Yes, I only grow one or two Tithonias because of how much room they take up, too, and I only grow the shorter Fiesta Del Sols.
We're in the Cottage Garden forum now, and I swear these people like pinks, purples, mauves and whites -- I had Tithonia in the Nov seed swap and I wasn't able to pawn it off on anybody except Maozamom and PamSue! They get big, and they are very full and very lush looking compared to Zinnias, but the butterflies took the Zinnias hands down over Tithonia.
Join Us! Seed Swap Seed Starting & Conversation #3
Well, it's too bad no one likes the Tithonia-- It's quite a fashionable flower for the garden this year, too, or so the gardening media says... (probably because they saw all of our threads on DG about it.)
Well, I mentioned somewhere else so pardon the redundancy, but I don't think the T. 'Fiesta del Sol' has much nectar and it's too short for the butterflies to get crazy over it. They like tall stuff the best that's easy for them to spy from afar.
Pinks, purples, mauves and whites are nice too. Very soothing. I do those colors in late May when all the Siberian Iris, Bearded Iris, campanulas, peonies, allium, camassias, dogwoods, azaleas, and my eremurus (white) are in bloom. Is that a cottage garden? If I add some Kale or Flowering cabbage it would be, I suppose.
nice plant selection tabasco :) sounds cottagey to me
what color siberian iris do you have? I rec'd some orange in the swap and never even knew they came in orange! can't wait to try them, I have an orange/yellow/lavender bed for them. Only it's not really moist so I may have to put them somewhere else...
do you have to dig up your camassias? how do you like them? I thought they were maily for the west coast
I never tried them before or the eremurus
Robynzest - do you or anyone else have any seed starting tips for Clematis and Mandevilla? Thanks!
I'm glad to hear hardy plants is reputable. I placed an order last night. I ordered from there last year too, I didn't have any problems. I don't know where I'm going to keep all these plants I am planning to grow! I think it's funny there are already tithonia babies! I can't start those for a while, but I like to plant stuff right from the 6 packs. Plus I can't even harden off until early May, if it's not raining every day that is. I had that problem one year - there was a lot of flooding. Hopefully the weather cooperates. When does everyone usually see their first daf bloom?
Mine started this week :)
my earliest daf's were the mini yellow ones ~ began 3/24 last year! only approx one month away!
what a difference a few states make! lucky you!
Awww I want to be in zone 8! My dafs bloomed at the very end of April last year. It was their first year so I am hoping for earlier this year. The previous owners planted 3 or that's all that was left. 2006 I had 2 blooms in early april. I wonder which type bloom the earliest. I'd like to get some.
Here's a pic of mine last spring http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=4450371
Suzy, are you kidding me? ("the butterflies took the Zinnias hands down over Tithonia") It is just the opposite here. . Strange, huh?
I had some BF's on my zinnas, but not like I had on my Tithonias.
~Lucy
Oh how pretty those daffodils are with those tulips! I wish tulips would come back every year here in zone 8. Just the wrong climate for them. sigh...
Zinnias and Tithonias must be a staple for my butterfly garden along with Verbena bonairnesis.
I want to try some other tall plants like Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate. Don't remember the botanical name though.
cordeledawg do you need seeds for it? I'm sure I'll have extra, I got some from soulgardenlove who was very generous in her packs :) just dmail me
Thank you though, I do have plenty, Wind. Soulgardenlove is where mine came from after admiring her pictures last year.
Thank you Cdawg - I am anxious to see if the darwins come back like they say they should. Now that spring is getting closer I am wishing I had gotten some crocus vernus in the ground, the type I planted before are really tiny flowers.
I'm digging the happy Buddha with the daff's Meredith! I never pay attention to when mine bloom. Sometime in April. I know up here we are a good week behind Keene. It's amazing what just a couple miles can do, let alone what a couple states can do!
I'm growing tithonia as well. Suzy has me on an annual kick! I am excited for all the annuals I will be growing this year, in addition to my standards. I am mostly growing direct sowers, but I will be starting some inside. How many of you use the baggy method to start seeds? I think I will do some daturas that way and see how it goes. I am also growing KMOTGG, but I am woried about it reseeding in like amaranth do with those billion seeds.
Easiest way to do clematis is winter sow. I tried something different this year, I put the seeds in the baggie/filter method left it at room temp for 2 weeks. Then threw it in the fridge for 3 weeks. Took it out added heat and light. 2 week later, I have germination. I also have seeds in dirt in a baggies that is in the garage and if it warms up too much I throw it in the fridge untill the temps get cold again. My garage has been staying between 38 and 55.
Other w/s seeds like the clematis, honesuckle, mimosa, lilac and such I either direct sow or I put in the baggies with dirt and toss in the fridge, bring them out for a while and toss them back in. Kind of like immitating the weather outside.
I haven't done Mandevilla before now, but am trying the baggie method with heat and lights.
Flower - I used the baggie and coffee filter method on my daturas...the Datura purple queen has come up nicely (they spent roughly 10 days in the baggie, started them in baggie 1-30 they are now about 2-3" tall in a soiless medium) however, my Datura Metals have not come up at all nor have my passifloras (quadrangularis "giant grenadilla")...
Meridith - loved your pic!
Robyn- thanks for the info...I'll give the neglect in the fridge method a try LOL
Oh yeah-I WS 10 more jugs today
So, clematis need a period of cold, before they germinate?
I do believe so. Check the propagation on this. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2162/
My rule of thumb is if it's a perennial hardy to my zone or below then it needs or can be winter sown. The seeds are used to being in the ground during the winter and they sprout the following year so we w/s them.
I tried a lot of stuff in baggies last year. I have a problem getting them out of the baggys. Procastination-lol. I'm better off putting seeds in trays in cells otherwise they never get planted! I am notorious for losing a few flats to leaving them in flats and never finishing hardening off. Last year I did good - I only completely lost one. But I did lose a few things in my ws containers.
I am a nervous nelly with the baggies because the seeds always look like they are rotting. I think it's fine though because I did get some germination from them once I took them out and left them on the counter (too long).
Mer-did you use dirt, paper towel or filter. I'm a scatterbrain and I get bored easily-so I figure trying different things gives me stimulation.
I used the paper towel last year. This year anything I am putting in the fridge is getting mixed with damp pro mix. I think this will be better because I can just sprinkle it over where they are to germinate, instead of dealing with the tangled seedlings that grew through the paper towels. That was a bit too much work for my liking. :)
Everyone is getting very creative on their seed starting techniques!
Last year I had all kinds of coffee filters taped to my front parlor (sunny) windows with seeds waiting to germinate. The neighbors wanted to know what the heck was going on and my kids said I couldn't do it this year...boo hoo!
I think Norm Deno's germinating methods (coffee filter/paper towel method) are fun and good to know about for the home gardener--really simplifies and demystifies some seeds that are a bit challenging and boils it down to 'seed starting for dummies' which is about my kind of gardening!
For those who are lurking and want to know more, here is a little run down on Deno's book and thoughts on germinating: http://www.frogswell.com/sowingthedenoway.htm
I also have American Horticultural Society's (DK Publishing) book on 'Propagation' which is a nice all round source on how to multiply your plants too which someone on DG recommended to me. It doesn't cover wintersowing, though, which I think is a key method for people like me.
About the daffs--what a neat photo of your daffs and tulips with the buddha! So springlike and just the tonic I need for this cold morning! Some of my early ones are about 4 inches out of the ground and I think they will bloom in late March--maybe 'Jack Snipe'--Illoquin will know the names of the early ones--she is very into the daffs and ADS.
I have a few Siberian Iris in yellow including the old 'butter and sugar' (is that the name of it?) and several others. A couple years back I really got into them and ordered about 30 kinds from Ensata Gardens...some have perished but others seemed to have thrived and work well in our changeable spring climates.
I planted Eremurus 2 years ago and some never returned because I crowded them out with summer over plantings, so I replant eremurus every fall. My neighbors love them, and I like them with the bearded iris, too...White camassias would do well here if I would refrain from overwatering them in the summer (again I over-plant the area with summer bloomers) and if the chipmunks and voles/moles didn't bother them. I thought they were pretty with the peonies and clematis.
Here is a nice cottage with a garden--not mine, but a nice one! I can dream, can't I?!!
wind, I've had camassias naturalize here, I can't remember which species, but it was probably C.quamash. I've read some tolerate moisture better than most bulbs. I'm trying Blue Danube this year, a taller, darker blue variety. Siberian Iris tolerate regular garden conditions beautifully, and mine typically don't even suffer when we have drought. The orange you mentioned is probably a Louisiana iris (to date, I don't believe breeders have been successful in achieving an orange Siberian), which are similar, but they do appreciate more moisture.
t, that pic is wonderful! I love that house- just the look I want.(only with dusty lavender instead of yellow, since we're dreaming, lol)
Goodmorning all,
I am busily sowing everything I can, pots outside wintersowing, pots in the sunroom hopefully warm germinating, and flats in the coldroom chilling. To keep things manageable come spring I am trying to prioritize what gets sowed now, direct sowed later, or what can be successfully stored. I have been looking for seed viability lists to determine which seeds need to be sown this year and which ones have longer viability and could be cold stored until next year if need be. I found this site with a list I thought might be of use to others, it is telling me to plant all salvias now, but stocks could be stored for next year if need be. Does anyone have a better or more comprehensive list? Thanks so much. KD
http://hillgardens.com/seed_longevity.htm
Here is a second list I found. KD
http://faculty.matcmadison.edu/mchristoffel/plants/seeds/viability.htm
My seed starting method for this year.... I think I have maybe about 1.34 million seeds.. I stopped counting at 345,689, so it's just an estimate. ~(: !!!
I just had 15 cubic yards of municipal stinky compost dumped onto a tarp in my side driveway. I will weed and clean the beds, and then spread the compost. I have gone through all my seed packs, studied the flower and decided what beds they will go in.. So I will then direct sow the seeds onto the compost and run my irrigation sytem for a few minutes each night to keep them moist. Yes, I know they will be later to bloom than had I started them indoors, but I just couldn't do that many seeds and they would never all get to grow that way!
:)
Susan
LOL! I do the opposite in every way, Susan/Soulgardenlove....I sow everything in a little pot, either inside or out, then I treat them all like the flowers at the garden center.
If I have bed where I am growing yellow and red and purple verbena, but want some shorter things in front, I look over my stock and see what I have..."Mmm, something short and red, snaps, and I think I'll choose this little Cephalophora with maybe something purple in the middle....now where are those purple dahlia tubers?"
This is what I am copying
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=4444677
Suzy, I could do that too if the garden center staff worked here! Love that pic! :)
soulgardenlove, what's the word with the drought in your area? hopefully conditions have improved for you
I have Dichondra 'Silver Falls' seeds to start. I remember seeing a post on how to start these but now I can't find it. Can someone point me to it?
Susy- I love that combo. We use quite a lot of the verbena bonariensis to poke it's heads about, but I love the red flower mixed in. I'm not familiar with it-it looks like a tall, airy indian paintbrush. Enlighten me, please.
Here you go flowerhead:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/658/
Kath, T&M had that tassel flower last year (scarlet magic) haven't noticed if they have it this year, I've been looking for something to plant with all of these rudbeckia seeds I got this year wonder if I saved and verbena seeds for myself LOL I like that combo too!
dawg, That was ansonfan that asked about the Dichondra but I'm sowing a different type that I got last year and just putting it under lights about 70, surface sow. I looked for his post but couldn't find it too many threads LOL
Actually Lea, you sent me some 'scarlet magic' seeds!! Now I know just what I'll do with them. Yay!
OK - I'm off to do battle with some canna seeds :-P