Sprouts and Seedlings 2008! Any pics to share?!

verbena bonariensis has become a dirty word to me. After 2 years, they have reseeded everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. I gave away a whole jug of it. I keep scratching it out with my scuffle hoe, only to find more in a few days. It's a mint, so I should have known better.

I will never grow that stuff again.

Karen

I know I WS'ed it last year... never bloomed. I think it's come back this year... but i don't know what the foliage looks like.

Oh, dear-- I wonder why yours never bloomed, tcs...? kqcrna, sounds like you are on the VB warpath!

Verbena bonarienses does reseed a lot, but our garden is of a more 'crammed in' style than yours, I think, so it's a nice filler. And I just give the ones we don't want the yank. I prune off some of them at about a foot for a bushier plant, too. Although I think the butterflies (monarchs and swallowtails) like the tall plants better. And so do the hummingbirds in our garden.

These are my liatris spicata alba (WSed from bulbs) out doors but so easy (and cheap, compared to buying plants at the garden center!) My other liatris varieties (squarrosa, pycno..., and another one which I can't remember) were wintersowed with seeds rather than bulbs but I have only a few sprouts if any in each container. It may take them years to come into bloom, too. The butterflies love them, though.

Thank you Clementine, I love verbena bonariensis, also called Homestead Purple or Pink. If it comes up in the garden I just leave for some extra beautiful color.

OH No kqcrna verbena bonariensis a dirty word. guess it goes "whats one WSer's weed is another WSer's flower", LOL

Same with dandelions, some ppl will even buy them and put in their garden, for food. they are very tasty. While others will send big $ to get rid of them. I did see a sea of dandelions this season like no other , now it was just plain beautiful, if they only stayed like that.
BTW did anyone WS dandelions, lol


Nice looking pots of WS plants tabasco, I sure like that tub idea, beats throwing a tarp over them!!!!!

>>"whats one WSer's weed is another WSer's flower",

same for Queen Annes Lace. I pull it out by the bucket full, where others want it.

Oh my tcs1366 I just dug two out of the veggie garden ( Q A Lace )yesterday and planted in the butterfly garden, those are very pretty to, so lacy

I try to pull a to of them... but they are back in the field area I'm working on... so there will be a lot of them left.
lplus -- they have a huge tap root, so they usually just break.

A tap root to the center of earth , they have OMGosh. They are related to the carrot family , so I need them out of veggie garden so they don't cross with heirloom carrots. Peas and Queen Anns Lace anyone !!!!!!

....and... funny thin how they are related to the carrot, but the bunnies wont eat them!!

Yes but you can eat the bunnies, oh I'm just kidding, but you really can . lol


Oh btw you can toast the seeds of Q A lace , haven't done it . Use like a seame seed : ) and the roots are edible when young. They make jams and jellies out of QA Lace. Now wouldn't that be lovely served at an afternoon tea party. QA Lace jam and crumpets ^_^

Hey there folks, Spring has sprung finally. The weather just wouldn't cooperate in April. I planted out several containers despite low temperatures on again off again throughout last month. Here's a picture of my remaining winter sown containers and seedlings from this morning.

Let me rephrase that last sentence. LOL not all of my winter sown containers have germinated. Still waiting on some of my US native wild flowers. They'll take their sweet time when the weather warms.

This message was edited May 2, 2008 9:42 AM

Wow Cordeledawg , I think you are short some plants there, LOL.

I just read your blog tis mornin and OMGoodness do you have the plants, you've been / will be one busy gal . Everything is going to look so pretty. Is this the most you ever planted in a season?

It will be for me b/c of the winter sowing 172 containers w/ only a handful not up yet from putting in very old seed. They don't look like a lot when such a little seed but when they are growing over the top of the containers then I know I'm going to be planting and got my plate full.

I'm going to start this weekend planting the WS plants. Can't wait. But we had a storm come through last night and more rain today , so maybe the sun on Sat and Sun will dry things up a bit : )

Happy planting your WS plants

Oh Cordeledawg, I envy you... (the good envy that is). Look at all those plants!! They are begging to be planted in the bed already. Mine are struggling with this weird weather. These temps are like a roller coaster, and all the plants I have inside are growing too big to be inside.

Linda, this is my second year at winter sowing. And yes this year tops last year. I didn't learn my lesson from '07 winter sowing,; kept right on sowing as long as I could find a container available. One thing about sowing so many though, no particular rush to get every pot planted. I planted some containers out in Nov. Y'all just wait till your weather warms. Your containers will be bursting at the seams too. Weather roller coaster is right, Dulcigarden! Zone 5 and 6 is still early for y'all especially with the way this weather pattern yoyos warm to cold then warm and back to cold again.

Well, many things have germinated . . . but about 30 percent of my seeds haven't germinated yet. Most of my winter sowed plants are just emerging! They are soooo tiny! especially the perennials. When can I plant these in the garden . . . or do I have to pot them all up first . . . . there are a lot of seedlings!

Michaela, sometimes I pot them up first for a week or four, and sometimes I don't. I've already planted out some marigolds, for instance, only because they were handy and I knew just where I wanted them. Carrie

I am soooooooooo itchin' to start planting out.
I've got some Pot Marigolds that are big enough to put out there already.

and last year -- even though it was my first year... i dont think i potted anything up. Just plunked them all in the ground. Some were big, and some were tiny.

Seandor--most don't bother to pot up their WS seedlings. Generally the seedlings are strong enough and weather hardy so that they can go right into the garden. I don't pot mine up.

I would think potting them up would be extra work. Unless maybe a bed isn't ready. I agree with T, that because they have been sown outside all this time, they are strong and weather hardy. So when they have their true leaves you can plant them out anytime.

I do wait on slow germinating containers though, the same as Seandor. A few of mine have a few eager seedlings but I'm not going to disturb those few pots until I feel the rest of the seeds I know are in those pots have time to germinate.

I don't pot up anything- everything goes from milk jug to ground. I also have many seedlings begging to escape the confines of the jugs, but I just haven't had time to plant them out. I had to attend a professional conference all day yesterday, it's only 1/2 day today so maybe I'll get some in ground today.

I still have some ungerminated jugs and jugs with just one or two seedlings. I'll give them a little while longer, then dump them. I have only planted out 6 or 8 of my 60 jugs, and those seedlings have grown by leaps and bounds since escaping the jugs. I'll wait another week or two to plant out the really tender things, like zinnia.

I hope to get a few planted today after my conference. All the seedlings need to be fed today, too.

Karen

I started planting mine out yesterday and will do a few more tomorrow.

I need a bigger garden, though! I had a WS bumper crop and I'm not finished WS sowing my tender annuals yet!

So much fun!

The weather finally changed & it's been warmer nights. A few jugs really took off. Sorta Chia Pet ish

3 jugs out of 65 with nothing. A successful WS first time.

I have no idea where I'm going to plant all these

congrats.... they look great too

WOW joanna -- your lil chia pets look great!! and only 3 not germinated is a great success rate!! I wish mine did that well.

I'm thinking that i'll be planting out a few today.... just the bigger ones.... which isn't a lot.

We need a virtual baby shower for Joanna!

Joanna--65 planted and only three no-shows is a pretty darn good crop of WSing! Especially for the first time!

Do tell us what the three are that didn't show sprouts?! Just wondering....

Thunbergia, Balloon Flower Platycodon & Butterfly Flower Carmine Rose and for some reason 1 jug (have 2) of Alyssum. We have had a very cold spring. Daytime temps have been well below normal for the past month. Big snow storm a few weeks ago, with temps close to 0F. Anyways, nice now. Have had a few of nights without frost.

WS that was a surprise:

Dusty Miller, Anagallis, Aster Giant Crego & Pavlova, Lagurus, Amaranthe, Sanvitalia, Rudbeckia, Convolvulus, Flowering Maple, Gazinia, Phlox (art shades) and Eucalyptus.

Have no idea where I'm going to plant all this.

That is impressive, Joanna.

This is my 3rd year wintersowing, and I think I have more no-shows than in previous years. Some which I know of offhand:
Cleome- 2 jugs
Echinacea
Delphinium summer mix
Platycodon
malva
Lavendar- only 2 sprouts
Nasturtium- some seeds heaved out of the soil, rotted in all this rain. Some are doing well.
Gomphrena- few sprouts

I even have a jug of profusion zinnias with only 1 sprout. All of the other zinnias are up and growing fast. Makes me wonder about those seeds.

The weather is warmer now, I'll give some another week or 2, then I'll dump them. Some people wait much longer, sometimes years, for sprouts, but I don't have the patience for that. Our weather has been so wet, I really think that has been a factor this year. The contatiners barely get a chance to dry at all, and it rains again. We have a good chance of rain for the next 5 days, too.

Karen

My success rate this year is certainly less than last year.

I was going over my "sheets" this morning, and in some jugs i had anywhere from 15 to 50+ seeds, and only 1 germinated. My Pot Marigolds - for instances, out of 2 jugs, 45 seeds, 13 seedlings. [10 out of 25 in one, 3 out of 20 in the other]

another one i recall off hand it, Sandvine Milkweed .... 26 seeds, 4 sprouts.

to me, that's pretty pathetic. I wonder if it's the weather .... have no idea.

I certainly was hoping for a better germination rate, as i have a few other gardens i was going to put plants in.... don't think there will be enough to go around.

Wow - I thought my bookkeeping was so much better this year, I mean I know which pot is which, and what sprouted and what didn't. But you guys measure germination in seeds sprouted/seeds planted? Yikes, I am still way behind.

On the other hand, the one I was saddest about, Alyssum saxatile? I had a few more seeds and just stuck them in a paper cup or something, no lid at all. There is a sprout!!! As long as it is the intended plant and not some undesirable, we're golden.

Carrie

Yep Carrie I'm like you on that countin seeds that sprouted, a big Yikes here too!!!!!! I just say theres a whole bunch of seeds that sprouted or Dang-na-bit, no show.

I think I'm going to start a new thread for Spring/Summer Sowing of Perennials in Temperate Zones, or maybe I better check the Forum first, or maybe I'd better take a SHOWER first!!! (I harvested a lot of new recycled seed-sprouting mix. . . .)

I never keep track of number sown, number sprouted either. Way too much bother! I try to keep track of date of germination, but that generally goes down the toilet around early to mid April, too. I always start with good intentions but it never lasts long.

Karen

Karen -- for some of them i actually count the number of seeds in the container -- say 10 or 20, so i know that if only 1 or 2 pop, I know there may be more... but again, it's disheartening to only see 1 or 2, which is my case this year. Though some seeds are impossible to count, like coleus --- but i'd still like to get more than that 1 or 2 to germinate.

I started writing the amount sown in the spring/summer only, for the same reasons above. If I only have 1 or 2 sprout, was that all or am I being impatient? When they all come up or rot then I can plant something else in that pot or pan.

I pretty much know approximately how many I am likely to have sown. Big thing, like zinnias or nasties, probably only about 6 seeds. Tiny seeds, like digitalis, likely a lot of seeds. Hence, my chia pets.

Karen

Alyssum sax. sounds like a pretty plant. I don't know that I have ever seen it in any garden and I'd like to try it next season too. I looked it up on Thompson and Morgan's site http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/product/1349/1 and it does sound like the seed might be sensitive to rot issues so if the potting mix stays wet through the winter that may be a problem... Maybe I'll send away for a packet of seeds and see what we can do with them...

I wish I were more organized, too, about my seed sowing. It would be interesting to know how many seeds actually germinated. Some of my containers are pretty sparsely populated. Others are packed full. Oh, well. Without learning to wintersow I wouldn't have any plants!

At least all of my campanulas and digitalis are coming up like gangbusters. I even have enough to share with my sisters (they will be surprised I can grow anything!) Now I notice so many more varieties that I could have tried to wintersow. And I even forgot about sowing some of my aquilegias. (-:

Storms are coming in here so I have to go out and obsess over my seedlings now! Bye-bye (-: