It seems as though this is my year for dreaming of a tropical oasis :-) I am/will be attempting to start:
• Citrus mitis 'Calamondin' (Miniature Calamondin Orange) - 5 sown using two different methods - 2 3/8" deep in Jiffy pellets Jan. 15 - 3 pressed onto surface of Jiffy pellets Feb. 7 - no germination yet
• Citrus limon 'Ponderosa' (Ponderosa Lemon) - 3 pressed onto surface of Jiffy pellets Feb. 10 - no germination yet
• Sabal Palmetto (Cabbage Palm) - starting next weekend (method: 48 hour soak, barely moist vermiculite in baggy on top of hot water heater until germinated)
• Veitchia merillii (Christmas Palm) - starting next weekend (method: 48 hour soak, barely moist vermiculite in baggy on top of hot water heater until germinated)
• Trachycarpus fortunei (Chusan Palm) - starting next weekend (method: 48 hour soak, barely moist vermiculite in baggy on top of hot water heater until germinated)
• Butia capitata (Pindo Palm) - starting next weekend (method: 48 hour soak, barely moist vermiculite in baggy on top of hot water heater until germinated)
• Coffea arabica (Arabica Coffee) - 5 sown using two different methods - 2 in Jiffy pellets Jan. 15 - 3 in peat/perlite mix Feb. 7 - no germination yet
• Gossypium herbaceum (Levant Cotton) - 3 sown (in Jiffy pellets) 3 days ago, 1 germinated today so far
• Caesalpinia pulcherimma (Pink Pride of Barbados) - 3 sown (coffee filter/baggy method), all germinated from 5 - 20 days
• Brugmansia sangunea (Red Angel's Trumpet) - 4 sown (24 hour pre-soak), all germinated from 14 - 22 days
• Canna x generalis (Canna, F1 series, Tropical Rose) - 2 sown (coffee filter/baggy method), all germinated in 5 days
• Canna x generalis (Canna, F1 series, Tropical White) - 2 sown (coffee filter/baggy method), all germinated in 5 days
Others that I'm still waiting for the seeds to come in:
• Camellia sinensis (Tea)
• Olea europaea (Olive Tree)
Is anyone else dreaming of Palm Trees and fresh tree-ripe lemons?
--Ginny
Are you starting anything tropical/exotic/unusual this year?
Nothing quite that exotic for me. A few pink brug seeds, Sandersonia, yellow clivia, and some white tacca. You are going to be a very busy gal this spring. I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg for you.
Holy cow you sure have a lot going and a lot of work ahead of you hehehe. Nope nothinge exotic or unusual for me this year.....good luck to you though!
Amazing choices Ginny! I haven't gotten much going on yet, I hope to wintersow a few things and start a few things inside but thats about it.
But, could you please share how you sprouted your pink 'pride of barbados'? I've tried to start it several times unsucsessfully. And it's been in the back of my mind to try it again!
I wish you the best sucsess! And I bet those cannas are going to be gorgeous! I remember how well the canna indica did last year!
Happy seed sowing!
Steven
Have you ever tried the Tacca before Brenda? I did once a couple of years ago but I didn't keep them warm enough and had no luck getting them to germinate. I've been thinking of giving them another try some day. Let me know how yours do please.
Thanks for the good wishes DawnLL. I won't be all that busy really. These things will all be staying in pots so I'll only have to keep potting them up as they grow larger. Oh - I guess that means intensive fertilizing and watering schedules, doesn't it? LOL I guess I'll be busier than I thought!
I started the Pride of Barbados using the coffee filter/baggy method under lights Steven, and just waited for them to start germinating. It didn't take too long at all really. Then I transplanted them to large styrofoam cups of Miracle Gro potting mix and it only took another 4 days or so for them to show above the soil line. They're as happy as clams. I got the seed from the Garden Store-N-More and I've been very impressed with the germination results so far. I'll definitely order from them again in the future.
--Ginny
Ooo, better and better! Thats where I got my seeds too! I'll get them started today! My first seeds this year, better late then never!
Thanks!
Steven
ginnylynn, I'd recommend you watch the heat/warmth you put on the Trachycarpus. They don't like it too warm. They also prefer semi-shaded/indirect light instead of full sun. Organic black, loose soil works best and mix in a bit of slow-release. I do them in flats in the greenhouse and sometimes just leave them out all winter. The ones under the benches in shade did best with a bit of bottom heat but the ones on the prop table on cables did horrible. I'll be doing my harvest in the next month as I had a request for 200lbs of it. If ya don't have success, just ask. Camellia sinensis is sold in 1 gal pots out west here.
A friend grows Meyers Lemon outside in Victoria area under an overhang and gets lemons. He's also got a cold hardy Avocado. I might wanna get a Wollemi Pine but not sure if its too big for the front yard. The Poncirus trifoliata crosses should be hardy in Ontario, aren't they? I propagate a bit of that.
Wow! Thanks for averting my potential disaster. I've never tried the Poncirus trifoliata. Most sites I find rate it to zone 6 which is a fairly common zone here in southern Ontario. I'm in zone 5b but more than willing to push zones when I get the opportunity :-)
--Ginny
Oh! And thank you very much for your kind offer if I'm less than successful with the Trachy. You never know - I might have to take you up on it :-) I'm going to try my best to do it on my own first though - there's nothing like the feeling you get when you grow something from seed all by yourself.
Any and all tips and tricks are always more than welcome. That's one of the best things about this site - the way everyone helps everyone else to be the best gardeners we can be.
--Ginny
Yup ginny I think those plants are definitely going to keep you busier than you may have thought - but it is all good and fun!!!
I pass by this lemon? tree on my way to work at 37th & Knight in Vancouver. It's a very in-your-face Chinese-nautical theme house with one of the best views of the city. You did mention lemons....
You want palm trees? This is just down the street from me.
I want the old truck!!
Hello Canada. Long time no see. I too want the truck. I had a 1954 Chevy stepside pickup finished in cherry all origional. When my divorce was finishing on the last day my ExW asked to take it. Rather than fight I just said yes and left in tears.
You guys make us jealous growing lemon and palm trees. We get coconut and lemons shipped here to Safeway grocery though. Oh well I am watching the snow fall outside of my sunroom with flakes the size of teaspoons.
You can't have Mabelline - she's mine! lol. She's a 1958 and I work hard to keep her going. She's great for haulin' trees, shrubs, perennials & annuals and of course, my 1959 Shasta travel trailer.
Hi Sofer - long time no see! Good to hear from you again. Yes, all of us east of Vancouver are suffering major zone envy right now I think. How nice it must be to have lemon and palm trees growing right in the ground.
I got out my palm tree seeds yesterday to get them started growin and realized I don't have the Trachycarpus after all. It was on my list to get in a trade but was one of the ones they no longer had. I just kept forgetting to update my list. Oh well - I still have the other three :-)
Growin you are bringing tears to my eyes. I lived in that same trailor for 3 years until I could recover from the financial disaster of my divorce. Yes the entrance is on the other side towards the back. You walk in and bathroom straight ahead. Bedroom (small) to left. Kitchen to right with stove and sink on the side of the photo, and dining nook opposite. Then a wall of open nick nack storage between that and the colapsable couch/bed that I used for my bedroom with my 2 Labs. Ahhh memories. I never had to get out of bed to cook, watch tv, or even clean. The perfect batchelor pad. LOL
ginnylynn, the lemon tree in the picture is plastic! lol. The other lemon on Vancouver Island is real, though. I checked the Trachycarpus seed on the porch in the bag and it looks nice and dry so let me know. I also have 1-2 yr seedlings. SASE. dmail me or if anyone else wants Trachy seed. I've sent these seed to Massacheussetts and they've come through a few winters in a test plot.
Soferdig, you had the model with the washroom. I would have preferred that model. Yes, bachelor pad on the go.
When I went to pick up this trailor in eastern Washington I was practicing how to get the load adjusters right and was driving on a busy highway. As I started to turn left with my truck and trailor and a mouse jumped into my shorts through the pant leg. Of course the only response I had reflexly, was to hit the mouse with my free fist. Well that was dumb, I bent over and grimaced as I almost hit the on coming traffic head on. Safely parked in the turn around, I jump out of the truck still dancing with the mouse in my pants. He must have jumped back in the truck cause I found him the next day, dead in the Diet Coke on my dash as I took a big slug of pop and bumped into the unfortunate victim.
LOL at myself! Plastic, well I'll be. DMail waiting for you growin.
Sofer, you have both me and my DH laughing so hard we're crying! You really ought to write a book about your many experiences. I'm sure it would be a best seller :-)
You crack me up, Sofer! All the havock that one little mouse caused!
Ginny, where will you overwinter all those citrus and palms, do you have a greenhouse?
Sandy
Soferdig, I'll do my best to avoid little mice running up my plant leg. That must have been some scene!
Mouse story made me laugh out loud. Ah me.
No tropicals for me. I do grow many ZA (South african wildflowers and a few hybrid watsonias. nothing else in the way of exotics.
inanda aka the other Ginny
Alas Sandy I have no greenhouse :-( I just do the best I can with what I do have.
For anything that will handle temps to about -5 to -10C I put them in our unheated but insulated garage to go dormant/die back for the winter. It rarely goes below freezing. For things that don't take cooler temps at all well I bring them indoors under lights, but I have limited space right now. I'm experimenting this year to see just how far I can push some of these things and still have them come back. If I push too hard I have more seeds to start again :-)
We have plans to add a combination greenhouse/sunroom to the back of our house (SE exposure) but that won't be for at least another couple of years.
--Ginny
Hey you guys I am coming up to paddle my canoe in June and would like to contact anyone near North Sask and Sask river. Lynn I think I will be up about the 1st or 2nd week of June. Will contact you later with the details.
Ginny (Inanda) I will probably come home from the end of the trip from Cumberland house. Is the return road any where near you?
Pam I am planning on seeing you. Steve
This message was edited Feb 17, 2008 6:25 PM
any time steve, your room has been completely redone after the flood and is waiting for you. are you going solo this year? or have you talked your DW into becoming an intrepid explorer?
don't know if it's considered exotic, but I'm trying blue poppies for the second time. First was a failure....
so will see.........
That's one of those things that I am just dying to try, but I've heard of so many people having no luck with it - either getting it to germinate or keeping it growing - that I'm hesitant. Keep us posted on how it goes please!
--Ginny
I put a few seeds in a few pots of seed starter mix, in a plastic tray on the shelf behind the greenhouse, piled up snow on the top of it, and left it to it's own devices. It gets snow blown on top, but it's under the overhang of the roof of the greenhouse, so does not get rained on.
there's a reserve of seeds in my freezer......
this is the second attempt...
I had tried some plain little sweet violets, with no luck. I dumped the tray behind the greenhouse..... now I have those same little violets all around the greenhouse..... they self seed with great abandon....
patience, patience...... and more coffee!
I got a himalayan blue poppy seedling last year from a friend (pretty please get through the winter). She got 10% germination rate growing in 100% peat moss.
sorry to horn in but something caught my eye.
ECHOES....where did you get sandersonia seeds?
Feel free to horn away. The more the merrier :-)
well are yall cold up there? finally today we got the sunshine back and it is turning out nice. after i asked about those seeds i googled them and i bet she got them at T & M. i just love that plant although i have never seen it in person.
Hey Sofer Ginny (Inanda) will be in Calgary weekend of 21st June doing a workshop forthe Calgary Hort Society ( on her way out to the west coast)
Planning a mini round up - you expect to be in the vicinity?
I will be deep into the down river run at that time. Probably around Prince albert.
Yes mamajack, we are cold up here - at least I most certainly am. Of course I'm just a big suck in the winter. Welcome to our frigid little corner of the world :-)
Nice and warm up here in Juneau. 20F tonight. I got to go to a high school 'Les Mis' and it was wonderful.
some of you have already started to sow your seeds i see. when can you sow seeds outside? and exactly how long do your flowers have before the cold returns?
i'm jealous because yall can grow lupines and i can't. does everyone grow those?
Hi mamajack long time since I talked to you. The iris I got from you are doing fine.
Sending a picture of my lupine which seeds itself each year.
Lynn
hey girl. and there is that gorgeous house that the oltman's built. lol. aren't those flowers just lovely? i see all of your yards covered with lupines just because you can.