Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #13

Pamsue, love your mallow bed! I think I want to try that abutilon after looking it up! The website I found says you can bring it in as a houseplant and it will bloom all year!

Here is my first bloom on my cosmos I got from the swap. : )

This is the annual (purplish) grass from the swap. It's just starting to turn almost all purplish. : ) It's a fast grower, I did lose a couple to cutworms. Luckily I've been finding some here and there when I'm adding stuff and I squish em. I have lost at least a couple or more of everything I've planted in my new bed. I think it's weird because there wasn't anything growing there before this so I don't know what the cut worms were living on before I started planting things. I lost all the Nigra Hollyhocks from the swap : (

Love Lies Bleeding from Lebug - Thank you Lea : )
For some reason one of the ones I planted is much larger than the others. In the left bottom corner is one I just planted to replace the two that the cutworms got : ( The other 6 I planted aren't much bigger than that newly planted one.

I found a perfect spot for the canas from the swap. One of the three has reddish tint to the leaves, which was a nice surprise. I really like the huge leaves and how fast they get big. : ) Thank you to whoever sent them in to the swap! : )

pam sue, love your big flower on that little plant lol I can just imagine what that plant will look like when it grows! Your malvas are looking really good too!

Gemini, your plants are looking good too! Everyone here are always in aw when I tell them I grow almost everything from seed in my gardens lol Makes you feel so good doesn't it!

Meredith, I can’t really take credit for those seeds, I got them in a trade, most of those get too tall so I can’t have them in my garden because of the winds and they lean too much :( I bought one different kind autumn colors I think it is but I’ll have to wait until next year to plant them, I forgot about them lol

It was nice last week so I got a lot of plants in the ground and again I can’t seem to make a dent in the seedlings lol I got two different kinds of rudbeckias planted yesterday and I lost all of my candy lilies with the wet winter but had four in pots of the leopard lily so I planted those and some of that tall yellow yarrow, that was just yesterday can’t even remember what I planted all week lol Oh Suzy, I finished planting all of your dahlias that you brought yesterday and those snaps that you gave me are just beautiful, they are just now starting to bloom, I planted them in a veggie basket with some Victoria blue salvia, that’s really going to look nice together thank you!

I planted three crepe myrtles from the swap yesterday too, two lavender and one red one.

I got a yard of mulch yesterday and paid one of the boys around here to help me put it on and I gotta tell ya, one more yard of mulch then it will be leaves for mulch in the fall again, the first one didn’t even cover my nectar garden and I have way too many more beds to go, guess I’ll just be pulling weeds the rest of the summer AGAIN LOL

Sundown coneflower doesn’t come true from seed it’s the pink ones and the white swan didn’t come true either and I really expected that one to and I guess I’ve already said that fanfare comes true from seed, I was really excited about that one! I should have seeds for the swap for fanfare :)

One of my jugs of veronica ‘red fox’ has turned out to be blue lol I wonder which one it is, Fairy/La which ones do you have that is blue by any chance? I planted two jugs one for each one of you but didn’t mark the name on the number lol I gave one jug to the nursery to show them how to WS now I need to ask them for a couple of plants if they still have them lol I’m not complaining I sowed the wrong butterfly seeds that I collected my self lol If anyone else got any I hope I got them right! They were suppose to be orange but I don't think they are going to be...hmmm LOL I'm never going to get any orange butterfly weeds going! LOL

Thanks so much! This second year has been such an explosion of color.

Lea, you're so right, there is that extra element of pride that comes along with having raised a mature plant from seed.

This area has been colorful. There's Ballerina rose in front and a hot pink Buck rose, Serendipity in the back, growing with Salvia (either Blue Hill or May Night), Stachys, Clematis, and Catmint.

...and I forgot which thread I was on, LOL. Not a thing in that last pic did I start from seed. But here, the cherry rocket snaps were started indoors, the poppy was direct sown, and the Honey bee blue agastache from critter were wintersown last year.

This message was edited Jul 6, 2008 4:35 PM

I didn't get many flowers from the swap, I mainly got veggies so here a pic of the first haul that came in the other day from my swap seeds. : )

Oh Star, your veggies look mouth watering! I forgot to start some cukes and zuccini, it's raining today so I think I'll go out somewhere and poke some in the dirt lol I hope it's not too late but I don't think it is lol I forgot to plant zuccinis last year and really missed them! The way the sun is here it's hard to plant a garden but the way things are anymore I need to figure out a spot I can put one, my sun is so weird here, in places you would think I have full sun it isn't by the way the plants grow.

gemini, are those red rocket snaps from the stoke's swap? Suzy brought me a few and they are blooming and just drop dead gerogous! I have them planted with some victoria blue salvia in the middle of them in an old veggie basket that dad had around I need to set it out front but I'm afraid the cats will destroy it lol

Hey everyone! Neal, your gardens look gorgeous! And I agree with Lea, Star your veggies are making me want to go out and have a chat with my garden - LOL! The back yard is finally in something resembling non-embarrassing shape, and we're about 1/4 of the way through getting rid of the grass in the front yard. It's been so much easier to do that with the rains, so the bit of work I was doing on it before the rains look like a wimpy effort in comparison to how much grass I've been able to get out in the past week. As the grass comes out, the seedlings that are patiently waiting in the greenhouse are going into the ground. Now I need to make sure that I get through the whole front yard in a decent period of time so that one side doesn't look monstrously older - LOL!!

I got some netting to hang along the fence so that I can grow some turkish cap squash and small cucumbers (neither from the swap). That's about the only way we've got to grow anything vine-ish, so we'll see how that works. I'll get some pics tomorrow of how the yard's doing.

Am I correct in thinking the supercascade petunias don't set true seed?

star, that is a perfect, bountiful basket of goodies!

Lea, those snaps were some left over seed from Parks last year. The Rocket series has what they call both red and cherry- the red rockets are darker than these and more velvety, I love both of them. I'm going to try saving seed from my Rockets (pink and cherry) this year- worth a try :-) The red ones with the blue salvia sounds gorgeous together!

Thanks, Robin! Are you stripping sod from the front yard? Geez, is that ever a job I just hate doing! I've done quite a bit of that this year trying to create enough bed space for seedlings, but my wrist finally started protesting. In other areas I'm just laying out cardboard and mulching on top of it; in about 6-8 weeks its ready to plant.

gemini, the dark red, velvety ones are the ones that Suzy brought and if those pink ones are anything like those in color I bet they are really intense, have you ever tried saving seeds from snaps before? These flowers are large enough I may get seeds off of them if the seed pods are bigger lol these are the largest flowering ones I've ever had. I tried to save seeds off of one I had last year but just never could get them, snaps are hard for me to save seed from.

I've been cleaning violets out of my middle bed gemini and I know too well what you mean about your wrist! Mine has been hurting for the last two days, need to give it a break for a while :)

Well my tv room is starting too collect seed again lol From one mess of pots and dirt to seeds lol It's that time of year 8)

Robin, my yard is lopp sided, I keep waiting to plant one side yard hoping someone will come and cut this tree down for me, if I put perennials there I'm afraid of what will happen if the tree falls on them, if it EVER gets cut down :) Or lightning could strike it and knock it down if that happens it's liable to land on the house, half of the tree is gone the other half is toward the house and all in the electric wires, the electric company won't do it for me!

I noticed yesterday its time to start collecting some seed, the poppies are starting to dry. With snaps I wait till the pods turn brown and dry, then they spill out pretty easily. Sometimes the pod is a little sticky and several of the little seeds stick to it, but there's lots of seed in them that ends up being easily released. Since I don't want to leave many on there to seed (to keep them blooming), I'll often cut off the top of the stem and just leave 3 or 4 pods at the bottom to harvest.

A friend is sending me some heirloom 'Black Prince' snapdragon seed. Those are the really dark red velvety ones- looking forward to those!

I got some black prince from the swap but lost them so didn't get to plant them in time :( So I'm looking forward to them for next year, I'm growing Chantilly for next year too, for my orange garden:

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=51706&PrevMainPage=textsearchresults&scChannel=Text%20Search&SearchText=snapdragon&OfferCode=VH1

So if you cut the bloom stalks they will pop more flowers out, I don't have much experience with snaps :) When do you cut them back, seems like they are always blooming lol

gemini, lovely blooms :) and starlight, your harvest is wonderful.....we've only picked lettuce so far. None of our cukes made it and our peppers have a way to go yet :)

this is the blue ensign

LeBug, I forgot to ask you...did your fanfare come back from last year? or did you replant seeds? ours didn't come back for the second or third time...I keep hearing it is a perennial and I keep buying it and planting it, but it doesn't make it back, here anyway.

My 'Black Prince' snapdragons did really well this year from seed. I was surprised. They are about finished blooming now, but looks like they are getting ready for a Fall bloom also. I didn't know how they would do in our heat, but the best ones I have are in full sun.

I had a picture, but I can't find it right now.

Wind, I like your ensign MG. : )
~Lucy

Wind don't you just love the blue in that blue ensign, I got a couple of purple ones but most are blue, just had a pink one bloom so I just planted it so far that's the only pink, it's a pretty one too, I was hoping to get a couple of red ones but don't think I'm going to get any, these are a new plant for me so I'm interested to see what they do :)

I grew that fanfare year before last and planted it last year and this is the first time it's bloomed, I almost lost mine this winter because it was so wet, apparently they like to be dry but I planted it by the goblin because it was doing so good so I wouldn't have to worry about it but it kept heaving out of the soil too it was a LOT of trouble last winter I had to watch it like crazy finally I put a brick by it and didn't have to mess with it anymore and now I'm having a lot of blooms so I plan on having seeds I love this plant, I want to plant more too! Have you seen Tizzy gaillardia? I got that one at the nursery and plan on having seeds for that one too 8) :

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/171847/

Wind was that you I was saving the chocolate foxglove for? I forgot to write them down and came across them yesterday :)

I found it, it was Suzybel wanting the chocolate, I'm gonna put her name on them right now lol

I didn't know ensign came in any color other than red or blue? and, oh I wish you could post a photo of the chocolate foxglove. I'll see if I can find a photo of it, it sounds really nice. I might even have it, there were a few seeds that I just couldn't get to planting. I like the burgundy brown types. Although I have some brownish amaranth seedlings here "hot biscuits" dying to get in the dirt somewhere!!! I was waiting for rain in order to plant more, we finally got rain yesterday (yahoo!)...now I just need an energy boost.

I really wanted to try get the pimpernel seeds planted but just never got to it. I'm hoping to see some photos from those who planted it.

My ws poppies from PamSue never really liked getting transplanted. A few survived and one very short one actually has a bud on it, it looks so funny with the bud because it is sooooo small. A lavender one in our backyard has a bud too and that one is at least a foot or so tall ~ I'm just hoping the dog doesn't run it over!

I did notice our Indian shot cannas just started to bloom today! I'll wait until it opens more and take a photo to post.

this is the Job's Tears with a few petunias etc. that are almost large enough to start blooming.

Lea, that Tizzy is really a pretty gaillardia. : )

Fairy,

Glad you like the dietes. The Echies I got from you are doing well. I do need to learn to group plants rather than spacing them so they make more of a presence.
re: Flore Pleno,
I LOVE this plant! If cut back, will it grow more or do I need to collect seeds now?

Thanks,

Maggie

Thanks Lucy, I just love that Tizzy I had no idea they had those lol I took some seeds off today, I've been ignoring it so I wasn't deadheading it but I planted it today and took all of the blooms and buds off and noticed some seeds falling off, just had to save them :)

I'm soaking some more of the coral bean to plant that I got from you Maggie :) I'm going to plant them tomorrow. I got my days mixed up and was thinking it was going to storm tomorrow and it was today lol I always like to plant my seeds when it's going to rain.

I planted some nasties from Weez and Fairy and Suzy I think, the other day when it rained and they are up so I've been putting them in different areas, I've never had these before either so I'm looking forward to seeing how they grow.

Wind did you find a picture of the chocolate foxglove? I googled and this was the best picture I came up with:

http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=548147

Hey gang! Yep Neal, I'm hand-stripping the grass out of the front yard. Now then, having said that, I should tell you it's a SMALL front yard, otherwise I'd have hired a sod stripper - I even debated that but decided to put the money elsewhere.

I didn't start the Black Prince snaps yet as I had trouble with the first go-round of snaps I started. I started a second bunch and they are going gangbusters, so I think I'm going to try starting a few of the Black Prince snaps to see what I get.

And sometimes I worry about it being "late", but then I remember that with the weather here I've been gardening well into October-November the past two years, so what the heck? And yes, I'm gathering seeds too! Picked some off the flowers Suzy gave me (can't think of the name of them) - they're in a pot on the front deck so I can keep an eye on them and snag seeds. Also getting more of the purple osteospermum that you sent me Lea, so now I can start trimming the dead ones and enjoying the blooms :) I'm also keeping an eye on my blue salvia and gathering those seeds as I can.

The white job's tears came up (can't remember who I got them from) and are doing quite well in the front yard, along with some tithonia, a pepper, brussel sprouts, cabbage and italian alkanet (which is blooming blue right now, from WS). OK, gotta get out and take some pics for ya.

Lea, I find snaps kind of hard to dead head, unless I'm using them for cut flowers. I only grow the taller varieties, and there are so many blooms that keep opening up the spike, there are ripening seed at the bottom while blooms are still opening at the top. So I just cut the stems off when they start looking ugly. They are a great 'cut and come again' flower- those I'm cutting bouquets from just keep cranking out more! Judging from that, I guess I should dead head sooner- its just hard to cut pretty blooms off. Chantilly is gorgeous! I was very tempted by them this spring.

hi there..thanks all

another hot day in the 90's whew..seems i spend all day watering

ella..your veggies look so yummy..cant wait until mine produce....my garden is going to be late

lea..the abutilon only grows about a foot or so high ..blooms in about 3 months. i have yellow and red..and an old orange one i have had for about ten years. im loving the yellows best so far

diana ..bummer about the poppies..the bloom size does diminish greatly when the weather turns hot. i have noticed that the rhoeas are lasting longer in the heat than the somniferums..ill have lots of rhoeas angels choir and more coral and lavender somniferums seed later...you can direct sow for better results.

..i am potting up the baby daylily seedlings that came up from seed to bigger pots. and potting up the geraniums as well.
i got some 24 hole seedling flats and propagation trays as well at the nursery supply on the way home from visiting mom yesterday. Ill try doing some cuttings in the propagation boxes.. they look like they are about 18 x 18 by 5 or so inches deep with lots of holes for drainage at the bottom.

pam sue

Mornign everybody!!!!!! A nice 79 degrees and very very sticky day already. Kinda dreading going outside, but the babies are calling for some water. Thirsty little critters they are.

I haven't had any rain sinc ein May and the water bill just to get them few veggies to start wa sunreal. The first cuke that wa sready I ate myself, it was yummy , never paid 40 bucks for a cuke before but that what the water was on it.

I need to get fall stuff going, but with no rain, it kinda scarey.

Spent yesterdya mornign transplanting baby Knauties : ) I was so happy to see them little tikes. Hopefulyl they wil get big enough to have some good roots to hold them over the winter and transplanted more hollyhocks. Still got a ton of stuff to transplant.

I kinda worried though about my plants. We haven't had any deer around here for 7 years or better. To many dogs allrunning lose, cats and people. My new neighbor planted a stand of corn and had put running beans down at the base of the corn stalks. We checke dhis plants yesterday and seems we have a deer now. Deep went systematically all through his corn field and ate the tops of the running beans. Not funny, but we was laughing as it didn't touch anything else . But now that the bean s all gone I wonder if that deer gonan get brave and try and brave eating my flowers and veggie patch now.

I know they wil come up and munch gardens, but wil they walk up and eat flowers and blooms from off of pots that up on pallets?

Lebug.. I grew Fanair last year and had about 2 pots of it. thinkthree came back and they struggled and never got more than a coupel inches tall. Mine had stayed outside all winter, and now I wondering if they need some sort of shelter for the winter?

For I forget for all ya dog lovers, The Great Amercian Dog show is on tonight. 8 est/7 ct. time.

Star - if you know you've got a foraging deer, there will be more. I would get some pepper spray (or if you have some hot peppers, make your own) and add a drop or two of soap to it - and spray everything you don't want them eating. Their first taste should tell them to stay away - if you spray before they find your yard you may fend them off to other yards. That way they'll get it in their head that your yard is the least tasty. If the deer increase you'll have to keep spraying, or even invest in some of that deer netting - but then they can jump really high, can't they?

And no rain since May??? Didn't that happen to you guys right after Katrina too - very little rain for nearly a year? I'd sure like to have been able to send some that we had to you - we had more than enough to go around!

Star, mine didn't grow that fast either nothing like the goblin, but it is full size for this year maybe it just takes it a while, darn I wish I had a camera!!!!!!! I would get them in the ground mine did a lot better when I put it in the ground, but I wouldn't put any mulch around it, not too close anyway, don't think that would be good.

Well I just started soaking three more coral bean seeds from Margaran, and I’m planting some burgundy holly hocks to put in my orange garden from KD2000 remember her, where has she been lol I’m planting some sunflowers too that I forgot I had ‘ring of fire’ from the stokes seed swap, I knew I had more sunflower seeds somewhere lol Oh I’m starting some black holly hocks from grampapa too, where has she been? lol I’m soaking some more castor bean seeds too, I had a few come up in a group and planted one of them somewhere else but I’d like to see what they look like in a group so I left the others alone :) I had some seeds to the grape 4’Oclocks too that I’m soaking, trying to get all of these in the ground before our rain quits for the summer lol
I think I’m just starting to get a second wind on my seeds, anybody else? LOL A little late but I’m getting there LOL

I planted some nasties out front last night and then remembered where I planted them I usually pull the hose in between the plants there lol I didn't move them I'll just have to find another spot to pull the hose thru lol

Got some of the mex. penstemon planted I'm just wondering if I'll get any sample blooms this year to see what they look like and some purple dome aster and getting ready to plant some of the new england aster today, I got a lot of seedlings so planning on have a few asters, thanks gang! I still have a nice space in my middle garden been thinking of making a little aster garden for there.

Ok, I'm going to ask here, already have on the stokes thread, who did I get the amber waves gaillardia seeds from does anyone know and does anyone know what color they will be, I tried to google and what I come up with is gaillardia amber wheels or coral bell amber waves, did I just get the name wrong when I made the labels? I though I might have gotten the seeds from the stokes swap I had such good germination and I can hardly get a gaillardia to germinate for me other wise.

I have never heard of Amber waves Gaillardia....hmmm....You HAVE to save some of that tizzy for me-I have a little Gaillardia collection going:) I have O&L, Fanfare, goblin, AZ, GG and Burgundy...I still need Tojaker and Tizzy-then it ill be complete:)

My Black Prince snaps died and it was my 2nd try so none for me as no more seed left...oh well...:( I lost that and a couple other things in transplant...

I can't wait to see what seeds everyone has for the "2nd Annual Piggie Seed Swap" hosted bu the Illustrious Illoquin and her trust sidekick Dashing Dryad!!

Well it was Amber Wheels lol I ordered them from Burpee's lol Here they are, figured I would show you what they look like I've made such a fuss about them or I have in my mind anyway trying to figure out what they looked like lol

http://www.burpee.com/product/gaillardia+amber+wheels+-+packet+%2830+seeds%29.do?search=basic&keyword=40240A&sortby=newArrivals&page=1

Sounds like you may not have this one Fairy :) I'll save you some seeds to the Tizzy :)

Gosh that's a real shame about your black prince snaps :( I'll get mine WS for next year and I think they may go pretty good in my orange bed to break up the colors of orange, you think? :) I'll already have some black holly hock there I hope, I can't put gardens together!

Robin, I wanna see pics when you get that sod cleared. I love a blank slate like that to start planting!

Lea, that sounds really pretty with the orange bed with some black/burgundy worked in. One of the bulb companies, I think it may have been Colorblends, offered a collection of orange parrot tulips with near black 'Queen of the Night' tulips- the picture was so striking, I've always kept it in mind. Hmmmm...I think you've inspired me! A bed of those colors in the "Sunset" part of my garden would be right at home!

Lea those are real pretty. I planted some gaillardia this year from a round robin I participated in.. One is Dazzler and the other Goblin. Don't know if the goblin is going to grow but the Dazzler looks like it will survive.

I am interested in the piggy swap I think. May I join? I am kind of nervous about joining something but it sounds like fun.

I think all the people who are not posting are just too busy working in their gardens but I miss lurking and reading all the posts.

I have kind of attached myself to this group.

Dryad, I would love to see some pics too :)

Indynanny, you will love being in a swap ~ it is amazing how many new great things you will get that you may never have ordered or picked out otherwise. I'm loving planting everything and LeBug, you are something else still planting seeds!!! go for it! I'm still trying to find places for the seedlings that are left here. I took a bag full for a friend at school today. He is a gardener and will plant them for sure: some thai basil, brandywine tomatoes, and some helenium wild sunflowers.

Also, I visited the gardens at my school today, haven't been there in 4 years. Oh, they are just beautiful. They are the Rutgers University Gardens. I'll take my camera and stop again while everything is in bloom. It was like being at Longwood Gardens. Sprawling land with different things in different areas. I thought of Critter when I saw some really healthy banana plants :) I saw the white (sort of thistle-like) plant I got seeds of from gemini (I think). It gets pretty tall. I also saw a really tall yellow bloom of what looked like a black-eyed Susan but the leaves were different and like I said, it was very tall. I'm going to go back and get some seeds of that one I think.

Star, I hope you get rain soon. It will be such a relief when you do. I know I was getting exhausted from watering here and we just finally got our break. Today is just beautiful here because the humidity is low. What a difference that makes.

The humidity is low here too but I had to come in before I got done weed eating lol I was breaking a ferocious sweat! If you can imagine I weed eat almost an acre of beds and other things lol Figured I better get it done before the humidity does set in I don't bother then lol

Veronica of course you would be welcome in the swap the more people the more seeds we have LOL

Wind I'm not done planting my seedlings yet either! I don't think I'll be done until 2010 lol And I still have seeds I want to start lol I gotta start them! I bet those gardens are beautiful! Would love to see pictures when you get them!

gemini, that's kind of funny that you mentioned 'Sunset', I got a daylily from a trade last year and they said it was colors like a sunset so that's what it's name is, it's unknown, but it bloomed for the first time today :) Are the black prince snaps burgundy?

I was going to plant those amber wheels last night around the goblin I have in the middle bed but I'm glad I didn't because I already planted 6 Inula Orientals by there and they are yellow too and kind of similar and I have quite a few of these too, I'll just plant them a little further on the other side, I like planting the colors together but not when they look so similar:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/80070/

I probably didn't get near as many seeds as you all got, and I still have enough for the rest of my life. lol It's funny too, some things that were sent, I was sure wouldn't grow here, like poppies, and such. But, I'll be darned if they didn't. : ) So pretty.

I'm glad I can plant just about all year, cause the Lord knows that's the only way I'll ever get all this planted. Sooooo, .....you all try real hard not to tempt me into getting in over my head, again. I mean it!!! : )
~Lucy

Good Luck with that Lucy, I think we are all saying that this year lol

Well, folks . . . after two horrible days of intense heat and oppressive humidity, the weather finally changed . . . I spend 6 hours in the gardens (from 6am until noon). spent a lot of time removing plants (some annuals were just planted to thickly and needed to be thinned) and moving plants (busy relocating daylilies to the terrace once I know what colours they are).

My Black Prince snaps are a great delight! Honestly, tomorrow I am going to take pictures. . . :-)

Well, I had a nice surprise yesterday-I moved the mulch around the snaps and saw a little tiny green leaf-so I am hoping that is a good sign:) Now if I could get those darn bunnies to stop eating my cupids dart right before it is going to bloom!!