35 More Succulents Please
May 21, 2021
37 The Sun
June 18, 2021
My Seedentary Life
I n 2005 Mike and I made the huge decision to build our dream home on our property and tear down the old one. We decided this for many many reasons that, to explain, I'd have to write a novel!
With that decision, Mike had the nerve to tell me we would have to focus our money and energy on the build such that I would have to stop buying plants. I damn near had a heart attack!
I agreed with him to a point—my obsession with All Things Plants had started to get out of hand. But how was I going to continue to feed my soul?! I needed to come up with a way to live my passion that also showed Mike I supported our big decision.
Think think think...
Aha!
Me: "Hey Mike, since I can’t buy any plants, I should probably grow my own from seed. It would save money."
Mike: "Okay..."
Me: "But I need a greenhouse to do it."
Mike: "Okay..."
Me: "And it has to be pretty. And functional."
Mike: "......Okay..."
So I got a greenhouse, and little did Mike suspect he was only adding fuel to my obsession.
I now have TWO greenhouses!
Sucker!
So let's talk about 3 ways to sow seeds. (There are others but it's my blog and I'm highlighting the 3 I like!)
One way is to put them in a pot with soil then under a dome with grow lights. It is easy and rewarding. Truly. Like watching grass grow. The best thing ever! You wake up in the morning and run to see if there are any babies.
In 2021 my seed sowing was late because the greenhouse was being used for storage during the She Shed build. (Tee hee, more fuel!) Given the late timeframe, I chose to sow only annual and veggie seeds as they can germinate and mature within a short period and be ready for spring and summer gardens.
Sow perennial seeds in the fall so that they have time to be hardened off for the following spring garden. Some perennials can take up to 3 years before they end up in a garden. I am patient.
Here is a rare and beautiful annual which you must grow from seed because I highly doubt you will ever see it in a nursery.
Venidium fastuosum ‘Orange Prince’
If you ever do see this plant in a nursery, grab it! It has a very low germination rate. Every year for years I sow a few of these seeds in my greenhouse hoping just one will germinate and survive into the wild.
Some years are better than others. I went 3 years once without any germinating. Then in 2020, lo and behold, 2 out of 5 seeds germinated!
As you see above, I put one of them in that black container along with the Petunia hybrida ‘Tickled White’ and Iris pallida ‘Variegata’ (Variegated Sweet Iris) which I only grow for the foliage (...don’t care much for the flower).
Since Venidium is an annual, it died come the 2020 freeze. But now spring 2021 arrives and I notice some babies in that black container! Would you believe 10 (ten!) Venidiums are growing there? You'd think they would have the decency to do that in my greenhouse.
On a rare rainy day this winter (2020/21), I needed a break from office work. So I got onto Select Seeds and I clicked away!
Here are some of the results. Enjoy!
Melampodium ‘Showstar’
Well...I don’t know that I would call it ‘Showstar’ considering you need a magnifying glass to see it. But it is pretty when you get down on all fours and sniff.
Cosmo ‘Snowpuffs’
You can’t go wrong with white in the garden.
Amaranth ‘Autumn’s Touch’
Interesting look, but I'm not sure I like the autumn colors of this Amaranth in a spring garden.
Amaranth ‘Oeschberg’
Now there's an Amaranth with vibrant color!
Datura ‘Ballerina Yellow’
How can you not love that blossom!
A second way of sowing seeds is to take the ones you sowed in pots but did not germinate and toss them into a "graveyard."
I give my seeds exactly 30 days to do something. If nothing, out they go.
My graveyard is along a fence line on a slope near the greenhouse. And you should see the loveliness growing there!
For example, this Voodoo Lily.
Dracuncula vulgaris (Voodoo Lily or Devil’s Tongue)
Among other criteria, Voodoo Lily seeds apparently need snow (cold period) in order to germinate. No wonder they prefer the graveyard to my greenhouse.
Did you know that when the blossom opens it smells like rotting flesh? But what magnificent color!! Almost distracts you from the thousands of flies buzzing around it. Not to mention turkey vultures circling above trying to figure out where their meal is hiding!
Gawd, I love gardening.
Here is a third way of sowing—which I am very fond of because (you guessed it) it requires little exertion on my part. You place some annual and perennial seeds together in a bowl and mix by finger for 5 seconds. Then you throw caution (and the seeds!) to the wind and into the garden.
Next, you wait with giddy anticipation to see what comes of it.
Agrostemma ‘Milas’
Nigella damascena Love-In-A-Mist ‘Miss Jekyll Blue’ (Love-in-a-mist)
with Coreopsis hybrida ‘Super Star’
Nigella damascena Persian Jewels Mix (Love-in-a-mist)
Note: It helps to remember what seeds you throw so that, later, you don’t pull out the babies thinking they're weeds.
Been there, done that. Still doing it.
Now go and get a seedentary life of your own!
Photos courtesy Sheri Lynn Burke. All rights reserved.
