Dud Containers - what didnt germinate for you

Hollyhock got no germination
Zebra Mallow only 1 seed germinated

With my Zebra Mallow, last year... i cant recall how many seeds were sown, but i only got 2 that germinated. they both bloomed for me, and have both come back this year.

I did much better with milk jugs than with 16 oz cups in a clear storage container.

Out of about 40 jugs the following has not yet sprout:

Morning Glory Mount Fuji Mix - sown 2/11 in jugs
snowdrift marigold -- sown 2/16 in jugs
Grandpa Ott Morning Glory Seeds - sown 3/16 in jugs
Lobelia - sown 2/3 in cups
Cosmos - sown 2/3 in cups

I can see that I need to be more careful with the tender annuals.

Best success was with Hercules Pumpkins -- They are 5 to a jug and overflowing!!!

All and all a big success! Thanks for all the support of the forum!

Those Japanese MG were a late, lovely surprise to me the year I tried them ... hope yours eventually come up. And congratulations!

sandstreet, my Morning Glories and Cosmos just started about a week ago. Being further north, you may still see sprouts from those in the next couple of weeks. Good luck, and Congrats with all the success you've had!

Well, I already dumped the cups of Cosmos since they looked really dry. Maybe I'll start a jug of them today.

I'm very hopeful about the Morning Glory Mount Fuji Mix. That was one thing I targeted to buy this year. I think I have a few seeds left in the bag ... I'll get them out in peat pots, and keep my fingers crossed for the winter-sown jug.

Re Hollyhocks, I put out 2 jugs of Peaches & Dreams and they did OK, not great. About 3 plants per milk jug -- which is still great considering I paid $10 for a Hollyhock last year. My impression was that Hollyhocks were easy. Maybe it was the Peaches & Dreams, specifically.

Hollyhocks have always been very easy for me, but I have 3 jugs with only 1 seedling each this year. I have a couple of other jugs of Hollyhock from seed I collected that have done great. Can't imagine whats up with them.

I'm seeing volunteer Cosmo seedlings in the garden now. I'm thankful because slugs keep devouring my seedlings in containers!

I'll try my collected Hollyhock seed and see what I get.

I had Cosmos for the first time in my garden last year and they were nice ... in August! So long to wait! I think I'm too cold for volunteers, but I will start looking for them.

you're never too cold for volunteers - you get volunteer dandelions, don't you?

Really? I don't get volunteer Butterfly Bush and I have 3. I've heard it's a real problem in warmer zones than mine. (On the other hand, maybe I've been unknowingly pulling them up :)

I will start looking! How exciting!

Well, I checked my Hollyhocks and one of the containers with a single seedling has been that way for a month or so. The one plant has 5 or 6 true leaves and is ready to set out, but today I find another newly emerged seedling! So don't lose hope just yet on Hollyhock containers- you just never know.

I wont be dumping them til later this summer, if there is no germination .... since they don't bloom til next year, currently it's not a big deal.

I tried WS'ing for the first time this year, and the only thing I have dud containers (so far) of was chocolate daisy..only one seed sprouted out of three containers planted. I must say..I had my doubts, but we had a really nice weekend in the 80's and everything just started popping up...


My poppies were the first thing up..those have already been moved to their homes.

I just took the tops off of:

Varigated Poke (I know the regular ones are just weeds..but they are pretty and have a certain structural appeal when planted singularly and allowed to get big...I have a spot that is perfect for it)

Kiss me over the garden gate- varigated

Lime frost columbine

Leprchaun Gold Columbine (even the cotyledons were varigated on the lone seedling that germinated)

Winky double blue columbine

And a blue columbine I got in a trade..


I also had a question for you experts..is it possible direct-winter-sown seeds to sprout an entire year later?

I have a columbine coming up where I WS'd seeds a year ago..I know I didn't put any there this year, and I am pretty darn sure that's what it is...

Yes, particularly with Columbine- they can take their sweet time. I had wintersown Cyclamen take over a year to sprout too.

Hey Carrie,

Thanks for the tip on the Cosmos -- found some volunteers and already re-assigned 5 to new locations.

Re Hollyhocks, I only winter-sowed Peaches and Dreams. I have 4 in one container and 3 in another. All healthy and good sized. 7 is a great number. Still, I somehow expected to be overwelmed with Hollyhocks since I've heard they are so easy. Also, I bought a $10 Hollyhock last year and it flowered beautifully. However, no babies this year! I was sure I would have a bunch!

Lisa

Lisa - don't mention it. I figured out which ones are the cosmos that I started and there aren't very many sprouts!!!! Of course, I started them very late etc. but still!!! Hmmmph. I also figured out which is celery and onion (taste test) - amazing how tiny scraps of foliage can taste so much like celery!

I still have a few unsprouted. Platycodon, (which hasn't sprouted for me in 3 or 4 tries) and knifofia, not sure if there are others. Too wet and dark to check now.

Karen

The following had 0 germination:

Thompson-Morgan seeds of Agastache "Golden Jubilee" - Not a single one!
Martha Stewart seeds of Columbine - Mixed colors - Not ONE!
Dill seeds from Wal-Mart - 0%

I also had Thompson Morgan seeds of Rudbeckia "Kelvedon Star" and only 1 germinated and then it died!

Some Thompson-Morgan seeds are really disappointing considering the prices.

echi .... i may have more Golden Jubilee.... though i wont be home til Monday afternoon.
I have huge germination.

I got 3 dill and 4 parsely from my walmart seeds Not very good....
Purple Pygmy Agastache from Thompson-Morgan about 8 which is enough.

I bought my Golden Jubiliee from Diane's Seeds - http://www.dianeseeds.com/agastache-golden-jubilee.html and am inundated with sprouts!

This thread sure makes me feel better about the rate of non-sprouting in my own WS containers! I got exactly ONE Sunset agastache. The Little Bluestem grasses are showing a couple of sprouts & that's it. The blue flag iris and nodding prairie onion, zilch--and they are supposed to be super-hardy Midwestern prairie plants, ha ha.

McKana's Gaint columbine is only recently showing signs of life. I'm so good at killing off columbine that I don't have much hope for them surviving to flower, though. Columbine seems to be the one flower that everyone but me can grow. :D

Golden.... i've done Sunset 2 yrs running now, and germination has been anemic at best. BUT the 4 lil seedlings i had last year did come back for me this year... i've planted my new seedlings next to it, so i'm hoping for some "nice orange" blooms this season.

I still have to go out and check my containers... we got back late afternoon yesterday and some of my containers are bursting with plants.

OH -- i had a lot of Columbine failures last year... the ones i did plant in Sept, have not bloomed yet.... though they did come back for me.

So far... here is pretty much what did not germinate "yet" for me....

Alcaea simplex, White Bugbane [2006 seeds]
White Cosmos [but i had other containers that did germinate, and are planted out]
Impatiens balsamina, "Magenta"
Red hot Poker
Scabiosa Colombaria, BlueButterfly [we've talked about this in another thread]
Hostas - Winsome, Thunderbolt and Frosted Jade, but they were late last year too
Mixed Snaps
Gomphrena haageana, Strawberry Fields [they were lame for me last year too]
Lobelia tupa, Cardinal Flower [ 2006 seeds]
variegated Fountain Grass [usually dont have much luck with grasses]
Silphium perfoliatum, Cup Plant [ never had luck with these... 3rd yr trying]
Rudbeckia Green Wizard
Salvia, Black & Blue [i'm still hopeful]
Allium Purple Sensation [ 2 containers]
SUper BLue Aster [ 2 containers ]
Titonia Rotundifolia
and the 3 types of JPW -- that i have mentioned before
-- Eupatorium maculatum [Little Joe] rugosum [Chocolate joe] and prupureum

OH yes... and all of the Yvonne's Salvia that were WS"ed did NOT germinate. Thankfully i did some seeds in the house.... and POOR germination rate... only 9 plants out of 58 seeds. They are now in the ground and will hopefully do well.

I did have some where a lot of seeds were sown, but only 1 or 2 germinated.

Coreopsis lanceolata Sunburst did very poorly too... i'm hoping once i get the lil plants into the ground they will take off.

Wow, that's a lot of WSing! I only did 9 containers. The best ones were Irish Eyes rudbeckia and a blue agastache.

Grasses do seem to be hard to start. Last year I got 3 plants of carefully nurtured Little Bluestem out of over a dozen seeds. It was a thrill to see all three coming back this spring.

I have some IDOT property behind my home... and my neighbor and I have been 'fixing it up'.
she has kindly offered to take some of these containers off my hands... plus some will be going in the common areas in the subdivision, plus to our Park in Wisc.

Next year i will have to remember NOT to do so many containers... since most are perennials.. i will be running out of space very quickly.