Oh, Boo Hoo! Mice got into my seeds!

At the risk of whining, the last few days haven't been the greatest anyway, and this just put the frosting on the cake! Some time in the last week or two, mice managed to get into my seed storage area and they destroyed just about everything! Sniffle! Including my Himalayan Blue poppy seeds that I was going to try winter sowing this year. What a mess, too. Seed chaff, paper shreds, mouse leavings...grrrrrr! The only bright spot is they also ate the castor bean seeds someone traded me and I truly hope that those are every bit as poisonous as I've been led to believe. Sorry, no mousey christian charity feelings here, even if it IS Christmas Eve. Oh well, I'm going to sweep everything up and toss it all into an open area come spring and see what comes up. Sigh. At least I still have a few flower seed packets that I'd stuffed into a coffee can and a few recently collected seeds that are still sitting on my back porch and a few in the kitchen....yes, they do tend to end up everywhere don't they? Well, I do feel a little bit better for having a place to complain, so thanks for listening.

Woofie,

Try some watch kitties to take care of the mice. Here are mine sharing a bed in the cellar.

Carolyn

Well, that's a real disaster!
I remember my own disaster 4 years ago, when I started my garden. I planted a lot of young plants and the next morning they were all gone: Slugs.
Have a look at my have list, choose the seeds you want and I will send them to you.
Hopes it makes your Christmas eve a bit happier.
There may be some delay in my answer, because there is a time difference between us.

I keep my seeds in photo boxes, absolutely mousefree! See the picture

Jonna

Awww, Jonna, that's so sweet of you to offer. But after sifting through the disaster, it looks like mostly what the mice totally destroyed were the vegetable seeds and I can usually pick those up on sale for ten cents a pack. They tore up a lot of other stuff, but I found that if I handled the packs carefully, I could salvage a bit of most of them. Sniff, except for my meconopsis, sniff. Totally vanished, package and all. It was a very small package, so I guess it's shredded in the rest of the confetti. sniff. I haven't been able to get the things to grow anyway, but I was looking forward to trying winter sowing them. That was what I was looking for when I discovered the damage. HA! Now I get to see if I can find the mousetraps.
Kitties, bless their little hearts, Carolyn (and yours are lovely little ones), wouldn't work out too well with my other "little" babies. Here's one of them.
Sympathy, however, goes a long way. :-) Thank you so much for taking the time to respond at such a busy time of year.

I just winter sowed the Meconopsis betonicifolia, keep a look on my have list next year. If I'm succesful I might have seeds.

Woofie,

Love your puppy. She's a sweetie.

You still have time, have you thought about searching to find who is offering the Blue Himalyan Poppies for trade? You could trade for them and you could still wintersow them.

Checked your list and athough I do not have the poppy seeds you are looking for, I do have the Trollius. I could split off a rooted piece for you in the Spring if you would like. I found last year, if you deadhead, you do get another nice showing of the flowers too. I have included a picture of mine that were taken last May.

Let me know about the Trollius and I can add you to my Spring trade spreadsheet.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.

Carolyn

Ooooh, I would LOVE a piece of your Trollius! (Gotta have a troll in the garden, right?) I noticed you have a few different varieties of columbine on your want list. I don't have those specific ones, but I do have some seeds I collected this year off my dwarf columbine. I do love columbine and this is one of my favorites. I'm not absolutely sure what it's botanical name is; it was a gift from my DH. It makes a lovely compact mound and the way the dew collects in the center of the leaves sparkles like jewels in the morning sun. This picture does not do it justice.

Woofie,

I just love your columbine. I never saw such a cute little mound like that before. It's adorable. I'd love some seeds from it. I really like columbines. I put in soft yellow one last Spring - I don't know the name of it, but there's something about columbine.

I am adding you to spreadsheet for Spring trades.

Thanks so much,
Carolyn

Well, darn it, now I can't seem to find those seeds! I found a very small pack from 2007, but I know I gathered a bunch this year. Humph! They're probably sitting in an unlabeled cup somewhere. My organization leaves a bit to be desired. Worst case, I can dig up volunteers this spring and try shipping a live plant. There are always a few. My original plant gave up the ghost last year, but it was about 10 years old and they don't live forever. The one in the picture is one of those volunteers that's about 3 years old now. I had one that had pink flowers, but my dear pups stomped it to death. I've been looking for another one like it.

Woofie,

It wouldn't be like this one would it? I planted this one from seed about 6-7 years ago. I have a white one like this too that I planted at the same time. Every year, I am afraid maybe their last - as you said, they don't seem to last very long do they? I think the pink one is Dorothy Rose - not positive. I have seen what I thought was the same thing also listed as Pink Bonnets - not sure what the difference is or if there is any difference.

Carolyn

Oh my, that is pretty. But, no, I was looking for the pink version of my dwarf that grows in that same low mound. Do you have any interest in annual morning glories? I have a bunch of seeds I harvested off a Ipomoea purpurea "Jamie Lynn". It is a really lovely and prolific bloomer. Don't know if the seeds will be true to the original because they were very possibly cross-pollinated, but this is another of my favorite flowers.

That is beautiful!. I would love some. My husband is partial to morning glories. I'll see what I have in the spring on the Dorothy Rose columbine. Hopefully I can add some to your package.

Carolyn

Wonderful! I'll set some aside for you. I do hope these come out looking like the parent plants. This was my first year growing these so I don't know what the second generation will look like, but hey they're morning glories--gotta be pretty anyway! And I would love some of those Dorothy Rose. Now if I were being truly evil, I'd tempt you with pics of the pink lavatera that I tried this year, too. Another instant favorite. Actually, you can see one lurking in the corner of the MG pic. It's a good thing I'm not organized, because if I were, all this year's collected seeds would have been put away where the mice got in. Going to have to get me some mouse proof containers. Till then, coffee cans will have to do.

And Jonna, if you're still lurking, I seem to remember reading that you shouldn't let meconopsis bloom the first year. That seems silly to me because you'd think Mother Nature would know best, but I have seen that mentioned in several places. I don't know if I'd have the discipline to pinch off buds if I managed to get one growing, tho. Best of luck with yours!

Woofie,

The lavatera is very pretty and a wonderful color. How tall does it get?

Carolyn

Woofie, there is very little known about the meconopsis. I tried to sow it last year, but I did not succeed. I did it indoors, not knowing anything about winter sowing. I think this is a plant that is perfect for winter sowing. The information I could find said Meconopsis is a short living plant. Most short living perennials will have a longer life when you dead head them. So if this plant gets flowers ( if it germinates.....), I must prevent it to make seeds. Well, I know a lot of people want to have seeds, so I hope to grow several plants. If I'm that lucky, I will cut the flowers of half of them and try to get seeds from the other half.

Carolyn, my lavatera were grown in pots and only got about 18 inches tall. Here's a closer look.

Hmmm, Jonna, not letting the meconopsis go to seed makes a LOT more sense than not letting them bloom. I did find an old pkg of seeds buried in my refrigerator labeled "meconopsis baileyi." They were some I had tried indoors (like you) with no sucess and then forgot about them. I know, I know, I should clean my refrigerator more often. I've heard that the seeds don't keep well, so these may not be any good, but I'm sure going to try them! I wonder if that's just another name for the betonicifolia?

I've had great success starting meconopsis in 100% peat moss. Now if I could just get them to winter over in my zone sigh.

Now, that surprises me because I know for a fact that they will grow in Alaska; there are a couple of DG people up there who grow them. Any tips on getting them started? I may have to break down and BUY some fresh seeds.

Woofie, not cleaning your refrigerator so often was really a good idea. If you had found them earlier, they would have ended up like the others, haha.
'Baileyi' is a synonym of 'Betonicifolia'. It's the name of the man who discovered the plant in 1922.
I will only let some of them set seed if I can grow enough of them. And it's not that I won't let them bloom, but preventing them to set seeds after blooming will extend their life.

Les, will you please tell in detail how you started your meconopsis. I heard they need light to germinate, but they must be kept out of the sun.

Very dry and alkaline soil here woofie so they struggle. Not enough snow so some succumbed to crown rot from mulch. Non-mulched succumbed to chinook/cold snap. I germinated them in a cold greenhouse (40-60F) in 100% peat. I sure wish I tried them again this year as this winter we finally are back to normal snowfalls.

Hi Joanna we cross posted. My greenhouse is natural light and it is very sunny although the sun is not strong in March. Once they got their first set of true leaves I moved them under a shelf so they got late sun only. A friend also grew them the same way although her greenhouse is plastic so her light was more diffused. She mulched them under straw and better success wintering them over.

This message was edited Dec 30, 2008 12:24 PM

Woofie,

Love the picture of the Lavatera - they are gorgeous and 18" is a great height too. I'd love some.
Thanks so much.
Carolyn

HA! I should be so lucky as to have 40 to 60 deg. in my greenhouse! However, that is about the temperature range of my spare bedroom upstairs...well maybe more like 40 to 50 deg. Hmmmm, wonder if they'd like compact fluorescent lights? Do they really take 4 to 5 weeks to germinate? My main problem has been keeping them moist during the germination period. Sigh, it's not very rewarding watering bare soil. (No patience here.)

Carolyn, I do have some lavatera seeds off this year's plants...not a lot, because I wasn't really gathering them for trading, just to try this coming year. I'll be happy to send you some to try. I'm assuming these are viable seeds because I don't think it's a hybrid. I had a white one as well, so they might have gotten crossed. Hope not, because the white ones aren't nearly as pretty.

Woofie,

If you can spare some, that would be great - they are gorgeous!

Regarding your greenhouse and fluorescent lights, do you get Garden Gate Magazine? It was in one of their issues - might even have been the last one, where they took plastic shelving and put a dry cleaner bag over the plastic shelving to get the same effect as with a greenhouse. As far as the lighting is concerned - I have a small indoor greenhouse and my husband was able to take the small fluorescent light panels and attach them to the greenhouse with plastic ties. Then he took a surge protector and wired that in with the plastic ties - I use it all the time. Don't know how handy your DH is, but it would be simple to do and not cost an arm and a leg.

Carolyn

Consider them added to the list. It's fun to find something new and share it. I stumbled across the lavatera when I was looking for something else entirely and decided to try them. They were a bit tricky to get started, tho, and only half the seeds germinated.

I have learned my lesson about trying to start seeds too early. I intend to restrain myself till at least Feb, so I don't end up with a bunch of tall, leggy flowers. I have used that mini greenhouse idea within my greenhouse to save on heating costs. I put a covered tray on a heat mat, then cover the whole thing with bubble pack and hang a fluorescent light over it. That works well, but we get frosts here so late in the year that by the time it's safe to set things out, they're kind of leggy, no matter how much I fuss with light and heat.

Woofie,

they are gorgeous - thank you. Did you wintersow them? How did you start them? I have found that some things I am better off wintersowing and somethings I sow directly into the garden once the soil warms.

Carolyn

Oh, I start everything in my greenhouse. The seed pack called for soaking the seeds for a day or two, then I put them in a paper towel in a baggie, then when they showed signs of sprouting, I put them in peat pots and lightly covered them with seed starting mix. Yeah, I know, that's a lot of fussing with them and maybe it wasn't necessary, and with all that I only had 50% germination. Who knows, they might do better being direct sowed in the spring. We have such a short growing season here that I pretty much have to jump start everything in the GH. Here's a link to the sowing information from Thompson-Morgan. I bought the original pkg from Parks but they aren't offering them now. The directions given here are different from what's on my package.
http://www.tmseeds.com/product/1501.html

Woofie,

Thank you for the link. Our season isnt' long either, so I do understand where you are on that. Maybe if I do have wintersow and half direct sow. That way I am covered.

Carolyn

I always start the Lavatera indoors, because it is not so hardy in my zone and I always have a good germination. Just in mild winters they reseed in the garden. Sowing them outside gives them not much time to bloom.

They do produce a lot of seeds, too. I wish now I had gathered more. And I think Jonna's right. They are a bit slow to start, so winter sowing or direct sowing may not give them enough time to bloom the way they will if you start them indoors. Jonna, do you do anything special to get them started?

No, I just sow them in potground with perlite, cover them 0,5 cm I always have a germination of about 70-75%. I never use a seedstarter or lamps on any of my seeds. Last year I started the seeds at Feb. 23 and they were ready to be planted out May 15. I had whites and the pink 'Silver cup' I made a groupe of whites, a group of 'Silver Cup' and a mixed one.

Pretty picture! That's what I did too, except mine were in pots. Matching pots, one with pink and one with white on either side of the pergola, then another pot with one of each in another area. It's funny to realize that these beautiful plants are related to a particularly obnoxious weed we have here.