Meredith, I WS some Painted Daisies from Lowes last year, and really excited to see them bloom this year! That was another one that something got in there and ate the leaves completely off. They came back with no problem, but if you have them outside you may want to keep them treated with something once true leaves show.
One of the Salvias I sowed on Friday is already up! S.viridis from Tuink :-) The others all have that funky slime coat on them. Seed starting is the best therapy for getting through winter! Having all these seeds to tend to has me thinking "eeek!...spring is ONLY X amount of weeks away!"
Gardening: Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #28
gemini that's good to know - thank you so much for telling me. I had that problem with some stuff last year. I think I lost all my red lupines I started. I got some from the swap and I had bought some morello cherry. They were all doing great until I planted them outside - they disappeared one by one. I found a couple cutworms in their vicinity. It appeared to have gotten a few different things. Now I'll need to be more observant this year.
Toofew sounds like you have more will power than me! lol
I had to try the passionflower, it said annual but it only says blue passionflower. When I searched annual passionflower I got one flower to come up. I have a plant I planted about 2 or 3 years ago and it hardly grows never mind blooms so I thought an annual would be nice - although I am finding it hard to believe it will actually flower it's first year. I think it is a gimmick.
When I searched Blue passionflower it came up with passiflora caerulea which is supposed to be perennial to zone 6.
That's the only problem I found with seeds at lowes - they don't give enough info on the package, and they don't give botanical names so it makes it real hard to figure out what you should expect! The packets have a number on them that says go to lowes/plants and type it in for more info and when I tried I got an error page. So I am not happy with lowes about that!
I thought that passionflower was a more tropical plant. I have a few seeds coming from a trade and intended to try to grow them as an indoor plant.
Yes it's true most are tropical. The plant I bought is supposed to be hardiest - passiflora incarnata (maypop). http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1189/
Passiflora caerulea's http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1264/ hardiness is listed different depending on who you ask. Floridata says it has been known to survive down to 5 degrees but only listed it as hardy to zone 8. The only one I found that said annual is passiflora gracilis, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1268/ but there isn't any info about it online. So I don't know anything about it. : )
Thanks Meredith. Looked at your links and I didn't realize how large these things get! Maybe not so practical for an indoor plant, though I know I've ogled them (is that a word?) at garden centers.
Yeah they seem a little high maintenance indoors. Anyway I don't know if this be of use but I did see some info about growing them indoors here http://www.floridata.com/ref/P/pass_cae.cfm
I have to admit I personally, am a houseplant killer! I try stuff and I always end up with stuff dying. I am having good luck with a few things this year, so far so good. But ask me when the spring comes, that is my problem. I get too distracted by the goings on of the outside garden that I forget about my indoor stuff! I killed 4 orchids by forgetting to water them, last summer.
Thanks for all the advice on the Delphiniums. Suzy said last year they were persnickity, and I can see now that they are from a variety of perspectives. I had bought some plants the first year, but they didn't survive the winter. With all your advice I'm gonna go ahead and give them another shot this year.
Meredith - I can kill one of those indoor Silver Queen things just by walking past it!
I have to admit that I, too, am a houseplant killer (except for ones that thrive on neglect such as snake plants) - and no more orchids for me, as much as I love them. But occasionally I just get this urge to try something - think you know what I mean. Thanks for the info - am having 2nd thoughts already.
Meredith - someone sent me that blue passion flower packet from Lowes, along with the Agastache aurantiaca Apricot Sprite in a recent seed round robin. Well, those were 2 that I picked anyway. So I'll be growing that one too. LOL I wonder, should we be planting the passion flower now to be sure that it flowers this year?
Fairy, thanks for the offer of Walker's Low but that is what I have. I did have some seeds for the blue fescue, but gave them away in the swap because I couldn't think of a good place to put it.
It's wonderful here now that we are warmer ... can actually see the ground in some spots. Usually we have no snow cover for most of the winter. It got up to 47 degrees yesterday ... saw a few teenage crazy's with shorts on. LOL
Went to a Red Wings hockey game yesterday. I brought the plastic beer cups (which have Red Wings printed on them) home so I can take extra plants to work in them in the spring... I know my fellow workers will get a kick out of that.
toofew
Those of you growing Blue Fescue.. What ya all doign with it? ot many people I know wanna grow pots of grass. Other than a whole yard of it to mow, can't figrue out what ya doing with it. I curious.
I just use the fescue as a speciman plant Star. This picture was taken in '07 which was either the year I started it or maybe the year after. You'll see it on the left hand side toward the bottom. The whole bed has since filled out considerably including the blue fescue.
I also have clumps of it in my herb bed and last summer I dug up some volunteers and planted them among the rocks on my dad's waterfall.
toofew, I already started my passionflowers last night. I read on that link I posted that it is helpful to soak dried stored seeds. The package had six dried seeds in it. I think I might dig them out and soak them and then put them back in the mix. Does anyone have any tips on these for us? Are these one that hydrogen peroxide soak might help germinate?
Star I was thinking the blue fescue might look good just spread around my other perennials, almost like a ground cover. I am trying to figure out something that will look good with the Little Lanterns Columbine. I use that red cedar mulch in my beds and the time when the columbine are blooming it's almost like the red flowers just blend in with the red mulch. I thought the blue fescue would look nice with them to help show off the flowers. It's a long shot because I have no idea if the blue fescue even emerges early enough to work. If not I was thinking they'd look good along the front edge of our pool. It is lined with flat rocks, so it's hard to keep the grass weed free and mowed there. But my dh doesn't want me to plant anything that will distarct from that view of the pool. So I thought they might work good there too. I'll have to wait and see what ends of working for them. : )
Looks like someone posted since I started typing this but I don't want to lose what I typed. Sorry : )
Lala what a cute combination! I love that bed, good job combining plants. : )
This message was edited Feb 8, 2009 3:09 PM
Beautiful bed Lala. Thanks to you and to Meridith. I would nevr have thought of usign it like you all did and do. Aprpeciate it. : )
I agree, very cute bed, Lala!
Meredith, the combination of the blue fescue and Little Lanterns Columbine sounds very pretty, great idea! I think the blue fescue stays evergreen here, but you're several zones cooler. I think it's short lived here though due to the heat and humidity of summer.
Thanks Danita. : )
Lala since you've grown them and your in a similar zone, do you remember when they pop out of the ground in spring? Do you think they'll be filled in when the columbine bloom? Thanks for any help : )
La, that bed is very nice! Great combination.
Star, I love blue fescue as a border plant too. I have some in a bed that encompasses a blue spruce, and it echoes the blue color nicely.
Uuuggg....I just was moving things around under the lights and the tray holding 3 pots of Snapdragon seedlings broke and all 3 pots were spilled. They looked like Chia pets and needed transplanting anyway, so those are done now. There were so many of them, losses were minimal- I'll still have way more that I'll be able to use. Transplanted a bunch more Pansies today too, and already running out of room! I think I'm going to have to employ Star's idea and build another light set up with PVC.
Sorry Sharon-misunderstood-I see the grass seeds EVERYWHERE-so I am sure you could pick some up at that new Lowe's
Thanks everyone for the bed compliments. I call that my 'level' bed because...well because it's built on 3 different levels. The center is sunken and that's where you'll find all the moisture loving grasses. Then there're a few plantings at ground level with the dry-loving plants on the incline.
Meredith I don't have any columbine (a situtation soon to be rectfied I hope) so I'm afraind I can't compair the two. All I can recall about the fescue is that it's still brown when I normally do my spring cleanup which is always as soon as the weather will allow. Unlike my other ornamental grasses I don't cut it back, rather I 'comb' it in the spring to remove all the dead stuff. It's kind of like the process I use with my ultra-shedding dog when I just pull on his hair and his winter coat comes off in big hand-fulls. Now how's THAT for a mental illustration? LOL. But I think it's just like any other grass - ornamental or lawn - and will start greening up at about the same time.
My sympathies Neal on germination mishap #1. Hopefully there will be no #2! Most of you will probably remember the seed-cleaning mishap I had when my faithful dog Aldo knocked over a tray that had 7 or 8 tiny cups containing different seeds. I spent an entire day sorting through the remains picking out the most distinctive seeds and threw the rest into one baggie. I started seed from that baggie a few weeks ago and as frustrated as I was when they got mixed up it's kind of fun watching what emerges from the 'surprise trays.' The coleus seedlings are easy to identify and I've got the petunias spotted as well. I'm pretty sure the other mystery plants are snap-dragons so now the mystery is a mystery no more!
Have a question for all you plant whizzes :-). I have an Abutilon plant that I've been methodically trying to had pollinate to get some seeds from and it fails EVERY time. The flower falls off at that little point where the flower and the stem meet. How do you guys get your seeds? I've never been able to get a pod. It's frustrating me to no end because I've been getting alot of flowers while its been in for the winter and I finally found the right conditions to grow it in. Arrrh!
I'm getting seedling envy hearing all your little ones pop up. I haven't wintersowed yet because we just had a warm spurt at almost 60 this weekend. Not that I don't enjoy this warm weather, Spring fever just sprung! But I got to get these milk jugs sown in some colder weather for a while. I actually got to get my hands in some dirt at my SIL's house. She's putting her house on the market in VA and had to have some Iris that have been in the family moved before they took pictures. Which means my DH knew he couldn't even get a trip back, in the dead of winter, plantless LOL!
Andrea
well you need to hand polinate use a tooth pick get the polin from one bloom and mix it with the other and back to do both if you only have one bloom at one time put the tooth pick in the freezer to keep the polin for the next bloom and pray it may help you know
I did try pollinating a couple of different flowers at the same time but not with a toothpick, a small paintbush. Is this where I'm going wrong? Do they get pollinated by a hummingbird or something that requires something like a toothpick? Or is it maybe that I didn't mix up the pollen enough? Thanks for sharing the wizdom :) You can clearly see I don't know what I'm doing here LOL! Andrea
mygypsyrose, when I pollinate Daylilies, I use a Q-tip. I don't know if that is too large for the Abutilons though.
Lala, great bed!
Thanks Lala, it was probably for the best that I spilled those. I think I waited too long to transplant my Snaps last year, and they stayed quite small till I set them out. These are way ahead of last years at this point and I think I'll have some pretty little transplants by planting time :-) Glad to hear you're able to id the mixed seed germinating! Do you think you'll have enough to do the combos you'd planned?
toofew, was it you who sent me several different packs of Pansy seeds? Those have done amazingly well! I got about 50 of the Needlepoint Atlas when transplanting.
Andrea, are you looking for seed to share from your Abultillon or are you just wanting to propagate it? Cuttings root pretty easily, so you may want to go that route.
I did find my Blue Fescue yesterday.... looks like it was mowed down by bunnies probably, but still nice lil clumps.
I have images, but they are not as pretty as LaLa's.
fescue grows wild here and it considered a weed lol one mans weed is another mans treasure
>>one mans weed is another mans treasure
I use that saying a lot too... well, mine is, One man's weed is another man's perennial.
I always thought it odd when i see someone ask for Queen Anne's Lace or Golden Rod -- both of which i have coming out of my ears, in the field next to my yard.
Neal, did you get the problem of seedlings damping off, solved. I use water withHydrogen Peroxide to water all of my seedlings. And also have used a cinnamon shaker, which I am not sure helped but smelled good. I have only planted lettuce and mesclun seeds in a pot in a cool corner of the gh. Still lots of snow and cold here. I have many seeds just need to take the time to get them planted.
Donna
Wow those painted daisy seeds I got at lowes are already germinating! Only 2 days! : )
Hi Donna! Good to "see" ya! Well, I haven't actually had any seedlings damp off, but got mold on the surface of the potting media on all my Impatiens before any started germinating. I uncovered them, gave them a shot of H2O2 solution, and have kept them in front of a fan since. The mold appears to have died off, but I'm not seeing any germination either. They were sown on January 19, so I'm about to give up on them.
Neal, I spray or mist with a tea made using chamomile tea bags. 4 bags to 2 qts. of water.
No damping off disease or other problems. Spray also when I transplant and then I don't lose any plants to damping off disease.
Maxine
This is the first issue I've had like this, but I think it was a combination of starting out too wet, then the cool dark of the 8 days we were without power. If that's the only problem I have this year, I'll be tickled, LOL.
Hang on to those impatiens Neal. I just noticed my 2nd sprout yesterday on seeds I planted 1/12. No seed should take that long to germinate dang it! I probably would have given up and tossed them by now had they not been high dollar seeds.
I'm nearly ready to give up on the few impatiens seeds that I planted...more than a week and nothing, sigh...
Hang in there Robin. It took over 3 weeks to get my 2nd sprout. Ya know I wouldn't mind them being so poky if I didn't need the space for something else!
Loved your level flower bed, Lala. Gives me some ideas.
Toofew, you may want to use a hair bristle paint brush for hand pollination. Works great for EB#1.
Finally I've got some Balsam starts (I think?) I was in hurry, when I took these photos.
Seedling envy now gone.
WIB,
SW
OK Lala, I'll haul out my patience stick and whack myself with it. It's at least beginning to pay of with those darned pansies! I followed y'alls adivce and took them off the auto-watering mat, and sure enough, as soon as they started drying out a bit I'm now getting at least one new baby a day!
Yay SW! Babies!!!
SingingWolf Do you leave in cup when you transplant or remove it ??
Tubby
Gemini- I wanted to be able to share the seeds. I've only hand pollinated a couple of other plants before. Like bleeding heart vine and Cobea vine and some Amaryllis, maybe a few other things when I think about it :-). Those all took. I am just having a hard time with these. I wasn't sure if they were difficult to get seed from or not. Or if I was not doing it right. I never read up on how to do it properly. Or even if my plant was sterile. It is the cultiver 'Clementine'. I only have one Abutilon. These are the pictures that I added in PlantFiles
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/112675/
Toofew- I like the Q-tip idea also. I can see how it would grab all that pollen. I'll have to try that on some. Thanks!
I think I've used a toothpick on the Cobea because they are prop. by bats. and read somewhere to do that. I've got 2 more flowers coming up. Maybe I'll just use all methods to get me some dang seed ;-)
my DH says seed are like his wife (me) they sprout when they are darn good and ready hahahhahahah
I just waited 5 weeks for columbines to come up had the first sprout this morning maybe the conditions had something to do with it
since every other year they came up in two weeks
This message was edited Feb 9, 2009 3:07 PM