greetngs piggies! excuse my jumping in, but I just wanted to say howdy. I use to be a piggy, but unfortunately I slept thru this pigcall! Hope yall had as much fun as I did, last time.
this bunch is just pure top branch! enjoy!
Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #25
Hi jsxtiger! We missed havin you in the swap!
Hiya Joyce!! Nice to see ya pop on in.
Terese
Hey Joyce! I bet this is all sooooo familiar, isn't it - LOL!! Missed you on this go-round. Are you starting seeds yet?
Hi Joyce!
Glad ya popped in sleepyhead. : ) If there somethign special ya looking for holler, who knows might have it.
Fairy, them veggies not for you, well sorta, they for you to plant in between yoru flowers and let yoru hubby grill for ya come summertime. How cna ya pass up roayed peppers and tomatoes. LOL ; )
Wow. didn't realize lady in red got that big. Cool! Anybody got a pic of theirs?
I got the ones i asked for and can use a couple of the others, but not all the ones I got-Robin is going to grow them and give them a good home:) I just don't have room:( Sorry.....I have watermelon, canteloups, green beans, tomatoes (grape & reg), lettuse and a couple other things I want to grow this year
I think it's funny about the Salvia's because mine acted the opposite- my S. coccinea got no more than 30" while the pineapple sage got huge - but it never flowered. It didn't get a whole lot taller maybe 3' tall -just super wide and full.
I've been helping Kelly with the spreadsheet (boy am I learning a lot!) and found Harris's description of the Coccinea Salvias interesting. It says that the Coral and White Nymphs get 18-20" but mine didn't get near that big last year. It also says that Lady in Red only gets 12-14" but Tonya and Robin's got over 3 feet! Kinda makes it hard to plan ahead with that big of a discrepancy ya know? Since I got my seed from Tonya not Harris I'll plan on the bigger version.
Danita - How big will the Forest Fire get? I think I also have a Lipstick in here somewhere but don't remember off the top of my head who sent it. Can anybody give me the low-down on that one?
Good Fairy. Ya need to veggies to fly big and strong. LOL
Meridith... When do you guys start warming up enough to plant things in the ground, so I cna have a general idea of when to send your pineapple sage?
This (the SS) is proving to be a good way to distract myself from staring at my seedlings, which I need!
My begonias are ~ 1/32 of an inch, and growing stronger every minute as I cheer them on... I gotta get out more!
LaLa,
Whether plants grow bigger than planned, or stay smaller, depends on a lot of factors. The most important being: soil (the better the soil the bigger they get, and broader too), sunlight (plants that get enough light grow sturdier but will become a little less high) and competition (if they grow in cramped conditions plants tend to become higher in an attempt to outgrow the competition). There are other factors too, like warmth -or lack of it- and bugs munching at the roots of a plant.....
as for the additional seeds... i do not eat peppers, not any... but i have a kid that loves'em ... so i told him where i plan to plant them... possibly in the rose bed [if they stay nice and short] and he can eat them at will.
I did get an envie of about 300 tomato seeds... LOL.. not sure where i'm gonna put them all........ honestly, i'll use 1 or 2, maybe 3.
as for the Salvias... i only grew Hummingbird Sage last year ...
just checked last years spreadsheet, and i found I did not WS the salvia... i did the Coral Nymph, which a few germinated and i planted out somewhere ... but the red ones were direct sown... and they did GREAT.
and again - by looking at the spreadsheet... it was Lady in Red "bonfire".
>>Whether plants grow bigger than planned, or stay smaller, depends on a lot of factors.
Tuink -- i did notice that too. One in particular was my Brazilian Bachelor Buttons.... I planted them in various locations within the garden... the ones that got FULL sun all day got HUGE, where the ones that were shaded in the afternoon afternoon, were noticeably smaller. ... though they all bloomed very nicely until the very end.
Here's a pic of my 'Lady in Red'. PF says up to 36" high. Mine is planted in direct sun with well amended soil. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/900466/
Saw a container sweet pea sprouting in my WS container yesterday. The first newborn! Can't wait to get started planting some of the seeds I got yesterday!
Mornin' y'all!
Mine was in full sun this last year and looked more of a hot pink-it was one of my fave plants and since I didn't know how to collect the seeds til late, I am hoping to have volunteers like crazy this year!!
WOW that is BIG... i have to say, mine did get some shade in the afternoon by that huge fence behind it... it was more of an after thought.... that area really has not been developed yet ... and i just sorta scratched the surface, spread some seeds and hoped for the best. you can also see a Scarlet MW there ... i think that grew from seeds from the year before.
This message was edited Jan 21, 2009 8:08 AM
I had the same experience as Meredith with the 'Lady in Red' versus pineapple sage. My pineapple got huge and it did bloom but I grow it from cuttings taken in the fall and kept through the winter. You can then get cuttings off of cuttings. Probably hastens the bloom time but they don't bloom until Sept for me.
:) I have a Japanese Anemone that for years I had in the back in full sun, getting dried out all the time. It did very nicely, at about 1' tall with 2" leaves or so, nice flowers. Decided to put some in the front in full shade, and it got to be 3' tall, 6" leaves and the blooms topped out at about 5 1/2' tall! Oops, gotta move it back some... Here things mostly get bigger in the cooler spots... not everything, but alot :)
My 'lady in Red' did get much talller than 12 to 14 inches. I sewed them indoors and had 29 plants. Crazy me. I did not need all of them but I just put them everywhere. Probably did not use but about 20. I did not like the 'Coral Nymph' nearly as well but am hoping for volunteers from both.
Wow Nb
Mine were more tall and skinny but again I had them planted kind of close.
It had certainly never gotten that big at my house in San Antonio, but it was in a lot more shade there and was a bit more neglected, not watered much.
Fairy, yours was more hot pink?! That sounds special! Mine was scarlet red, without a trace of pink, and I LOVE pink. Do keep track of that trait, could be something to select for (isolate the seed).
I found the Dwarf Hummingbird Salvia to bloom quicker than the others, due to its smaller stature.
If these I've got going in the plant room keep doing well, I'll just take a bunch of cuttings for early plants and direct sow the seeds I have. Most Salvias seem to root easily, I'm thinking these will be the same.
I sowed mine inside, and mine got about 2.5' tall and wbout as wide last summer-was absolutely gorgeous!!
When I get home I will find the pic and post it-not sure how well the color came out in the pic, but it was not as red as the ones in PF-to me it seems more on the pink side-I could be color blind though!!LOL
FYI-something I did this last year that worked VERY well for me, was I got 1 very large bag of cheap soil, then I got a bag of Jiffy seed starting mix-I did about 60-70% of the bottom of the container with the cheap soil and the top like 3rd with the seed starting mix and it seemed to work very well for my seedling and was a lot cheaper thatn all Jiffy....
I found a cheap soil at Lowes and picked up a bag along with my MG soil. Its sold by weight, which usually means sand has been added, but it felt pretty spongy through the bag. It looks pretty good, with fine bark and less peat than most. I'm trying some with plants that like a free draining medium. It was only 2.79 for a 40lb bag.
Fairy I may try mixing it like you mentioned. Besides being cost effective it may end up with a better overall growing medium.
I like that idea fairy!
I tried bonfire salvia in 2006, I wasn't impressed by it. http://davesgarden.com/tools/journal/showimage.php?eid=107841
However I was very new to growing flowering plants from seed, so it could have been my lack of experience of course! I think the only Salvia splendens that impresses me is that Yovnne's I would love to get my hands on some of those seeds. : )
I saw some seeds for sale in a catalog that bragged of them being super tall (sounding alot like yovonnes) Sorry but I have no idea how to spell Yuvonne? Help ; )
Star - I meant to say this sooner, it doesn't get warm enough here until late May! Crazy huh!
I just thought of something that may have made a difference. I use LOTS of rabbit manure. Love the stuff! Have any of y'all used it and noticed a sizable difference in your plants?
I don't need to use it-I have a serious bunny problem and they poop all over the place!! They eat the plant and then I swear they poop right next to it....URG-BUNNIES:(
Bunnie stew tastes delicious.....
LOL!!
LOL! Don't let my daughter hear you, she's named our little rodents! 'Betty bunny' just better stay out of the garden!
I'm needing advice. I have Primula seeds, but wondering now if it's too late to start them. It gets too hot for them pretty quickly here... Does anyone WS them? I'm trying to figure how I sow something at 59-66° (to cold outside, too hot in house)?
Hee Hee, still chuckling about bunny stew...
Hmm, if it get's too hot for Primula there it probably does here, too. So an additional question about them. Can I grow them in a pot and bring them inside when it starts getting too hot? Looking forward to an answer about WSing them, too.
Kl stuart do you have a garage or basement that stays cooler? That is what I do for stuff that needs cooler temps. my garage stays in the 40's and 50's when it's real cold outside. Then I have a finished basement that I can keep cooler if needed. Added-right now I have it set at 58F- If you don't have those I would probably just wait until the time of year when those temps are the average. Then keep them in a lot of shade when it gets hotter. I beleive they just go dormant when it gets too hot, so they might be fine. : )
This message was edited Jan 21, 2009 11:17 AM
Ooh I did a quick search and found an article about primulas from t&m http://www.thompson-morgan.com/info/articles/primulas.html - I didn't read it, but if I had some primulas to start I sure would : )
Yikes! Thanks, that is very informative, if not encouraging! Don't know why I keep wanting to try what is obviously not a natural for my area :)
Your welcome. I am the same way though! I am always trying plants that are hardy to zone 6 (barely) so just the reverse problem! lol
I wintersowed Primula japonica and P.vulgaris successfully. They need plenty of moisture and partial shade, especially in hot climes, to get well established. Then they should bloom the 2nd year.
Thanks Neal. I'll probably try WSing my seeds also, then.