviously a host plant is only useful if that butterfly occurs where I live. Where do I go to figure out if I have, for example, pipevine swallowtails in my area? (According to Wikkipedia & other sources, they occur from New England to Florida -- but does that mean they live in my neighborhood?)
BTW, while it won't make any difference to the butterflies, I think Donna & I sent in 2 different varieties of Wheatstraw Celosia... I know they're different cultivars because I originally got both of them from her... 'Pink Candles' has a good bit of burgundy in the foliage and stems, while 'Flamingo Flower' celosia is just green (I don't have that backwards, do I? LOL); both of them have fairly similar bright pink blooms. You didn't distinguish between them when you listed Celosia argentea v. spicata, so I thought I'd mention that there were 2 slightly different ones available, I think. Hope I'm helping and not just causing confusion!
Critter, this link might help a little:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/map?ds=21&_dcs=1
I printed the lists for my county, as well as the next county north and south, just to see what I might be able to lure into my garden!
Cathy
Critter, I think it might be a case of "if you plant it, they will come". Meanwhile, go to this place and see all the butterflies in your county and the surrouding counties. (That's what I did) It might take a long time to cross reference all these butterfly plants, tho.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
Ooops, great minds and all that. I had to find the darn link!
Suzy
Suzy and Cathy, thank you both so much! That's exactly the sort of link I needed! I knew it must exist... but I couldn't seem to find it by googling... I appreciate the assist!
Now, of course, I really "need" some species of Aristolochia, to attract Pipevine Swallowtails (to go with my BSTs and TSTs!).
... another comment on varieties that won't make any difference to the cats munching on the plants... while somebody might have sent in Florence Fennel, the Foeniculum vulgare that I sent in was Bronze Fennel, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/285/... just a different look in the garden, and I think somebody told me it doesn't bulb up, although I haven't dug mine up to look.
Critter, I adore that Bronze Fennel, it is so beautiful. I try to always have some fennel/dill/parsley growing here year round, seems like there's always some swallowtails looking for a place to drop some eggs.
I'm not sure what other states have their own bf website, but this FL site is pretty cool, the pictures in the database are fun to look at.
http://www.butterflydatabase.com/showall.php
I guess I need to move south if I want to attract Malachites. Darn!
Cathy
If the botanical names weren't on the seed packs, I was forced to just use what was listed on them. And I may have grouped some of the seeds together because they was no way to distinguish them. I have NO IDEA HOW MANY seed packs there are. If someone wants to add them all up by the number of packs after each name on the list ... I'd sure be interested to know. I hand checked ALL of them to correct any errors of counts. Pretty much everyone was very accurate!
Whew! What a swap! I expect to see photos come late Spring/early summer! LOL!
Excellent website, Cathy! Thanks for sharing that! I hadn't seen that one before.
I didn't separate the plants out between host and nectar. I thought putting them in alphabetical order was better. I'll leave the researching to the rest of you! Some folks did mark on their seed packs whether they are host or nectar. You'll be impressed by how much info many folks put on theirs. I'm afraid mine are not labeled as extensively. :-( But I trust y'all can do the research here and know what you got when they arrive! You might want to print your own wish list post out and put notes on the sheet so that you can keep it with the seeds ... for later reference when sowing the seeds in the Spring. You may forget what is host and what is nectar in 3-4 months. Just a suggestion. :-)