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Post by nightmist on Nov 17, 2008 6:08:18 GMT -5
Maybe not this coming year since we are moving, but maybe the year after I want to break my curse.
I have grown some tough plants from seed. I got salvia divinorum to grow for me, I got european mandragora to grow, and a few others with rough reputations. My own reputation amongst friends and aquaintences is if you want something wierd to grow from seed, bring it to me.
However seeds that other people just throw on the ground and have spring up absolutely refuse to grow for me.
If I buy plants, these simple flowers thrive for me, but never self seed.
How the heck am I to get the pansies, petunias, and sweet william (and it's relations) to grow for me? I have tried direct seeding, I have tried about a dozen different ways of germinating them indoors. The best I ever manage are pitiful little seedlings that keel over and die at the first sign of stress. I got zero germination on every single darn dianthus I tried last year, and poorer germination out of blue happyface pansies than I did out of meconopsis! The blasted meconopsis lived longer too!
This is getting just embarassing!
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Post by lavandulagirl on Nov 17, 2008 9:27:52 GMT -5
NM - some of these actually do best with very little attention (although I have found mature petunias to be water hogs). Maybe you're over babying them? Also, those common little pansies, the violas that sprout up in the garden all the time, are biennials, so maybe you just didn't realize they reseeded, because you didn't see flowers the next year?
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Post by nightmist on Nov 17, 2008 19:47:25 GMT -5
Maybe I am babying them too much, and the years I've tried direct seeding were just bad ones for them. I am starting to be convinced that petunias are a charm against rain!
I am hoping that the columbine I seeded last year will come up this spring. If I cannot get that to grow I may just build a greenhouse and go to orchids! My _mom_ can grow columbine, and she kills wandering jew and cactus! She, no kidding, killed the yucca (soapweed) that was growing in her front yard in Colorado.
On the plus side marigolds and nasturtiams love me so well I'm surprised they don't sprout in the packet. I want dianthus because I like it, and some varieties would be useful to us, pansies and petunias were my great-gramma's favorites and I want them because they remind me of her.
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Post by lavandulagirl on Nov 17, 2008 20:33:08 GMT -5
In Virginia, my native Columbine tried to convince me they were dead for an entire year, but then for the last two years I was there they bloomed like champs for MONTHS. What kind are you trying to grow?
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Post by michaeljohnson on Nov 18, 2008 1:15:02 GMT -5
The best way to sow pansy seed is to sow them thinly in a box of fertile earth in around october time, and leave them over winter in a greenhouse or cold frame, in the spring the seeds will germinate and come up into transplants around may time or just a bit later and should be kept just moist during that time.
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Post by greeneyes on Nov 18, 2008 3:32:53 GMT -5
Hi nightmist,have you tried the "winter-sow "method yet?I never could get petunias,poppies,asters,dianthus,etc to grow for me till I tried this method.I felt skeptical at first,planting seeds in milk jugs and putting them outside in the cold of February and March,but it worked for me.Its funny how sometimes there will be a late winter snow fall and i'll go peek in the jugs and the little plants are greening up nicely.
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Post by flowerpower on Nov 18, 2008 6:24:30 GMT -5
Night, I cannot get Echinacea or Hollyhock to grow from seed. It kills me. And I had to get starts of Digitalis. I haven't touched them and they self-sowed. lol In late spring, I put wildflower seed in all my planting boxes on my deck. I am surprised at how many perennials I find in there later on. Most are common and easy to ID. But I always get Dianthus barbatus starts to transplant. What dianthus are you looking for?
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Post by nightmist on Nov 18, 2008 17:14:13 GMT -5
I am making notes on the pansies! Thank you Michael!
I have to wonder if maybe I have tried starting them too late.
Winter sowing is on the list for after we move. I have a slection of seeds that require stratification that I want to try that with.
The columbines are magpies, the seeds were given me by a friend.
I had a go around with foxglove myself. Never had any luck with it, then I planted some boughten starts, and they were happy. Now I have a couple different kinds all from seed. I guess it just needed reassurance. ;D
Echinacea can be surprisingly difficult. In its younger stages it appears to be very fussy about the amount of water it gets. It seems to handle a little too little better than a little too much.
I couldn't get hollyhocks to go from direct seeding, so I started them indoors. They weren't much to speak of the first couple of years, then they took off with a vengence. Now I have plenty of mallows of all sorts.
So far as dianthus, the ones I want are Fenbows Nutmeg Carnation, laced romeo, leather and lace ( a deep purple-black with white frill), and sweet william.
I bought the carnations and planted them. They did great for a couple of years, then keeled over and died. I was especially annoyed because they propagated themselves the year after planting, bloomed madly the year after that, and then went belly up the next year and haven't been seen since.
I have had sweet william (barbatus) come up and be very green for me, but never bloom and never come back. I've tried standard garden talls, wee willy, and indian blanket.
I've not seen so much as a sprout out of the chinensis varieties so far.
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