Mystery Solved: Milkweed Edition

You were right - it's Milkweed. 

I'm guessing this is more likely memory lapse than serendipity.  I did start some of these from seed that GB gave me but I have no recollection of planting this in the front garden.  But, since it's the identical one that I was oohing and ahhing over at her house last year, I'm assuming that's exactly what it is. 

Either way, I love it and I'm planting way more of it next year if I can remember to grab the seeds.  Since this one is located in my front garden and I rarely go out to the front garden, I've yet to see any actual butterflies.  Next year I'll plant them in the back so that I can see them from my kitchen window and I'll be ready when the butterflies show up!

Technorati Tags: milkweed,butterfly weed,organic flower gardening,flowers from seed

Collecting Allium Seeds

I'm a big fan of Alliums after planting the bulbs (or whatever they were, I can't remember) last fall and watching them bloom for the first time this spring. 

I was really surprised how long they lasted and how they looked like they were standing guard over the Spirea. 

This has got to be the easiest thing on the planet to collect seeds from.  I just did nothing and they turned out like this (below). 

 

 

I'll collect the seeds and let them dry then hope like heck somebody tells me how to grow more Alliums from seed. 

 

MBT - I need you! 

Technorati Tags: allium,seed saving,gardening,purple flowers

Saving Seeds On Sunday

I'm pretty sure I spent several hours today sifting through flower debris trying to find seeds. Thank God for MBT who is great about putting his "when I collect seeds" posts up. Otherwise, I'd be planting trash next spring.

I have about four thousand Zinnias, still. I planted them from seed from a pack that contained a mix of large Zinnias. The problem is that by the time they dry and I try to remove the seeds, all color is gone and I'm clueless what I have. I do have 2 sections of Zins that contain a bunch of the same color, the red ones in the picture above and another bunch of purple ones. I dunno how that happened but I'm so glad! Should I be tagging these things or something so that I know what color I have? I'm not big on surprises. Plus, I'm participating in Colleen's seed exchange and I'm pretty sure other people would prefer to know exactly what color they are getting, too.


In other seed collecting news, COREOPSIS ROSA SEEDS ARE PRACTICALLY MICROSCOPIC!! Jeez I need a freaking magnifying glass. At some point I started thinking I look like some pot head trying to de-seed my weed".

The picture above is one of the seedlings that GB brought over after I killed all those other plants. I have no idea what it is but I love it! And I have 3 of them! I think the color on the leaves is just awesome. Thanks, GB!

Saving Seeds or Saving Trash

This bug is not related to saving seeds other than it is sitting on a plant I hope to save seeds from. Mostly I just thought it was cute. I had 2 Rudebeckia and a Coneflower that I wanted to try to get seeds from but I have a feeling none of this is seeds.

I followed the directions on several seed saving websites and this is what I got. Does this look like seeds at all? It looks like trash to me. I really want to participate in the seed trade but nobody needs to trade for trash. The one below is Goldilocks.

This was from the Rudebeckia in the bug picture. One website says the seeds from this plant look like dark brown splinters but I can't imagine I could get this much from 3 little flowers.
The picture below is from Coneflower and I'm 99.9% sure THIS is trash, thanks to reading Mr Brown Thumb's saving Coneflower seed post. Oh well, maybe next time.

In other gardening news, as soon as GB read about how I was killing all my plants she promptly delivered 24-30 new seedlings for me to kill. Is she crazy????? No, seriously, she brought me 24-30 new plants!!!!! She came over and made me demonstrate how I would dig up a plant to move using a big weed to check my technique. I've never been so careful with a weed! It sorta felt like when your math teach makes you go to the board. She also showed me the proper way to move a plant by moving my Coreopsis Rosa herself. We planted all the seedlings and I watered them really well after she left. As I sit here typing they are in my garden dying. No, I'm joking. I am committed to keeping these alive! As God is my witness, I will not kill these plants!

Dear Seed Saving Experts, HELP!

This is my Coreopsis - is that a seed pod in this picture? There are lots of these on the plant but I have no clue what I'm looking at here.

Here is the big Rudbeckia - I'm pretty darn sure that this is where the seeds are on this one so I'll be looking on the internet to try to find out how to harvest the seeds. If you know, please share!Here's the purple Coneflower. This looks odd to me, more like it's just dead. How do I know if there are seeds here?
Speaking of seeds, below is my attempt to protect my freshly planted lettuce seeds. Within 1 hour of planting them it started raining, and raining, and raining. At some point I looked out the back door and there was water standing in the planter boxes, so I drug this freebie umbrella out of the basement. I have no clue if flooding them will keep them from germinating but I'll be watching them closely over the next few days. Go Bulls!