Today my second bloom for 'Plant for Hope' Opened. I've been doing this for a few years now. I love Glads!! They have been dependable for me and have multiplied and come back.

This one is definitely Pretty in Pink
http://www.euroblooms.com/komen.html

Scented Geraniums - Co-ops...by Kim

Many of you know...but for those that don't. I have open co-ops and launching a few more before this week is out. Group purchasing is a great way to "feed" that exciting need for new and different plants! Who doesn't want new and exciting plants? Plants which are unusual and NOT available in the Big Box Stores... That’s what Co-ops…by Kim is all about. Our goal is to offer you the most exciting new plant varieties available in the market today. For more information visit my co-op page. 

Co-ops...by Kim 

Today I have opened a co-op for scented geraniums (22 cultivars).

Time to Winter Sow

Well actually winter sowing should have happened in November. Winter has been extremely mild here in PA. The day time temps are warm for winter, around 60 degrees. Nonetheless a good time to winter sow because the ground is workable. Although I won't be using the ground to winter sow. I have prepared 6 inch pots with labels to sow specific seeds to get those specific results! Some seeds require cold treatment and nature always does best. Therefore tomorrow I will fill some of these pots up with soil and sow my most wanted plants. I'll follow up in a few days with the seeds I sowed and a few pics.

The Garden Blues

I've been real lazy this growing season. Not sure what has really gotten in to me..but I sigh. I have recently been looking online. For plants that I want to purchase from different plant nurseries. Which the Shipping prices are astronomical! The really sad part is I have the seeds to just about everything I wanted to buy. So I decided to get off my hump and germinate some seeds. I've been known to be the "Germinating Queen". So why not live up to my name? So today I pulled out the seeds of each plants I was trying to buy. I will start them in the windowsill at this time. I'm sure they will germinate in about 7-14 days and will post pictures. I will use a small plastic cup with vermiculite nearly drenched. Which seems to work best for the type of seeds I'll be starting. Then enclose each cup in a plastic ziplock bag.

In the picture below I have a few sprouts of Himalayan Blue Poppy which emerged yesterday..I'm sure they'll be more I can see the seed splitting.

Time to Pull Weeds

Plants are blooming and many emerging. But I see now that it's definitely time to pull some weeds.

Walking Under the Trees and breathing the Spring air..

Spring Has Arrived!

Daffodils and Tulips are Blooming. Which means I need to go outside and do some Spring clean up. I will be taking pictures, and sharing what I'm germinating now.

This will be continued....

October Blooms

All today...Really Strange things are happening with Plants here in the gardens. They are confused and don't know what to do..The temps have been steady around 75 which is warm for this time of year. I have coneflowers blooming now. Pink and Red Beauty Berry and Cannas too..

What's Blooming Today??

Happy Gardening!
Kim

 

Happy Bloomer Today

Polemonium viscosum 'Blue Whirl' 
Blooming in the garden today.

What's Coming Up?

Busy Busy time of the year. Weeding, tilling, planting...A few things coming up, starting to flower. Hardly anytime to Blog and Journal. On my way out now to pull some weeds!

Crown Imperial Fritillaria 'Aureomarginata'

Blue Cohosh

Trillium

Variegated Solomon's Seal

Erythronium sibiricum subsp.altaicum

It's Cold today and doesn't feel much like Spring. Although this plant was my second bloom and makes me look forward to the other beauties to come.

First Bloom of the Year

Today gave me hope of the Spring season to come. This is the first plant to bloom outside today. 

Tulipa turkestanica

Never Say Never

In November I moved into a new house and had to move hundreds of plants. Digging potting..Thought I would loose my mind. Dirt everywhere, in the truck, back of my van..I had plants everywhere. I did the unthinkable for some gardeners. I left every single last one of my plants outside. Tropicals, Annuals, Tender perennials. I figured ONLY the STRONG would Survive! ha ha. I have more then enough seeds then I could ever sow in a lifetime. So I figured if they all die I'll start over...more plants for me! Low and behold I took a walk outside today. Every plant I was told was an annual is coming up. We just recovered from 3 feet of snow. And here I have in this picture a double flowering Portulaca. It does not look it's best but I do not think this plant is dead by any means. In September they were just a few cuttings. I received from a dear friend and rooted them outside in this pot. 3 weeks ago it had 3 feet of snow on top of it. Now if I'm not mistaken..I thought Portulaca was an annual? I now have a new belief and new faith. I have always been inclined that some plants can be acclimated to a growing zone. Now I know for sure I will continue to put every plant to the test.

Look Close

Yup they're there. New little babies of my ornamental grass. I forgot about them and came back and there they were!
Stipa arundinacea (Pheasant's Tail Grass)

Cubits.org ~ Launched 2/22/2010

Cubits.org is a collection of communities, home to 76,967 posts in 2,290 different forums. (To Date and Growing every minute) So for all Readers, and Blotanical friends. I Welcome and Hope to see You there! Please come visit me and feel free to post and interact.  My Cubits

It's an Addiction

I did it again! I went to the Home Depot to buy everything but Plants. Low and behold I was pulled over to the Gardening section. Ohhh how Pretty! I thought... I can plant these here and there..To get home and find out. I already have these plants.

It's Truly an addiction when you have so many plants you forget what you have! LOL

Babies from the Fridge

Anthyllis vulneraria 

(had these seeds for 10 years, all have germinated in the fridge)

 

Lunaria annua 'Variegata Alba'

(all have germinated in the fridge, wasn't expecting that)

Datura

I received Datura stramonium var. tatula f. bernhardii for Datura quercifolia yesterday. I was delighted to receive them. And wanted to give a little brief "How To" for a certain species. It has been said that Datura quercifolia is one of the hardest Datura seeds to germinate. I have read it repeatedly stated on the internet. So I thought I'd share a few pointers...This species will not and I mean will not germinate before 30 days. It requires high moisture and warmth for germination. Therefore a medium that can be keep very moist without molding is best. Here are 2 methods I use and get almost 95% germination rate. Use moist vermiculite (seal them in a ziplock bag) and place in a sunny windowsill. Or use damp Bounty paper towel fold the seeds inside and place them in a ziplock bag, and wait 30 days. They are also errattic. But this will give you a 95% rate. Hope this helps and Happy Gardening.

OHHH MY Goodness!

I just received this message from a fellow gardener:

Couple of pointers, if you put moist packed seeds in the fridge, watch them closely, they may start to sprout. I do this with ones that require a moist cold period and then plant them in pots when they are beginning to germinate (though I have been too late a couple of times). Works well with monkshoods (Aconitum) as an example.
If seed is refrigerated, not frozen, even short lived seed like Agapanthus will live for years. I germinated A. coddii seed that was more than five years old, but it was refrigerated upon reciept.
Short lived seeds, at room temp, are pretty common in the following families (there are exceptions) Asteraceae, Poaceae (grasses), Ranunculaceae (monkshoods, buttercups, delphiniums, etc), and Amaryllaceae (fleshy seeds need planting even with refrigeration within a few weeks, black flattened seeds like Zephyanthes last longer but should be refrigerated if you plan on keeping more than 6 months).
Particularly long lived seeds often have hard impermeable seed coats, some examples would be Hibiscus and some scented leaved pelargoniums.
Of course, if you have old seeds, there's no harm in trying them out, pleasant surprises are one of the fun things about gardening!

So What did I do???

I just run to the fridge after I got the message. Wouldn't you know..I'm in trouble now. I have seeds I have had for 10 years and every last one is germinated in the bag. What to do now??? And the Aconitum seeds I paid big money are germinated. I wasn't ready for that..Now what?? I didn't know seeds germinate in the cold. Ohhhh phooey. Not set up..it's cold here, grow lights in a box, and I'm just not ready.

Growing Adventures...that's why I named this Blog.

Needless to say... I guess the method really works!

Vermiculite Germination Bag

 

Ok..got all the Aconitums potted up and out the fridge. Stuck the ones that didn't germinate back in with more vermiculite. Well if you want to call this potted up. It was the best I could do for now and stuck them in a windowsill..until I get set up.

Astrantia Frenzy!

This is the First and Last Astrantia I've seen.

Great Masterwort 'Rubra'...

I was inexperienced and didn't know any better. I killed this poor plant before the flower fully opened up. This was the onset of flowering 5 years ago when I took this picture, and 5 years ago I just didn't know better then to pull a plant up. I was so excited that is was about to flower I pulled and placed it somewhere else. It flopped, got an attitude, withered, and died. Well I have never germinated an Astrantia seed in my life. This plant was sent to me from one of my fellow gardening friends in the mail. The bottom line is... now I am determined to grow whatever and any Astrantia I can. Haven't got a clue what this seed requires. But I have collected many different species and used my little germination baggy method with vermiculite, wishing and hoping. These seeds have been moist packed and refrigerating for 8 weeks now. I'm gonna give it another 4 weeks and bring them out for success or failure...sigh. To the growing lights and warmth (heat mats) they go!