Photos of plants from the Fall Group Seed Swap!

This is my 3-tiered herb bed. Of which I cleaned out completely before sowing more seeds. (I left a few plants in there, but not many.) This bed is almost entirely growing and blooming from all the wonderful ... and I do mean WONDERFUL seeds that I got from everyone in the first annual seed swap on this forum back in November. I sowed all the seeds in the Fall (Dec) and this is what it looks like now. Lots and lots of nectar and host plants along with some really pretty ornamental plants like the tall pink poppies! This is the view looking through the new arbor my dh built! Isn't this just a gorgeous view????!!!

THANK YOU to all who participated and shared some truly AWESOME seeds with me!

Another view.

Very nice!

Beautiful photos, Becky!

Carla

looks fabulous Becky. You did a great job

Fantastic Becky!!! What kind of Poppies are those?

I don't know. I've been told they are a NOID of Papaver somniferum. I forget who, but someone in the swap sent a large baggie of them and noone else requested them, so I kept them and just tossed them in those areas in that 3-tiered garden bed. I bet there were several thousand seeds that I tossed. I read that each pod contains approx. 1000 seeds. So that is probably why I got so many to sprout! I was told they were annuals. So I will collect seeds from mine to grow out again next year. I really like them. Quite beautiful. They completely drop their petals after 2 days of blooming. I have never, ever seen poppies grown here in Florida. Never. I just figured that they didn't grow here. Boy! Was I wrong! LOL!

They are really pretty! I've gotten some Shirley Poppies to come up over the winter and will bloom in about a month. Then they die out when it gets hot.

I think I'll try those this fall.

You just never know what will grow....just toss it out there and be surprised....my kind of gardening!

Becky,

Beautiful garden. What are the low growing small orange flowers on the left side of your first picture?

Thanks everyone!

Penne - Those orange flowers are mini zinnias. I don't remember who I got what seeds from so I have no idea what cultivar they are. Mini NOIDs! LOL!

I just finished up THAT garden room today that the 3-tiered herb/flower bed is in and I think every muscle in my body aches. I'm getting too old for physical labor, but it sure feels good to finally get it done. I don't know if I will do anymore garden rooms or projects this year. I think my garden funds are about completely tapped out for 2008! LOL!

My dh calls this garden room the "Zen" room! LOL! It does look like it could be a meditation room! lol It's very "orderly" like the Japanese would keep it. I put mulch down all around the 3-tiered bed and spaced the pavers to make a path all around it. Then added 2 more garden beds for some bushes to section off an entrance. At the opening of the entrance, I positioned my two water lotus containers which look a bit oriental style. If the Lotus ever get going and bloom, it will definitely look Japanese! LOL!

So I've officially finished 2 of my garden/outdoor rooms (except for the plants). I think I am on the 7-year plan. :-) Both rooms turned out far better than I was expecting. I can thank my dh for all his wood-working skills. I'm a dud at such stuff. But give me a shovel and some soil ... I'm in my element! LOL!

What kind of beds are everyone doing in their garden this year? Has anyone else sowed seeds from the Group Swap?

Oh my gosh, I just looked at the full size image and I LOVE those poppies! I can't believe they're growing in FL!! The only poppies I've ever had success with are California poppies, although I did have some Iceland poppies when I lived in Nashville. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Melanie

Beautiful flower bed, Becky. Love those poppies. Now, I wanna try some. : )

I love those poppies too! Aren't they also called the Opium Poppy, or Breadseed Poppy?

I have to try some next year....planting not smoking lol Do they smoke it? Or maybe perfume, I had some perfume once called Opium...same thing?

Not sure about the perfume question, but I had sent a lot of the Opium or Lettuce Leaf Poppy seed in for the trade. Mine are ones my Aunt used to have in her garden when she was alive so don't know what the variety is. I thank her for my love of flowers, my Mom was a brown thumb! LOL!

I have been on the Poppy Forum lately asking questions about my poppies since I have never, ever grown them before or even seen them growing in Florida. And I have been getting some interesting answers. And I may have asked questions that are throwing some of the members over there for a loop! LOL! You know me, I always ask the odd questions that start everyone thinking! LOL! Here is the thread I have been posting my questions on:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/819999/

Well, I always thought that poppies needed cold stratification. Well ... for these seeds, that answer is definitely NO! We never even had a freeze this year in my area. Coldest it got was around 40 for a couple of hours in the late evening/early morning and then the temps shot back up to 60s, 70, and even 80s! (Global Warming has arrived in Florida!) We maybe had such temps off and on the entire winter months perhaps 10 times and not in a row. So cold stratification is NOT what germinates them. One of the members said that the seeds are so tiny that in the winter when everything dies back, the seeds are able to germinate because they are not competing for sunlight by surrounding plants. Makes perfect sense to me, because I had almost completely cleaned out and turned the soil in that 3-tiered bed.

Sheila - It may very well have been seeds from you or Chris. It was a 3" X 5" ziploc just completely FULL of tiny black seeds. It was labeled "Pink Poppy". And yes! They are Opium/Lettuce Leaf poppies. And no you can NOT easily make drugs from these and yes! they are the same seeds used on bread!

I kid you not ... I must have tossed about 5,000 - 10,000 seeds in that bed! No lie. This was a larger baggie full of seeds! Out of all those seeds, I got maybe 100 -150 plants that germinated. I also think they were fresh seeds which I was told germinate much better! Since no one requested them in the swap, I hated to see them go to waste. I also think that smaller seeds don't stay viable as long, so I thought ... what the heck ... hate to waste them, let's see what happens! LOL! Boy oh boy! Am I ever glad I did! I absolutely LOVE these beautiful poppies. If I get enough seeds from these, I would be more than glad to share some with you Florida ladies!

I also get those random packets of seeds as a freebie with magazine subscriptions. Same variety only the smaller red blooms. I have been sowing those freebies for years with NO luck! Well, guess what ... in the attached photo I got a single red poppy to germinate this year. It is dwarfed by the larger pink poppies! :-) Too funny, huh?

Sheila - If it was you who I got the seeds from ... THANK YOU! I just love them!!! And if it was Chris - thank you as well!

This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 10:03 AM

BTW - It seems each plant has 2-3 buds on it as well. Not just one like some poppies do! Ya can't top that! LOL! (Well ... maybe, but they sure are lovely!) In this photo you can see more blooms of EVERYTHING in that bed. :-) The pink poppies are really blooming now! :-)

I finished the "Hummingbird and Butterfly Zen Garden" yesterday which is where this 3-tiered garden bed resides. If you would like to see how it turned out, go to this link:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/830371/

Any creative suggestions or comments about my new garden room? I can't believe I finally got 2 of the rooms done. Not bad for a novice gardener who has only been gardening for about 3 1/2 years. Gosh! I sure wished I'd taken up gardening much earlier! My back and arms and legs just can't take such abuse and recover as quickly these days! LOL!

Wow! Fantastic garden! Makes me want to move to FL so I can have flowers in March and April lol

GASP!!!!

Just gorgeous Becky!!!!


Debnes