Re: self-seeding
- Subject: Re: self-seeding
- From: A*
- Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 04:24:41 -0400
I cannot get foxgloves to self seed in my garden, in fact I have trouble
growing them from seed. But down the street, my neighbor has the very same
foxgloves which germinate everywhere, all by themselves.
I wonder if the little seedlings coming up where I had an expensive, fancy
verbena (the almost prostrate kind) last summer are verbena? I can't find a
picture of them anywhere--is it likely?
I have a little pamphlet type book identifying seedlings--are there pictures
anywhere on the net?
Judy Warner
----- Original Message -----
From: <ECPep@aol.com>
To: <perennials@hort.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2002 12:51 PM
Subject: self-seeding
> In a message dated 5/30/02 11:45:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> bhayes@catskill.net writes:
>
> << Here's another example of the mystery of Mother Nature: in my garden I
> have never had Cleome seed itself, nor Verbena Bonariensis either,
> though others think them invasive. I even have trouble growing them
> from seed. >>
>
> Isabelle,
>
> Being up the river from you, we must have a somewhat similar climate and
> environment for seedling.
>
> Cleome makes it here about three years out of four germination being quite
> late in the season, near the end of June. Makes sense for us to buy
plants
> or start it indoors.
>
> Verbena bonariensis is name for Buenos Aires where it is a weed. I
learned
> that this past winter when I discovered this planted loved here is not
much
> respected there.
>
> V. bonariensis self seeds in droves when the fall weather allows it to
mature
> seed. If we have one of those September 15 frost, the seedlings will be
few
> or none. If the plant is allowed to mature the seed, the seedlings are
> numerous.
>
> The first year I grew this plant,I paid around 5.00 per single 4 inch pot
and
> looked all over NY and CT for it on trips. Then it became common here and
> little cheaper, in six packs. One summer day, it germinates, also in
June,
> outdoors, I was yanking out hundreds of them when a friend informed me I
was
> removing the the very seedlings I was complaining about being missing.
The
> seedlings are not distinguished in appearance.
>
> So, maybe you have to wait into June and note that V. bonariensis
seedlings
> look like weeds of several kinds they grow along with. It helps with both
of
> these plants to remove the mature seed and scratch it into the soil where
it
> has grown so the next year you will have an idea what the germinating
plants
> might be.
>
> Verbena bonariensis can also be kept over in pots in cellar windows cut
back
> and watered very little. They are perennials. Nicotiana alata can be
treated
> the same way. I have N. alata in bloom here now as it is also a
perennial.
> For me some seed (and there is an awful lot of seed) got into the older
> concrete foundation of the my house and the warmth (well it must be
warmth)
> of the walls keeps these plants alive as perennials. They bloom with
early
> iris. A second wave come on from seeds dropped everywhere, also
germinating
> outdoors in mid-June, and bloom in late summer, the more normal process
here.
>
> I found a miniature cleome this year, purple flowers and about 20 inches
> high. Has anyone grown that? Full of questions today, I wonder if anyone
has
> grown morning glories up shrubs successfully.
>
> Self-seeders are the most reliable annuals. This year, beside the armies
of
> feverfew and tancetum niveum there are poppies of every kind everywhere,
> Nicotiana, Viola, Dianthus deltoides, Lychnis coronaria, the Lychnis
called
> German catchfly, Hostas, Thlaspi, Corydalis, larkspur, Digitalis, Cosmos,
> several kinds of Rudbeckia, borage,and more I must have missed. The second
> wave of germination is in mid-June.
>
> How many have cultivated a large and handsome weed until able to identify
it
> as a weed in the garden?
>
> Claire Peplowski
> NYS z4
>
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