Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #36

Meredith,

I grew Oxeye daisies two years ago and they were rather unimpressive looks-wise in our garden. They were real stragglers and in that way they were invasive here. I was fairly disappointed and somewhat sorry I planted them.

I much prefer the 'Becky' shastas and a couple of other shasta varieties whose names I can't remember. Although I don't grow these from seed and have to buy them at the nursery.

I think it's bbookrd who buys plugs of daisies and grows them in her garden and that's what I would like to do too. I don't know her supplier though, although it may be Green Mountain. I looked them up on Watchdog, though and was afraid to order from them. Do you have experience with them, since they are kind of in your neck of the woods?

Thanks Star....did you grow yours? I started out with 12 nice plants but the frost got 6 of them. I hope I'm able to collect some seed from them but I wonder if they'll come true. I was quite disappointed that my red salvia splendend turned out to be purple salvia splendens. Rats. LOL.

Meredith the oxeye sounded familiar as what I grew from Critter's seed (at one time she called them 'not chocolate daisies.') So I went back to my notes and looked and found they are Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabus, "Yellow Ox-Eye." This is only their 2nd year but they don't seem to be traveling and they're very pretty!

I've had the Summer Sun Ox-Eyes in the field and heard they were invasive that's why I put them there but they never did multiply then the neighbor mowed them down when she was mowing for me two years in a row and the third year this year they didn't come back so I have a few from Critter that I WS this year I'm putting those there, thank you Critter :) I really like them, if you mow over them early when they start coming up they are sturdier I didn't care for them just to let them go but I didn't mow them down in the middle of blooms! lol Gotta love my neighbor lol

I think that ice storm we had put a curse on a bunch of my plants this year, I don't usually have trouble with plants coming back from pots when I repot them in the fall but this year almost every pot that I held over died on me. I over wintered some of the New England and Purple Dome asters and they are doing fine it's about the only thing. Those things are going to be invasive the ones I saved in the pots are going in the field I've had them to reseed out front like crazy lol They are easy to pull up though but I hear they have runners? They can fight it out with the Blue Lyme Grass if they do lol

t, I've grown shastas and crazy daisies from seed doesn't seem like they were that hard to grow, I have the crazy daisies blooming now from two years ago but I hear you need to divide them every year which I haven't done yet.

t, do you know you can make your own leaf mold? Take a large garbage bag, put a handfull of bloodmeal in it and a gal. of water poke some holes in it and let it set thru the winter that was on Gardening By The Yard a few years ago. When I first came to live with dad I used to mulch the leaves up and poke holes in the bags then let them sit all winter and it was like compost in the spring I used it to put on my beds in the spring around my plants I need to do that this fall I haven't done it for a couple of years.

It was mygypsyrose's Birthday yesterday and I forgot to wish her a Happy Birthday :(

Happy Birthday mygypsyrose! Hope you had a great day!

Hi Everyone, I'm looking for ideas. Next summer I would like to edge one or 2 of my gardens with shorter perenneals. I've been using white alyssum for years now, but would like to switch to perenneals. It doesn't have to be a white flower. Just looking for a height of 10 inches or less, at least a month blooming time and not invasive. Also, it would be great if I could start them from seed, but this is not a must. Tell me your favorite perennial Edger!

Happy happy belated Birthday mygypsyrose!

Merideth, someone sent me ox-eyed Daisies once, they did not know what they were, just said they grew nicely. Ha! I have plants coming back every year for about 4 years now, even though I pull them out every year. I just read this spring that the seeds can last in the soil for up to 10 years ... I only have 6 more years of pulling them up. lol They were ready to take over my garden the 2nd year. Not hard to pull up the volunteers, but there were 100's of them. I pull up only about 5 each year now.

I had a section of my garden where I grew several types of Daisies; Alaska, Becky, Silver Princess, Snow 'something' - shorter, and Crazy Daisy. Then something killed almost all of them. I pulled everything. I have a few plants coming back from seeds this spring and I winter sowed some Crazy Daisy seeds that I had saved. I didn't thing anything would ever devastate my Daisies!

Happy Belated Birthday Mygypsyrose!!

Thanks everyone. The Oxe eye daisies I have were grown from seed - a wildflower mix that said it had Shasta Daisies in it. However these seem to be one that are confused. The Oxe eye Daisies start blooming in late spring while the Shastas wait until summer. I actually added a Becky shasta this spring. It has a bud on it now. The way to tell the difference is the leaves. The Oxe eye daisies are definitely straggly compared to the Becky. I thought they were going to be short so they are in the front of my little shed garden and they look a little odd but they seem like they would look good as a filler in amongst things that are fuller to hide their stragglieness. The flowers them selves are pretty but I have to agree the foliage is lacking. I will be sure to deadhead them just in case. I had read they spread by creeping rhizomes so that's what I was worried about. I was thinking I had another Obedient Plant on my hands! ugh

>>Tell me your favorite perennial Edger!

sedum - though some can get out of control if not contained
creeping phlox -- just love it, though i have not had luck with it here [my old house i had carpets of it]

Thank you very much!!

I spent the day making a little pottery mug with my 6 year old. She bought me a little pottery wheel so that she could make me something. She carved in Mom and a little flower on it and is waiting for it to dry so that she could paint it. And some stepping stones that are made that can go out in my garden from my 15 and 2 year old. My DH was very thoughtful this year. All I like are the sentimental things... And functional things for the house and anything for the garden... lol! They cooked me a wonderful meal. He baked me a very chocolate cake with frosting from scratch. Mmmm... Of course, he switched the numbers of the candles so that it was 93 instead of 39....:-P It was a good day :-)

Just getting here

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYGYPSYROSE!

awwwwwwww what a sweet present from your daughter. Them homemade present s are the best and create a memory for alifetime. : )

Lalla I ha d some growing and when ha d a storm and didn't notic e back of gh got ripped from tree limbs and then ha d killign frost, I lost mine and haven't ha d time to re sow any yet for this year. Sorry ; (

Hi All
I just have to share something with you that I just learned today. We were wondering what on earth is wrong with all our tomatoes in the garden. Knarly looking leaves and just plain ulgy plants. The zinnias looked funny too, we had never seen anything like this. Then I got to thinking some of my other plants namely 'Victoria' salvia, melampodium seems there was another one but I can't remember. Today I called the extension office and my agent was on vacation but I told the secretary about the tomatoes and she said she bets its 2 4 D that is what he usually suspects first and that the stuff given the right conditions can travel quite a way. Anyway we could not figure it out until DH remembered our SIL had sprayed our yard for dandelions. He was careful and layed back about 12 feet from all gardens and beds. So I believe that is what happened and she said not much to do for it. I had pinched out the tops of the flowers in the pots and they have recovered. I think the zinnias are growing out of it too. The tomatoes don't look so hot.
`Don't know if we will spray for dandelions again next year. If we do it will be very early in the season.

thanks for the daisy, tips, everyone. I have tried to grow Shasta 'Becky' from seed but they came out looking like paltry plants so went back to the nursery to buy 'insurance' plants since I 'must' have daisies in my summer garden. Just one of those things. (-:

Nowl, let me ask (and pardon me if you've already heard me ask this on another forum...)

Is it too late to plant annual seeds for late summer bloom???

Can anyone list the Annual seeds that I can still sow for late bloom? I am interested to know about Zinnias, Tithonias, and other little blooms for the butterflies. Nothing fancy or difficult.

Any help would be appreciated! t.

most annuals take 12 weeks from seed to bloom so anything can be seeded at this point and still bloom before the end of summer it would start to bloom mid august so go for it some take even less time

OK, thanks. I'll get busy tonight starting some seeds.

Is anyone else still starting seeds??

I want to do Zinnias, especially.

What else, any thoughts?

I have seeds that I just got from moroco and I am starting them this week and also I am starting sun flowers the short ones to fill in the beds most places the ground is now just warm enough for direct seeding so no problem if you start them within the next two weeks stuff will still bloom and since you are in zone 6 your annuals will grow till the end of october so lots of time

t -- before i left for Wisc on the 21st of May... i was out there in the Am tossing seeds like mad... i have tiny seedlings... i'm assuming they are the Zinnia ... i also did marigolds.

Today i spent most of the day pulling weeds. yeegads, there were a lot. I've also been diggin up the English Marigolds, gave away a bunch thru FreeCycle.

the women that came over this evening... we were walking around the beds and she was commenting on some plants.... [sedum and hens-n-chicks ] I said... ya want some?? got a li shovel and a pot and off she went.

I was getting ready to plant a bunch of other plants - but rain out of tie at 8pm when the Closer came on.

I did get a few things planted though... a coupla Salvias and that Greggii thing... or is that a salvia too?

I also found out... my neighbor has NOT planted anything I had given her of my WS containers ... I know a few items have died already because she told me. I have to stop giving her things ... I really should ask for my HH's back. I gave her the whole gal jug of Country Romance because she said she was going to plant them in our common flower bed.... that was at least a month ago.

OH -- i noticed my "deep pink" cosmos ... i think it's Cosmos sensation Mix opened today!!

mygypsyrose it sounds like a wonderful day! You sound like mewith what you liketo get for your b-day. All the best stuff! : )
tab I am behind on everything here, trying to get stuff planted. I don't have spots for the rest of the stuff I already have withering away in their starter packs. So I keep telling myself I can't start any ting else until it's all planted. I would like to do some zinnias - I don't think it's too late -like Mona said they will just take until Aug.to bloom instead of July. No biggy right? Another one I wanted to do was Cosmos, I have a bunch of different packages of them I wanted to try. Good thing about those is they'll grow in my native soil without too much amending. So perhaps I can find a spot for them to sprinkle out. : )

OK. Thanks. Hadn't thought of cosmos, but I should sow some of those, too. Did 3 packs of zinnias last night and Fiesta del Sol tithonias. Mona, if you can start sunflowers, certainly I can too, I'll get some short ones. Sounds like everyone is getting their second burst of energy. Or probably you all never slowed down like I did!

We had several DG visitors to our garden (and our house) last weekend because of the DG Round Up here in Cincinnati. It was fun to meet DGers in person! It was a beautiful weekend and our garden looked pretty good. At least I had most of the weeds under control although not much in bloom.

Also several DGers shared plants with me~~odd little varieties, at least different from my usual, plants that I would never have grown my self, so that is one of the fun things about going to the RUs for me. I can't even think of what they are right now. But I know I got 3 redbud treelings and some Japanese tomatoes among others.

Also some herbs. I haven't had tarragon in the garden for a few years and it was fun to use it on the vegetables last night for dinner. The kids really noticed the 'new' herb and liked it, too.

I lost my mind Saturday night and bought several little plants on e-bay for the butterflies . Ten Paw Paw trees (tiny, I'm sure, for the Zebra Swallowtails) and other stuff hard to find at the garden centers. So much for my resolve not to buy any stuff for the garden.

Made loads of progress on the war on weeds yesterday. Very satisfying, although boring, too. Now I have some room to plant this new stuff!

Have fun in the garden today. Would love to know what seeds you're sowing!

Oh yeah Sunflowers! I need to do those for my dd!

Tcs, I’m sure your heart was in the right place when you gave your neighbor those labor of loves and it would have saved her a bunch of money too :) I have come to realize some people just don’t appreciate the ‘free’ flowers because they didn’t nurse them from a seed. I gave a neighbor all kinds of plants one year and sadly watched them die one by one by no water and very neglected! The next year I told her she could come over and pick some plants out when she was ready for them and I took care of them all summer until it was too late to plant the annuals that she wanted therefore my time was taken up all summer waiting patiently for her to come get them taking care of them all summer. This year the neighbor next door to her has gotten four trays of extras walking them right past that neighbor while she is on the front porch and I don’t feel bad at all, I gave this neglecting neighbor tomatoes this year and she planted them all together lol Five tomato plants in about a 2’ square space lol It’s not that she didn’t know better! She has house plants sitting outside after raining in dishes of water until I empty them feeling so sorry for the plants when I visit.

I love sharing my little seedlings too but you learn who to share with and who not too, another time I gave someone a whole trunk of plants really loaded her up with perennial butterfly plants that she said she wanted to start a butterfly garden for her daughter :) I went to her house the next year to see her garden and there were no plants around that I had given her, not one and I had only asked her to save all the pots for me because there were so many and no pots, I met a person there that day, a real good friend of hers, that said she gave him all kinds of butterfly plants the year before that and had all kinds of blooms that year after we were talking about growing plants, so I’m guessing those were the plants I gave her to plant for her daughter and I might add this girl is a member of DG’s :) Live and learn :)

Oh no Veronica! I was thinking of spraying for all the dandelions this year now I’m glad I didn’t! So sorry about your tomato plants!

Mygypsyrose, so glad to hear you had such a perrrfect Birthday, that sounds wonderful :)

Toofew, do you have this plant, I love it for edging in my nectar garden and the foliage stays silver all year so it really shows off the garden:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/110642/

Mine isn’t a big patch like that one but mine are in a dry garden they don’t take much work just look beautiful all the time in bloom or not, I’m hoping the rain coming in this week doesn’t knock me out of seeds they are just getting ripe and really want to save more for the swap this year :)

Just a suggestion here, you know curly parsley makes a great edger until it goes to seed lol

Just saw it's your b-day today Indynannyof8! Hope it has been and continues to be wonderful!

Tonya

OH -- Veronica!! Hope you had a fabulous day, filled with gardening.

this is the best i can do - Image-wise... it's the only cluster of plants i have blooming right now...

Pastel Yarrow and Blue Flax.

Happiest of Birthdays.....

Terese

Oh another birthday buddy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY INDY! Hope it was great one and ya have many more .

I gott a try and get to town and try to emmebe r to pick up some batteries. ha d thought abotu tryign to mow th eback area from all the rain it has gotten so tall and didn't realiz e just how tall til was showing a friend soem plants last night.

Sheesh now i can't mow cuz the milkweed somebody sent me and some sort of daisy seeds are just all in bloom and the butterflie s are goign crazy back ther e in the jungle. it looks a wild mess btu sure was pretty to see wild mess of flowers for them all over the place.

That is a pretty picture Terese. It reminds me that the flax that I planted and thought was red is blue like the blue flax only a bigger plant and a smaller flower. Is that what yours turned out to be. My blue orange and white combo did not all bloom at the same time. I just scattered the seeds and of course the blue flax did not bloom but will next year. The orlaya from Lea (last year) is getting ready and the California poppy has bloomed its head off. Maybe next year it will happen at once...The blue flax that bloomed is wintersown.
Thanks for the birthday greetings. One more year until a really big one.
Veronica

BTW Lea will the orlaya reseed in the same spot? Should I save some seed and put more down?

This message was edited Jun 10, 2009 8:44 AM

Glad you liked it Veronica. I love the "delicate flower" look.

speaking of Red Flax. The ones i WS'ed and planted out about a month ago, ONE bloomed yesterday, and of course, no camera in hand. There were 4 lil plants, but bunnies, or someone chewed 1.5 of them. So - i technically have 2 plants - not sure if the third will make it. BUT -- hopefully where the plants were last year, I'll get volunteers from fallen seeds.

I would say, that out of what germinated - I have 90% of my stuff planted... though i did give away a few containers.

My "list" of things to get done before tomorrow morning, is still sorta long -- so i do hope for some rain today so i can get my inside work done too. Which includes baking some wonderful banana bread. [the recipe is in the Recipe Forum - in the Happy Banana Bread Day thread]

OH -- Meredith.... i looked in the bucket that has the BLue Scabiosa seeds... all that is there is a dead June Bug. *sigh* I have to see what sort of Scabiosa seeds i have left.... and just direct sown them. though.... i am out of room....

tcs and lebug:

I hear ya on the neighbors and giving away plants..

This year my neighbor mentioned that she wanted some of my "leftovers" for her garden, so I brought a full flat of extras for her "pick what she wanted", not only did she take the whole flat, but it's still sitting next to her door, slowly dying, three weeks later!!! I am watching her dogs this weekend, and if it's still there, I might "rescue" what's still alive, and blame an unfortunate "accident" on their disappearance..it's so hard to sit by and watch the babies I started from seed shrivel up and die from neglect :(


Wouldn't be so bad, except that I have coworkers who would've taken them in a heartbeat and had them planted already...(the gals for whom I brought in specific things already have them in the ground and have given updates, lol!)

I have a couple neighbors that take plants from my garden and plant them in their gardens. And some of my flowers have been cut, especially the roses. Here's the kicker, I will always invite them over and ask them if there's anything they like, I will be happy to share. They always decline... but then daylilies end up in my next door neighbors yard and the loosestrife is across the street in the front garden. And I notice where things have been dug up. Now that I'm out of work and home all the time, nothing has gone missing. I still have the two ladies over and offer them plants but I think they're waiting for me to go out of town so they can help themselves LOL!

Well -- she finally planted things yesterday -- and even took 2 NE Asters ... though i was right there and she asked which ones to take [i planted WAY too many last year]

last year, she and i started working on a new bed that goes around our dirt pile ... so it's like a half moon ... half of that is her's the other half is mine... well, i started small and worked on a small area at a time, removing grass and weeds... she just sprinkled Zin seeds... so - she got a mess of grasses and plants... this year it was a nightmare for her... and she said she wants her side to look like mine... so she is dividing some of my plants... I even did a lil weeding for her and planted a few plants -- well heck, i plain ran out of room.

OH and the kicker -- and i had to mention this to her because she was completely unaware.... she did not leave a spot for her DH to get in with the wheelbarrow .... she planted fully on her side.... I at least left an opening.... or there would be no way to get the dirt form the pile.

Anyhoo -- this morning i went back there... i like to survey in the early Am, coffee in hand ... and the Asters and few other plants that were transplanted, perked up over night ... guess we got a bit of rain.

OH -- can sunflowers be transplanted??

the squirrels so very kindly planted a few seeds right in the front of a narrow bed, and my Yvonn'es are behind them. I'd like to move them if i can.

OH -- BTW -- my WS'ed Yvonnes finally germinated. I have about 10 additional babies. but the ones i did in the early Spring in the window ... they haven't grown any taller, but have already gone to seed.

I've been chuckling while reading all the neighbor stories. I have a neighbor who gets all my leftovers, but she does plant them in a timely manner. I did growl about her a few weeks ago though when she came home from Rural King with 2 hanging baskets. Huh? What the heck? I've given her free flowers for years, and this year when I was selling a few things she goes some where else and buys them without even looking at what I had? To give her her due she did end up buying a few things, but I admit I was a bit miffed at the time.

I am getting soooo close to having everything planted out. At least the odds and ends are about gone. I'm still wondering what the heck to do with all the daisies I have left, but I'm sure I'll find space somewhere.

I'm glad you asked about the sunflower Therese. I've been eyeing a couple of volunteers myself ... not yet quite able to force myself to pull them, but knowing that they'll have to be moved soon. They're growing right beside a forsythia bush so it's either try to move them or just yank 'em out.

OH Heck -- my "volunteers" are about 30" tall!!

i really dont think they will survive if i move them. but they are in such a baaaaaaaaaad spot.

Roserairie although it is possible that they are helping themselves to your plants ( I wouldn't put it past some people). It is also possible critters are doing it! I have noticed a few things that have been dug up shortly after planting. Sometimes they are just laying on the ground right next to the hole and sometimes they almost look replanted nearby. And I had some plants sitting in a bag under my carport one time that ended up showing up in my neighbors garden. I don't think there is any way she could have possibly known they were there. She shows stuff to me and aks me if I gave stuff to her all the time - because I have given her some things. But the stuff she is showing me isn't stuff I've given her. I am home quite often so I really don't think she'd just help herself - especially since she knows I'll give it to her anytime anyway. She has a spot in her backyard that she says she didn't plant one thing in and it is full of flowers - Irises and this year she was showing me a White Hyacinth that I know came from my yard! I have found daffs, irises in beds that they weren't planted and even one yellow tulip that I don't have any others like. It is quite amusing!

Hey y'all I know this is the wrong time to do it but I'm doing it anyway. My patch of miniature irises are so thick and over-run with weeds that I'm digging them up. I'll probably only replant about 1/2 of what I've got so if anybody wants any for postage you're welcome to them. I'd say I have enough for 6-8 people and if more people than that want them I'll just make the clumps smaller. They're a deep blue/purple and stand 6"-8" tall. Just shoot me a d-mail if you're interested.

yanna -- I think i'll take some. I currently dont have iris
how do they do in the shade, or part shade?

I'm not an iris expert by far Therese, but I think they'll grow just fine but may not flower as well. At least that's the case with the ones my mom has in partial shade.

Shoot me your address and I'll get a box fixed up for you.

Merdith79,
You're right about the animals transplanting things. Last year the cannas I grew, one ended up in my neighbors flowerpot - we were both surprised how nice it looked there. I think the squirrels are the culprit. I could be wrong about my neighbors but one in particular admits to taking from other gardens and taking fruit off of another neighbors tree. I think it's funny, doesn't bother me a bit. I have so much and if they can free up some space for me, I can plant something new. The daylilies are mine for sure and its not one of the ones I really like. She could have had a much nicer one.

yup those little creatures are good at planting stuff I found a chestnut tree in my garden so someone must have put out chestnuts since we dont have any chestnuts trees in this area but there it was growing in my vegi garden

Lol - I think it's squirrels too. Either that or one of the chipmunks that lives in our rock wall.

I try to mark stuff not with the name but with a stick or a marker in the fall so I know where stuff is suppose to come up for the new stuff so I dont pluck it out thinking its a weed some plants look like weeds when they first come up lol dont want to loose my babies

I hear ya, that is part of the reason I have been taking so long planting everything. I try and make sure the weeds are pulled when I plant them so I don't pull them out by accident. It's not like I even mistake them ... it's just that when I get on a roll plucking the weeds, I pluck them without thinking. ugh ;)

I like to weed and plant and mulch all in one shot so I dont have to go back again and again to each bed since I have to much to cover to do that its a one shot deal hahahah so for better or worse it is done all at one time it takes me two months to do it all but then I can sit back and watch it all grow and I do start with the full sun beds first because they grow in first and the weeds come out first then part shade and then shade my little system lol DH laughs at me

Wow I have been pulling weeds every chance I have and it seems like every time I look there are more! Right now is crab grass germinating season and I have a lot in my beds as usual! It always manages to grow along the edges of my beds and it sends sead heads up even when it's kept mowed. My dh is no help with his lawn mower shooting all the stuff right into my beds! I've asked him nicely to try and go in the direction so it shoots away from the beds but he thinks I am making this stuff up.