ok, wait, I just now read the back about them flowering, they don't flower until the second year!!!!! Alyssum I thought was an annual I've never seen a perennial alyssum around here and then again we never have anything nice to choose from :) Says they are hardy to zone 4! One of these days I will learn to read the backs lol
Stoke's Seed Swa-Op Babies!
Okay. Guess I answered that one LOL!
I decided on pinks and purples -- my most hated colors. LOL! Maybe I'll find somehting wonderful if Florida, but I cannot think of any yellows that will be small enough to go with the ivy leaf geraniums, either
How about Linarea (or is it Linnarea)... the one with delicate stems and foliage, blooms like tiny snapdragons... it can get maybe 12 inches tall, but generally flops around a bit... nice companion and filler plant in containers... and I think you can get it in a yellow color as well as in a mix (search PF for "butter 'n eggs" maybe?).
Sorry for lack of links -- it's late! LOL
I'll check that one out Critter, thanks :) Going nite nite :)
Can you grow nemesia in the sun? I want to put them with my geraniums from the swap, I've grown nemesia before but I've never had it in the sun have you? I love nemesia, I have some yellow going now.
At the garden center I worked at in Chicago we had it out in the sun all day long...as long as the doofuses kept it watered we didn't have any problem. I would think that tucked underneath something, and in real dirt (not a tiny pot for two months) it would do OK.
Great that's what I'll grow with my geranium, I was wanting yellow :)
The directions on my Nemesia packet said to start it a mere 4 to 6 weeks before setting out... I'm chomping at the bit one this one, can't wait to see if the blooms are really fragrant! Is it time to sow?
I sowed mine the 24th of Feb. but I like the plants to be pretty good size when I get to set them out I think I sow them a little earlier every year just because I can't wait to see them bloom LOL They're one plant you don't have to fight with the lights though or I wouldn't. I'll pot mine up in a 2" pot then a few weeks before I set them out I'll put them in 3" pots just to get their roots to going for when I set them out. This is the first year for the yellow and really looking forward to them, as age gets me I want brighter colors lol, usually I grow the red and white and last year like Robin's warning I guess, I planted them in a much smaller pot and they died on me :(
I love nemesia - those are some seeds that I couldn't keep track of on all the Piggie Posts so I didn't get any - LOL! And some of them really do have a wonderful vanilla-type scent - more so the white than the purple, as I recall. I also really like diascia as it takes the heat and keeps chugging. Easy to deadhead too - just use a pair of scissors!
I'll keep an eye out for those diascia for next year, are they easy to collect do you think there will be any in the swap :) I'll put those on my list lol If I have some more seeds I'll plant some more and share with you I'll have to look for them though I just tried to find my bag of what I've sowed already for some dusty miller and can't find it LOL Lost in the world of seeds lol
Okay . . . going to the plant file to find out what nemesia is :-)
It's something you NEED Seandor 8^)
I'd bet diascia seeds are tiny as all get-out.....gotta go look that up.
Well, heck,...I didn't know what nemesia was either. Now, I need some. lol : )
~Lucy
Don't you hate it when you forget to capitalize 'I'. Grrr lol
This message was edited Mar 12, 2008 4:56 PM
Lucy, I bet they have the nemesia in your garden centers now though I never see it in ours I always have to grow it.
Thanks! I'm going to sow my Nemesia this week, then. :-)
I had a shock when I checked on my little 6 pack of Fairy Snapdragon seedlings... they were such teeny things, but they looked good yesterday! Today, there are some tiny delicate stems still sticking up, but no leaves! I have no idea if some bug came along (in the basement) and found them tasty, or if it's a damping off sort of problem, but I'm bummed. I don't think there's much chance they'll keep growing at this point, but I'm not tossing them out just yet... I still have space, LOL.
I potted up a flat of petunias to go with my flat of lobelia! Those 'Lilac Wave' seedlings grew twice as fast as the other two kinds that I sowed (a double blue cascade and a mix that I'm starting for a friend). I put a few of them into 4 inch cow pots, but most went into cell packs that are about the size of a 2 inch pot.
Critter everyone is saying they look like little blades of grass so don't you dare throw them out lol I haven't done my snaps yet I'm still waiting a while. I put all of my petunias in 6 packs and wish I didn't by the time they are ready to go out and I'm doing it again this year lol Same with impatiens but my impatiens aren't doing that well this year I may have to ditch them :(
My nemesia is up about 1 1/2" so far, not sure how tall the yellow is that I got in the swap if it's a shorter one or a taller one, guess I'll find out lol
Well, I managed to get three Fairy Snapdragon to survive - I think I didn't keep them moist enough. Hey! I'm a rookie . . . I'm allowed to make mistakes. :-)
I do have some nemesia seeds - just didn't know what they were. I have 11 days off starting Friday - so major seed sowing time!
Shoot Seandor I don't work and still I'm so far behind, I kept up with everything when I worked cause I knew I had to lol
Nice vacation, what are you going to do besides sow seeds :)
Think there's any chance their cotyledons just fell off and they're fine? They don't look fine... they're barely visible. Win some, lose some. My 3 leftover adenium seeds are sprouting! *throws chest back out*
Critter, give them a few more days. Mine look like little needles, and if it weren't for the advice to leave those seed shells alone I'd be tempted!!! Every time I worry about a seed not being able to get rid of it's shell or grow properly I remind myself that Mother Nature has been doing this without me for quite some time, and that I need to have a bit more faith in them - LOL!
My asparagus is sprouting!! At least, two of them are...and they look like teeny tiny little asparagus! They're so cute. I'm going to try to get a pic of my Stokes petunias later today, along with those poppies I started in Jan. I repotted them again yesterday, this time from paper pots to plastic cups, and put a baggie on them to help them get through the first day or so. I'm really pleased with how well they are doing - or at least were doing before I transplanted them - I've not had the nerve to check them this morning. Have to head out to a doc appt and will check them and take pics when I get home.
Violas and pansies are doing OK, but my petunias look a little wimpy - like the leaves want to wilt but aren't fully giving in....sigh.... The lobelia is doing pretty good. I broke apart the mass of seedlings and transplanted those to some 5" round pots I saved from last year, the baggies are still on them though... Those Tansy's are beating their chest! I'm going to have to set up a space just for those little Rastafarians so they quite pushing others out of the way!
And I think I'm going to break down and get myself some nemesia, diascia, dwarf snaps, and impatiens. I didn't ask for anything like that in the trade, and I think my garden will be able to use those :) I'll just have to check on the germination on diascia to see if it's worth trying myself. And my sis has spotted a green-eyed Rudbeckia that she really likes, so I'm gonna find that and start some for her.
congrats critter, I have no idea what adenium is though.....will look it up now :)
dryad you have alot too, nice job! Mine are all moving along very slowly. I really like the tansy pic I saw a while back...what kind of tansy is yours again?
I reread critters damping off article and have been googling info about it too ~I hope I don't get that. I worry about the petunias because their growth is not that great. I'm hoping that even though the leaves are still so tiny their root systems have been developing. The geranium seedlings seem to be nice and hardy.
What else am I going to do beside sow seeds during Spring Break? Grade papers! And lots and lots of them . . . I'd rather play in the dirt, but I have to finance this habit somehow!
LOL - Seandor, do you watch SpongeBog at all?? The very first thing that popped into my wee head when I read "grade papers" was the episode where Mrs. Puff gives him his drivers license because of "Extra Credit"! I wonder if you could get students to grade each others' papers, giving you a written summation?! That way you can get them to do twice as much work and you get to do half, by reading the summations and a few random samplings - LOL! I've often wished my education included more "real world" stuff, like budgeting, dealing with difficult people, project planning and management, all the stuff you really need to know, rather than some of the stuff they did jam down our throats.....maybe that's why I had the first career I did - training manager for corporations...
And Critter's pretty much entirely to blame for some of these things being as big as they are. I read her article and realized I could set up at least one light in the basement right away for just the cost of the light. I've since expanded, but I gobble up every treat she drops in her articles :>
ANYway - here is a pic of my geraniums :) I didn't get them started until Feb. 12. I also had one 'Splish Splash' get going at the same time, I have to resow those. Can you tell the tansy needs a room of it's own? Pushy neighbor....
Wind - the tansy is a purple tansy that came from Carol Eads' garden via Weez's Wine Box in the Piggie Swap. I've got some more of that seed if you want some. I plan on having it flop and take up space in the new CG, as I won't have enough mature plants for a while.
Wind, here is a picture of that purple tansy, the blooms on that are soo pretty, kind of like the blue mist shrub, it's not hardy for us but so worth growing with it's lacy leaves.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/12599/
Your petunias will stay small for a while then they will shoot up when you are least expecting it don't fret oer them they will be fine :)
Robin I just planted my summer showers the 12th of Feb. too lol Mine are about the same size :) and I just did plant some hardy geraniums yesterday: incannum, splish splash, jester's jacket and have a few more to do today I'm just hoping they all come up :)
My violets aren't growing that fast either but I guess I was late getting them planted too but they are still alive from transplanting so I guess I should be thankful for that LOL I just transplanted another last night and still have three seed trays in the closet but have quite a few under lights I can't wait to see the blooms on them! Even if it's just under lights, at least they will get in the ground this year :)
I can hardly wait! I can hardly wait! Just two more classes this afternoon and I can pig out on winter sowing and potting up and lots of gardening stuff! Yippee!
dryad57 - in my intro class student study things like: what is freedom (and how to get more of it), what is misery (and how to avoid it), and the need to form social movements if they want to generate effective long term change at the social level.
They watch documentaries on credit cards (illustrates misery and loss of freedom), the impact of marketing (loss of freedom), and a very sad film on 911 (explains the difficulty of an individual to change corporate culture by themselfves.).
For most students, it is a rude awakening to discover the degree to which social forces - not individual choice - actually controls our lives. As I point out, most men are not aspiring to become homemakers, and most women are not seeking higher education so they can spend their lives working to support a man! Even today, women have the option of being full-time homemakers (a very worthy but grotesquely undervalued occupation) if her partner earns enough income to support the family, but this option is seldom made available to men.
Similarly, most men never consider a career as a nurse, though they would be practically guaranteed life-long employment. :-) Most people simply cannot think "outside the box."
The reason I'm so skeptical about my fairy snaps is that they've been up for a while now, with a pair of little cotyledons... and suddenly, there's nothing left but these frail, teeny little stems. I've never seen a plant drop cotyledons and then suddenly grow true leaves... Has anybody else with "needle" sprouts had little round cotyledons already, before the plants went to looking like thin sprigs of not much?
Thanks for the compliments on the articles... always happy to be an enabler, LOL.
The seeds sowing and transplanting article is up! With the photo tutorial. :-)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/862/
It's a great article - I highly recommend it; and I love the idea of clump transplanting my lobelia!
Critter I clump planted my lobelia last year and it did great and the stongest survived! I've also told several people about your idea for clump planting but I don't think it was an article when I was reading about you doing it, it was in a post :)
It wasn't an article until today! :-)
It's pretty much the same information as in that thread on the propagation forum, but hopefully better organized with a few added tips -- and with photos.
Similarly, a lot of the information in my other seed starting articles on lights, heat mats, and damping off is also in that thread... but I think it's more accessible in the articles.
I "clumped" a few petunias yesterday, just 2 or 3 per pot. They were a mix, so the results could be rather, er, unique.
I'm getting ready to do some coleus sometime this week so that should be interesting, not sure if I would want to do my petunias :) Although there are enough to experiment with lol I may try it just to see what happens too, there are always too many petunias :)
I did that with my lobelia this year - I thought I remembered reading that somewhere :) They were so tiny that I've had to keep a baggie on them, but they are still doing fine!
Seandor - you're teaching a class on real life! Wish they had those when I was in school...
Critter, how long have your little snap sticks been, ah, sticks? You'd think the stem would give up if it was dead...
I think we missed out on a lot of things when we were in school that they have now or I did anyway, they teach you all kinds of things about life now and the only classes they had on life when I was in school even close was cooking! I still think that class was a joke. They didn't have on the job training when I was in school either they started it the year after I graduated and they had classes on nursery training too after I graduated I missed out on all of that stuff.
Seandor how are your snaps doing?
LOL - the only thing I remember from Home Ed is how to make creamed corn! Now I ask you.....
I don't even remember doing that Robin, maybe how to make hot chocolate LOL Oh, and instant milk LOL
Regarding the snaps - well they are germinating like mad, and I have put the first two batches outside as soon as they germinated, as per instructions from Illoquin. They survived the night and seem quite happy. :-) I have a bunch more that are germinating, so I will put these outside either tonight or tomorrow. Eventually, they will all have to be potted up (what have I done to myself?????)
Regarding education. I HATED high school!!!!!!! I hated it soooooo much, I waited another 12 years before I went to university. One week of classes and I was hooked. I always wonder why no one ever mentioned that university was so different from high school; high school was about learning what the teacher and the textbook thought. University was about finding out what I thought. Liked it soooo much I spent most of my adult life as a professional student!
Now I am learning all about gardening; someday I am going to take the master gardener courses!
Seandor if you have a bunch of them when you transplant them just clump plant them, that's what I plan on doing with mine when I plant them.
No more school for me I'm out and I love it LOL
I did love school until today.........terrible exam in management of food service systems.......my brain is fried........just want to cry (actually did cry!)...alot of calculations...too many...
I'm looking forward to this spring break :) it is official as of now!
I'm looking forward to planting more seeds tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day...!!!!!!!
LeBug, thanks for posting the tansy link