Piggie Swap babies and seed starting #2

Robyn - Do you actually put the boiling water directly on the hibiscus seeds, or just start with boiling water to make sure it is sterile and add the seeds to the cooled water? Thanks so much. KD

Suzy, a tbls. spoon of apple cider vinegar and a tabls. spoon of honey, put your cup in the microwave and get the water hot first then add the honey and vinegar when it cools enough for you to drink quarter a lemon and squeeze that in there if you don't like the taste you can go for more honey it won't hurt, drink it at least three times a day :) This is the best time to take it when you are first getting sick.

I soaked my pink swril hibiscus seeds last year until they got a tail then planted, I do all my hibiscus seeds this way. The pink swril should be hardy.

Robyn how fast do the hibiscus grow when you start them this early?

I've got to run to town I'll be back later!

That ought to be good exercise. : ) (running to town) lol

Hi there I am going to bump my question, I think it may have gotten lost in the canna discussion :-)) If I start buddleja butterfly bushes now (post stratification) and hibiscus now in a warm sunroom how quickly might they grow, I am wondering if they would outgrow 1 gallon pots my my last frost 3 months from now. Thanks so much. KD

Run, run, run, run for me too while you're at it.

I pour the boiling water on the seeds. Within 2 days the seeds will have the start of a tail(their roots) with in a couple more days they have their heads up and the coteldons are out. Within a week they are nice and healthy little plants if I remember to not over water them at first.

I got this proceedure off the Hibiscus forum a year or so ago. It has worked for me, so far it is much faster and I can plant them out earlier too.

Your hibiscus will grow pretty fast but won't outgrow the pot. I don't know about the BB though.

Thanks so much Robyn! You are all a wealth of information:-))

I had 5 canna seeds, and they are now knicked with a nail clipper and soaking in water ... on to the hibiscus and boiling water ... KD

Robyn how tall are your hibiscus when you plant them out?

Kd, I think you should be alright with the butterfly bushes they grow kind of slow until they get a certain height, 3 mos. wait should be alright it takes mine that long in the summer to get any height on them.

LOL Lucy LOL I better get going instead of being on here LOL

The ones I put out last year in the spring were about 8 inches tall. I started them around this time last year, I should have replanted them in between time so they should have been bigger, but I ran out of pots last year and they were a little scraggly looking but pulled out of it just fine and grew pretty good. 5 of the 6 grew that I put out, I lost one. Don't know what I did on it, but 4 of the 5 bloomed. They should be bushier and bigger this year.

KD2000, I didn't answer because I don't know the answer on the Butterfly bushes. Mine did fine and got big and bloomed from a wintersowing, so I would never waste the space under lights to grow them inside, but that's just me.

This is my first year with hibiscus and I am growing them for the butterfly larvae...if the JB don't get them first.

Suzy

Thanks for the tip on hibiscus seed. That works on any hibiscus right?
BTW new Select Seeds catalog is too fine for words.

Ansonfan you have GOT to be kidding us! What on earth do they have in the catalog that you didn't get in the swap or already have in your stash?

Not much Suzy. I am just commenting on the photography. The pics are outstanding and they have a much better assortment of plants and bulbs. Just a really nice looking catalog. And just in case anyone is interested in doing an order, I would love to piggyback. I have an eye on some gladiolus and maybe some dahlias.

Yes Ansofan, any hibiscus.

I thought Ansofan was going to start his own seed catalog.

Ah, the photography...you should drop them an email and tell them how much you appreciate their catalog. I did that with High Country gardens and got a nice note back.

I want the Geraniums from Select Seeds that they are talking about on this thread. LOL! I am pathetic!

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/809398/

Not quite ready for that Robyn, but I do my share of perusing lol.

I planted these Feb 5. Texas Red Star Hibs.

The geranium asst. is outstanding too, but at six bucks a pop they will have to remain in the dream box for a while.

OK ansonfan - you've got me on the glads! And there are a couple of Iris on there that are calling my name - LOL! Dmail me and let me know how you want to work it out.
Robin

Suzy are you growing the Hibiscus for painted or american ladies? If so, I'd recommend pearly everlastings as well. I have hibiscus and haven't found any cats on them. So last year I started some pearly everlastings from seeds. They were sorry little things and I had hundreds of painted lady or american lady cats on them! They never got a chance to get more than 3"! The cats ate what was there all up!

Hi, Meredith--Pearly everlastings---is that 'Anaphalis triplinervis'?

Is there a retail seed source for those seeds that you know of? I would like those butterflies to visit, too!

I grow quite a few hibiscus, I've never noticed any cats on them, and very rarely see Bf's nectaring on them.

I have never heard of Pearly everlastings , but it does look like something the butterflies would love. I'll have to check more into that. : )
~Lucy

Whoops was closing some windows and I see I didn't post the response to Meredith...

Yes, I have that Anaphalis, Meredith, and hollyhocks, too. I think I did a google search and came up with your DG Journal, as a matter of fact. We are both growing the Anaphalis 'New Snow'. :))

Yeah, it looks like a real weed, Blueglancer. LOL!

Tab, Not sure about the seeds, but Bluestone has the plants. This is the one you want: ANAPHALIS margaritacea New Snow.
I had some flowers, and collected seeds, but I brought them inside and didn't mark them right away, so I couldn't really pack and trade them. I told this to somebody and she said that it was probably for the best and she would buy plants. If they die midstream, you lose all the cats - they die of hunger. If you do the seeds, be sure to plant about 100 times more than you need. It was tough enough to get 3 plants from Bluestone and keep them going and growing, and those are considerably older and larger.

http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/ANNSS.html

I swear Meredith is right -- last year I went on the Butterfly Forum and told them I had a bunch of butterflies hatch that day and they were so thick I actually waved them away as I walked through my garden. I looked up the kind of butterfly to kind of cross check what plants they would have come from, and it was this Anaphalis and The American Painted Lady. Actually I forget the kind of butterfly -- either Painted Lady or Am Painted Lady, but I had 17 or 18 of them, and you could tell by their bright colors they had JUST hatched (eclosed).


This message was edited Feb 15, 2008 7:02 PM

Thanks Robyn for showing those pictures, I think I'll go ahead and start a few of my hibiscus about the middle of next month then I won't have to worry about them being too tall for the lights cause I will transplant them as they need it, I've never really grown them under lights before so wasn't sure how fast they would grow, I got some turn of the century seeds from one of you all on here, wind, fairy or Kath lol a while back I forgot, I hate that, I'll have to go back to the dmails and see who I got them from anyway I'm dying to see those!

Oh, thank you for the link from Bluestone. I googled around for more info and it seems that the one I mentioned ('Anaphalis triplinervis') is more popular in Europe and more 'garden worthy' so they say. The one available from Bluestone likes even watering and a dry climate (hardly Cincinnati) but it would be worth it to get the Painted Ladies in the numbers you mentioned! How lucky you are!

Here's the DG plant files page on the Anaphalis-- relatively undocumented and they could use a pic of yours if you have one for the Bluestone entry!

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Asteraceae/Anaphalis/none/cultivar/0/

Looking through the Bluestone catalog almost blew my resolve to only use plants I've started from seed this year! I'm always tempted by their 3 for such a cheap price (sort of) offers!

I looked it up - I got seeds from hardyplants.com. I am nervous of it being weedy but I love it in this picture, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/355/
if mine make the winter I'm going to copy the combo of sedum and the pearly everlasting.
I think it's leaves arte more pretty than the flowers, but from far it will look like a mass of white if they make a nice big patch. With the sedum-of course- the best beauty will be the hatching butterflies.

That photo is exactly what it looked like here, but Tab, it did fine in my humidity and watering. Which means I watered when I thought of it, but it never showed any signs of stress from lack of water.

Bluestone says it is drought tolerant.

Mine looked exactly like that photo. It was also one of the (many) things that get overrun by that crazy Salvia 'Coral Nymph', so to compensate, it grew taller. It was fine and I expect it back next year.

I do not see how they make good dried flowers, though. I went to collect the seeds and the flowers just shattered in my hand, much like Ageratum.

Information from Bluestone:
Flowers dry well. Drought tolerant. Cut back to 4-6" in fall or spring. Leave any new growth at base alone.

Suzy

http://hardyplants.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=SP&Category_Code=Anaphalis

Thanks for the tip! Good ol' Hardy Plants/Specialty Perennials has the seeds for three different kinds. Wouldn't you know it! I just placed an order with them 2 days ago! Will call and see if I can add some.

I don't know that they will be too weedy if you give them loads of sunshine. It sounds like they are alpine--from Pakistan or the Himalyas...so good for a rock garden type of situation might work.

I can't wait for all the butterflies! Thanks again. t.

Tonight I am working on starting Japanese Morning Glories...red ones for the hummers...

wow, I really like the ANAPHALIS margaritacea New Snow...I'll have to add it to my new wish list :)

reading your posts about the butterflies reminds me of the stinging nettles patch that my mother thought were weeds and pulled out this past summer! I had to explain to her that I purposely have them for the red admiral butterflies lol.

Thistles will attract the Painted Ladies.

Like blueglancer ~ I have never seen butterflies or cats on my hibiscus, I did see a little hummer this summer checking them out but that was it

hope you feel better Suzy

Here is more information from Cornell Univ. http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene67d1.html

Common pearly everlasting species include:

Common pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea var. cinnamomea) - White, woolly stems turn rust-colored. Leaves greenish with white hairs.

Japanese pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea var. yedoensis) - Foliage silver-edged, dark gray.

Three-veined everlasting (Anaphalis triplinervis) - 'Summer Snow' is a popular variety. var. intermedia (also called A. nepalensis) is a compact form but only hardy to Zone 5.

The TX star hibiscus is the one I often see mentioned in conjunction with Butterfly gardening. I think the hummers are attracted to that one, too, since it's red. The hummers have checked out my Hibiscus 'plum crazy' but don't overtly nectar on it. I suppose it's a beacon to them that there might be something else juicy in my yarden (like 6 nectar feeders!)

Thanks for the good info on pearly everlasting. A definite for the BF plant list. I wonder what a good partner plant would be for PE? Maybe I could put it in a pot.

One more thought about the nettles/thistles and butterfly host plants--I read somewhere that Echinops 'ritro' is a good garden substitute as a host plant instead of pesky thistles, etc. I planted a couple of echinops in hopes of attracting the BFs but haven't noticed any action yet (they are hard to find in the garden). Can anyone confirm this about the Echinops/butterflies?

I bought more echinops seeds from Sunrise Seeds just a couple of minutes ago to wintersow.



This message was edited Feb 15, 2008 8:25 PM

I don't know about echinops, I tried one and it hasn't done well for me. I asked a garden center about it and they said echinops is funny like that some years it does well and others it doesn't. Probably a local thing here. I'm trying texas stars this year I don't know if it's too early to start them yet. I found sawfly larvae on my hibiscus I've had two years now, the first year I thought it might be cats and allowed the little buggers to eat practically all the leaves, before I realized what they were.

Wow! I just got done reading about starting hibiscus seeds. I'm going to try your method with the hot water and see what happens. I have seeds from a friend for 'fireball'. She gave me a baby last year but I'd really like to try to start some on my own. Thanks for all the information. Helen

I just looked up echinop's culture and it sounds like it might be a good partner for the pearly everlastings in a pot, maybe.

Just wondering--Is the DG site really slow tonight or is it my computer? I can't tell. Maybe both?

tabasco, DG is working ok for me tonight, last night it was slow. Every now and then, I notice DG slow, and nothing else is. I can't put my finger on what it is, tho.

Maybe it's my internet connection although it says it's 100%. Mmmm.

I should sign off and start some of my morning glory seeds but I'm waiting until 11 p.m. to put my order in for the Calla co-op when it opens. They are only taking 40 or 50 orders and I don't want to miss out! I thik I'm addicted to DG! (-:

Yep tab, you better get in early. : ) Sometimes those things go really fast. I planted a few things today, but mainly I'm just cleaning up my beds.
~Lucy

I have a strange cat on my hardy pink hibiscus in the summer but I don't know what it is and I've never seen crystals to it either, it's tan/brn and seems like it has a little of dark brn. on it, the colors are patchy looking and it's about an inch long and kind of wide, wider than a Monarch cat, have no idea what it is lol I only have one hibiscus by that spot and I never see more than one cat at a time, unless, I always have a fat praying mantis on my daylilies next to it and he/she visits the hibiscus too :~P I planted a blue river II, burgundy, rosey red, luna blush last year I wonder if they will get cats on them this year, I've had the manihot for several years and a texas red too but I've never seen cats on them. The hummers really like the texas star!

I have some thistles an sea hollies but no echinops.

What's the Latin name for Sea Holly? I thought it was an Echinops?

I don;'t like things with thistle-like leaves -- I don';t like working around them, and I don't like looking at them: Thistles, sea holly or acanthus bear's breeches or cardoon. They all look like weeds to me LOL!

It's Eryngium, I just stay clear of the sea hollies LOL I give them enough space that they don't bother me, until I collect seeds 8^)