Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #13

where do you put the neem oil?

I guess on the plant-from the way this person talked about it you can get it at hardware store-Lowes and stuff and you spray it on....I haven't tried it yet myself, but apparantly it takes care of all kinds of garden issues, but still allows beneficial insects...need to check it out myself

Wind I'm right there with you on the seedlings some I haven't even transplanted from some of the jugs yet :) Everytime I think I'm making a dent in the plants I look at the jugs lol I'm going to town today and get some more dirt! I need to get my wallflowers in the ground and I've heard so much about them not likeing it hot I'm afraid of where to plant them but I have all kinds of seedlings guess I can experiment with them but I hate to kill plants!

I have seedlings to variegated money plant and planted four of them last year and lost all four, now I have four more seedlings and scared to death where to plant them again lol I'll have seeds this fall my neighbors made it to blooming stage this year and it was such a pretty plant about three feet tall! One of about the only plants the kittens didn't mash down LOL

LeBug how are you doing with your new camera?

hey Dryad...LOOK...I'm finally catching up to you :) with more petunia blooms!!! I just took this one of our first Petunia Celebrity Blue from Weez's seeds. The photo makes it look really blue but in person it really looks more like a rich velvet purple. The bloom size is smaller compared to the lilac, but still very pretty.

Dianthus seeds are a pain. LOL. I do clean them well before offering them for trade, but I don't do it until fall when I have more time!

Coral Nymph: Do I deadhead the complete "stalk?" Will they rebloom?

Corncockle: Did anyone else grow these? The seed came from Suzy, but I know she's knee deep in her own garden right now so I'm looking for someone else to rescue me. Boy they are really looking straggely. What do I do with them? I'm about ready to just rip them up but maybe they will get a 2nd flush?

I was also collecting sweet william seeds yesterday. I just cut the flowerhead off and tipped it over in a paper bag and kinda twirled and tapped it and I got tons of seeds! There are some light brown ones mixed in (that probably aren't viable-because the bulk are black ) and a small amount of chafe but other than that I thought they were pretty easy. Only some looked like how Lea described, the ones that didn't look like that I asume just aren't mature enough to have viable seed so I will just chuck them. I've found that trying to collect seeds while the flowerheads are damp makes it a lot harder than it has to be. So now I just wait until they are good and dry : ) If I'm really in a bind and haved to get them while they are damp for one reason or another, I snip off the flowerheads and leave them in a bowl until they dry. Some seed heads I've found will just pop open on their own in the bowl when they are ready. It's a lot easier to just pick up the entire flowerhead after they release on their own than to try to force them out. : )

I just wish my petunias would fill out am I just being impatient lol I have three pots one on top of one another with a rod in the middle holding them together and they just aren't going anywhere and they are in the full sun lol I want to see it full and bushy lol I took some pictures with my camera phone last night and will try and figure out how to send them here this afternoon sometime, I need to take my baby kitty to the vet when I can get in today, he has worms!

Meredith, I collected som sweet william 'sooty' when they were still damp from the rain and just let them dry before I shook them :) I'm getting ready today to do some I forget what their name is the tall red ones maidencross/iron cross? lol I'm not doing a lot cause I want them to reseed :)

I noticed that osteospermum is hardy to zone 7 last night in a book, I may dig mine up, one or two, and pot them up and set them next to the house for the winter and see if they make it.

Lea, Maltese Cross? Those are next on my list as well : ) I have collected seed heads wet myself, usually because I know if they get one more windy dry day there won't be any seeds left, or sometimes I know I'd just end up forgetting before there are none left! I was planning on saving some seeds from my lone Silene virginica and it's too late, the seeds have sown them selves : (

Morning all!

LaLa, about the corncockle: they're supposed to be stragly! That's why you have to sow them in between other plants or in a meadow. I don't think they'll grow back of you cut them down......

I'm collecting Sweet Willam seeds too. Such a pain! I had to cut them just before the pods opened because otherwise the wind would have shattered them.

Meredith, if you let the pods dry in a bowl don't forget to cover them with a sheet of paper. Otherwise seeds might be propelled all over the place!

Does anyone know how to collect seeds from a hardy geranium??

LeBug.. Do Osteosperums come back the next year. I always thought they was just an annual and been pitchign them at the end of the season. Have I been goofing?

Anybody happen to know what this is. Got a coupel pots of it growing and it to tall to even try and reall photgraph. Here the leaves then wil post the flower.

It them exploded with allthese little white flowers on the top. Sorry the pic not the best. couldn't get a good one and it loaded with seed pods now, so how do I collect them.

I don't know what it is, but it is pretty:)

Fairy,
It's not difficult to harvest seeds from a hardy geranium. But is it's a precise job and you'll have to be more clever than the plant is (which is more difficult than you think!). You'll have to pick the seeds just before the plant "shoots" them. That is, when the seeds are brown and the petals around them are turning yellow. You'll have to do so every day for at least a week (or two!) Put the harvested seeds in a bowl and don't forget to cover it or else you'll find the seeds all over the place. Leave this for a week or two and you'll find the seeds at the bottom of the bowl and a lot of dry stuff on top of them. All you have to do is seperate this.

Sorry Star,
You've been goofing! In fact Osteopspermum is a halfhardy shrub that doesn't survive severe winters. In more mild climates it does survive winter if its feet don't get too wet!
I don't recognise this plant, I'm afraid. But seeds can be harvested when the seedpods are turning brown......

Tuink-what if I put a little cloth baggie on the seedhead-will it catch them?? I ahve those little drawstring sedding bags for things that are tricky...

Fairy,
That might work, at least when the plant is compact. My geranium is about a meter high and all over the place.....

Mine is little mounds...so it stays pretty compact....I will try that-I have like 10 of those bags-are the seeds teeny or big??

Big enough to handle, there's five to every "cranes bill". They'r about 2 millimeters.....

OK-thanks-I was just kinda wondering if they were miniscule in size or not...

Meredith, yes the Maltese Cross lol I couldn't think of the name for nothing lol I love these plants and you know what that is the bed I put the mulch on so I bet they won't reseed! It's a good thing for some of the plants in there like Kanuita but not the Maltese Cross, I love those things!

Star, I read where Osteopspermum is hardy to z7, I'm not really sure how hardy they are, like Tunik said about the winters but I'm going to pot mine up and put them by the house and just see if they come back for next year, it's worth a shot, don't have anything to lose :) I can grow a lot of things from z7 if I put them against the house and next time with my Lisianthus I'm going to do the same thing, I'm just wondering if it would be better to put them against the house or in the garage. I didn't get to grow Lisianthus this year my trade seeds didn't come thru. Was it on here or a thread that I read that Lisianthus could be over wintered?

That white flower looks like balloon flower, mine are in bloom right now, I was suppose to have double white but so far I'm getting singles for some reason...but they are pretty anyway but I think I'm going to have to move them, one is getting yellow and the other ones don't look to be very happy where they are either.

Tuink, thank you for reminding me of covering the seeds, I didn't cover them lol.
Lea, How long have you been growing the Maltese Cross? I just planted mine last year from seed so this was it's first year with flowers. I've heard they can be short lived and I'm just wondering how long I can expect the original plants to come back, so I know when I should start new ones. I have a lot of mulch in the bed they are in too, so I need to make sure I start some : )

Does anyone know what this is? I thought it was a toad lily, but now that it has grown a lot and flowered I see it isn't. lol
Is it something I should keep or did weed seeds get in my cup?

Meredith, last year was the second year for my Maltese Cross, I didn't know they were short lived, that's not good, I want to keep them in my garden too! I have no idea what that plant is Meredith, sorry. I don't have a lot of mulch around where I have mine planted and it did reseed a few plants from last year so maybe that's all I will need and if they reseed a little for next year I'll be happy but I am saving a few seeds to pitch in my middle bed. I have a couple of plants that reseeded in my front bed too but the original plants from last year didn't come up in my front bed for this year.

It's getting to 90 today! I have a trade to wrap up but it's going somewhere it's only in the 80's lol They say no humidity until the weekend but in the 90's is still very hot lol Thursday it's going to be 95, what do you want to bet it turns into 100 LOL

Man it's gonna be hot, huh! It's supposed to be hot like that this weekend here. We are having a birthday cookout for my two little dh's, thank goodness we have a pool or the guests would probably end up dropping like flies! LOL
So with the Maltese cross it sounds like they live at least 3 years? Maybe 4, that's good to know, so mine should be back next year. : )

Lol - I meant DD's not Dh's!

This message was edited Jul 16, 2008 11:00 AM

Well happy birthday to your daughter 8) and yep, sounds like you will get a lot of pool action this weekend LOL Do you have twin daughters or are their birthdays just close together?

I'm headed out to wrap a trade up :)

Thank you for the b-day wishes : ) No twins thank goodness! Lol, that would be too much work. Their b-days are one month apart, but 3 years apart too. We had grandparents over for the 1 year old but I wanted to have just one big party for them both. The older one turned 4 on Sun. but she is still young enough that she doesn't know the difference. They are both the 13th one June one July, I think 13 might be my lucky number! If that's possible! Isn't 13 supposed to be an unlucky number!? THat's also my route number at work - lol. Maybe it just means I have no luck ; )

Mer-I am sorry to tell you it is a weed:(

Thanks for the info on the Ostie's. yep I have been goofing. Ugg . I wonder do ya think I cna start some seed now and then over winter them in pots crammed together in a unheated shelter for the winter?

If the weather holds like normal shouldn't be getting cold here until about the middle of december and wil have frost somewhat then but mainly get down to about 28F in January and feb. Thinking that if I start them now , that maybe they won't bloom but would get a bigger root system over the winter and maybe be a bigger plant for next year. What ya think?

When I first saw the bloom I thought it might have been a ballon plant too, but this thing about 3 feet tall and I have only ever seen tiny one sin pots.

LeBug. I have to check but think I have some Lithiansus seeds in the fridge . If I do can send ya some.

Not sure what ya have either Meridth. it got some pretty blooms on it. Remind sme of a wildflower I see aroudn the yard, but not really sure.

I am having fits. I took a bunch of cuttings the other day and potted em all up and went out this morning and was yelping at the squirrels. Most of them have been uprooted and dirt dig holes all over the place. Then as I went to try and put themback in pots, giant toad jumped out at me. Ohhhhhhhh I gave him a talking too. Took a big pot, put some wet soil in it and put it under the bench and maybe he will do his digging and sleeping in it instead of uprooting all my babies.

Oh Ella-gosh darn critters:(

Meredith, I think you are just defying the number 13 and it’s lucky for you lol It has to be lucky if you have two children born on those dates :)

Star, I'm just going to experiment with my Osteopspermum, I don't know if I would take that chance with the seeds, they are expensive seeds unless you got them in trade :) I have four that I bought and five that I potted up from seed I bought, only one out of the four that I bought really looks good, I may have to find another spot for them, unless it's just those darn kittens always playing in them lol I'm surprised any of my plants out front look half way good with having to put up with the kittens lol I had a lot more sun in my front yard last year, I think the holly tree and the maple grew a lot more from the rain in the winter I have hardly any sun where I planted some Kobold, and one is trying to bloom and I don't think it's Kobold cause it's about three feet tall, I wonder if they come true from seed? I have some.

I would love the Lithiansus seeds if you aren't going to plant them, I have no idea if this trade is going to come thru or not and they are so hard to grow anyway lol Thank you! The first time I grew them I sowed a whole pack of them and only got two to plant, that was all I needed really but I was sweating those lol The are beautiful with yellow bells in a pot!

LeBug, I collected my Osteopspermum seeds - these were vibrant orange and yellow. I broke down and bought the pink and purple "passion" seeds - and they are expensive! So next year I will grow these and collect the seeds and see if the come true or not.

But it's (the corncockle) stragly...and brownish....without many blooms left. Will it get better again? :(

Meredith,
That's a weed on that photo. Get rid of it right away or it will take over! It shoots its seeds all over the place.
Malthese cross will live about 3-4 years but might selfsow.

Star,
You could try sowing Osties. Worst thing that would happen is for them not to survive winter. Why not take some cuttings?
Darned unpleasant, all this wildlife in your garden!

Lala,
Nope, they won't get better! You could as well get rid of them, and try again next year. These are plants that do better if you sow them where you want them to grow. Best do so in April.

I'm getting very impatient with my Silene Laciniata 'Jack Flash', I guess I'm not going to be able to plant it until this fall? It is as slow growing as the Lisianthus, I have my seedlings in the smallest cow pots and I think I will take them out and plant in a three inch pot, I'm about to lose one. Has anyone grown these before? I planted these like really early in the spring.

Fairy, I have a baby bunnie that came out of my middle bed where the violets are, I freaked because I have so many new plants in the edges of that bed but didn't see any damage yet if he's eating anything but I thought of you :)

Star, I usually have that problem with the squirrels but this year I think having the cats around has helped a LOT. Last year I had just gotten some sedums and had a pot of them on the picnick table they were just begining to root then the squirrels came along and uprooted them all, never did find one of them. They have been keeping their distance this year, now if the bunnies would keep their distance, you need to get a cat :) I think I'll put a sign out in the middle bed that I have a cat and maybe the bunnies will see it and stay away LOL

Pictures! finally! Okay - here is an Twining Snapdragon Asarina scandens

Some hardy geraniums still looking for a home . . . (planted some of these already, and gave some away; these will probably go in the east garden on the terrace)

very blurry picture showing lots of perennials still to plant!

Here are some rose campion - blush. These have been planted in my front yard

These are Dianthus Arctic Fire - not sure where I will use these - who knew all the seeds would germinate???

four purple dome asters