Holly and Rics Swap Followup Plant Questions- "what is...?"

Gita Gita! I think your mystery wintersown seedlings are cleome!!!!
1- They sprouted in my wintersow well too
2- Froggy had a bunch of seeds to give in Feb
3--Critter noticed the tiny hairs.
4- those leaves were getting the divided look that cleome has

midrashist Your mystery plant you were trying to ID. Try this picture. It's my " final answer "(guess) Penstemon digitalis. Hm, the leaves don't look quite right in my picture, yours still looked more narrow, but...

And I took three pups from the gift table. Bromeliads I presume? I'll pot them together and go for bloom.

AHHHH, Sally!

Great idea to start this Thread!!!!

You are SO correct!!!!!Those were the seeds of the pink Cleome I gathered from my neighbor down the street!
They never cane up in my seed sowing cell packs--so, sometime in mid-winter, I went and scattered a bunch of them in a pot and put it outside in a protected spot!

Thank you! G.

:-)

Just a reminder to everybody that my plants were NOT hardened off... tomato, basil, pepper, torenia seedlings and scented geranium cuttings have all be inside under lights.

The scented geranium cuttings had (I think) all struck roots, but some are barely rooted, so they may need to be babied a while longer (keep them inside, try to keep the soil barely moist but not wet, and if they start looking a little droopy, pop a plastic bag over them with a chopstick or something to hold it off the leaves to increase the humidity around the cutting). I've had them by a basement window, on one of those mini-greenhouse shelves with the plastic tenting.

i believe Cleome seeds need to freeze, which would explain why they sprouted outside.

definitely not that penstemen. i've never seen one with leafs that texture. It has sparser, more separated flowers. Also, the flower was only bilaterally symmetric, and it had at least a partially closed lip?
I messed around on line, and haven't found anything that makes sense. we'll have to wait til i can photograph flowers. the flowers stalks that look right don't have leaves that make sense.

did find a nice wildflower site though. here's a page with very similar looking stalk, wrong leaf.
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MIDI3

Habenaria flower stalks look right. So do spiranthes, but the leaves can't be from the orchid family.

thanks for the suggestion though, Sally.

Midrashist, I definitely thought you were describing Spiranthes. I actually missed seeing them!! Too many things going on yesterday. Hope you enjoyed yourself and will join our conversations.

Anybody hardening off tender seedlings, be sure to check the forecast. See Hart's FROST advisory thread, http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/989731/#new

Get it covered! Put an old sheet blanket over my "hoop tunnel" Covered the few annuals I had popped in the ground early with over turned flower pots, they are next to the watergarden so that will give some added protection. Also cover that pineapple sage with a flower pot, would be a shame to loose it now. Carried back down to the basement a few flats sitting on the deck.
Hope this is the last time I have to do this.

Yay! I'm glad Gita's mystery seedlings got an ID because I have the exact same ones! They came up oin a WS container marked 'columbine.' I'm such a ditz sometimes-- I probably got confused while I was labelling because they both start with "C." :-)

Buttoneer-- I came home with one of your Queens Tears, I think it was called. What's the best way to go about rooting that one?

Hope that frost never materializes. It's supposed to be coldish here-- 40 to 45 for the next two nights. I cannot wait for 90 degree weather! I promise, this will be the summer that I never, ever complain about the heat!

I'll post a pic if I have to but someone handed me a plant wrapped in newspaper and she said she just dug it that morning. I am having a brain freeze at what the plant is and who gave it to me.

That might be something from happymacomb - she offered a couple Tiarellas that I remember.

Sally, which Silene is that plant you gave me? I can't remember..

claypa, S. latifolia, I think
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/32264/

Critter, What is KYC?

Kub- your clove basil that I wintersowed just came up like crazy yesterday!

LOL Sorry about the abbreviated labels on the mints!

"KYC" is 'Kentucky Colonel' spearmint.

"CP" is 'Chocolate Peppermint'.

And somebody got a clump of catnip from the same container -- it's the one with soft leaves that smells musky rather than minty, LOL.

Here's a link to a recent article (with recipes!) on Kentucky Colonel Spearmint: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1206/

Yes! Thanks, Claypa.

I was not sure what was on the gift table that I took... large black pot ... looks like tiny thorns on the branches... anyone know what it is

Jill, I read your MINT-ONION RELISH sounds good and I just got a sack full of Vidalas. ? what do you put the relish on, besides everything. Give me some ideas please.

Allison, I saw in one of the threads posted that some one was bringing a gooseberry, when you asked me about it at the swap my first answers was current or gooseberry, when I saw the thorn, yep it's a gooseberry. And I'm sticking to my guess.

thank you.. just wanted to confirm with the giver

:)

and this would be the reason why I am so concerned

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/life/article_43fd4870-c45a-5742-8204-c7193ab974e7.html

I hope the giver pops in too to confirm, but I can't resist taking a guess, I think it is a way for me to learn and remember plants I come across in gardens. It's sort of a game I play.

yes that is a good thing to do

NisiNJ & Kat and Ruby & John here is the link for the daylily Bela Lagosi http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/44458/

Wind, I fell in love with Bela Last year and just had to have it. Picked one up at the Daylily Society sale. There is another that I've since discovered that is very similar & I actually prefer. I'll have to look that one up to show you.

I do love that relish! Mostly I've just used it with lamb. Probably I need to get more adventurous... :-)

Be sure to try my dad's recipe (in the text of the article) for lamb-burgers with fresh mint mixed in.

I got cuttings labeled 'Red Currant 'King Edward VII', and I found its PF page: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/81550/ I didn't notice thorns on them, but I can take a closer look...

thank you Jill

here is the container

close up

That's the same leaf, but my cutting had no thorns that I could see, just some tiny hairs along and at the base of the green shoots... still, think it's the same plant, in which case it came from Stormyla. (Thank you, Stormy, for doing such a great labeling job on the plants I got from you -- and a whole box of them, too! Wow!)

DAHLIA TUBERS
Whoever got the 'Party Girl' dahlia tubers, the color is pinkish and the blooms get 6-8". I like to put a bamboo pole stake in at the time I plant the tuber so it doesn't get jabbed when you have to stake it later. All the tubers I brought will grow tall dahlias :)

They are really easy to dig up and save too. I do it after a hard frost and store the tubers in a box or old pot with peat moss. I never fuss with them and they are always fine. I just plunk them in and cover with the peat moss, I don't even rinse them off because then mold can be a problem. I usually put the box or pot in a large plastic trash bag too (so they don't dry out) and keep it in our basement.

If you really get into growing dahlias, you can look up (online) how to divide the tubers. If you can't find it, just let me know, I can scan and send you a copy of the directions. It's very easy and divided tubers yield the largest blooms.

...Nisi & Kat, this is sunflower 'Sparky'
edited to add: (photo copyright (c)2009 Thompson & Morgan, I featured this in one of my DG articles http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2329/)

This message was edited May 18, 2009 8:56 AM

You're welcome, Critter. That ribes is 4 years old. So far, no thorns. I wonder if Lady's clove currant gets thorns. I meant to try one of her cutiings, but got sidetracked.

Any how-to advice for the King Edward cuttings, Stormy? They're still in water now while I catch up... I was figuring on sticking them in a pot of moist mix & popping half a milk jug over them for humidity.

Critter, I am sooo not the person to ask about that. Happy seems to be very good at cuttings. She got some also, maybe she'll help.

Onewish--

I have an OLD Gooseberry bush and the leaves look just like that. The thorns are a dead giveaway!
Currants have similar leaves--but no thorns....

This picture is from my trip to Latvia last Summer. Currants grow so well there!
My cousin has all colors of currants in her little country house. They come red, white, and black. The black tastes very different--and I remember people always used the leaves from the black currant in the brine when making pickles....Black currants are NOT great to eat off the bush, but makes excellent jelly.
These are the white--and it shows the leaves pretty good.

Here's the black version.

And--the familiar red....almost too sour to eat fresh. Might have to be an acquired taste....They make a wonderful drink out of them for summer drinking...like a fruit tea....
VERY refreshing!

Salvia 'Artimiss' & 'Korean Sweet' Clematis... I got these near the end of the swap, but from who? Wind? Sheesh, toast for brains this morning. I'm guessing they're not hardened off yet, so they went under the lights until after tonight's frost warning is past.

so do you guys think this gooseberry is ok to plant here.. or am I going to mess up the environment??

Sounds like that article says the ban has been lifted in your state, so that disease must no longer be an issue there. I wouldn't plant it right next to a white pine, just in case, but otherwise I think you're good to go. Gooseberries are tasty!

thank you... I am sure my neighbor who loves to make jams & jelly will love this.... she always gives me rhubarb so it can be a nice trade off... I am guessing this is a full sun thing?

:)