Perennials from seed?
lynn pollock
interested in woodland/shade plantings. We are planning a meandering
path with benches, statuary, etc through about an acre and a half of
woodland bordering our lawn and I couldn't help but notice that seeds
are much cheaper than plants. I know it will take longer from seed, but
it would take just as long for me to purchase all the plants I want,
too. How difficult is this? I mean the seeds being planted in ideal
conditions, how much effort and care would they require?
Thanks,
Lynn
Gandy Dancer
the Burpee seed indoors, and after hardening off, planted about 12 plants
about a foot apart. The first summer I only got a few flowers, but the
plants spread fairly quickly. The following spring (early in the spring) I
moved about 4 that were getting crowded - and I was rewarded with a stand of
beautiful white daisies about 3 feet tall in an area about 8 feet long by 3
feet wide. I did find that they require some heavy staking to keep'em from
falling over.
Go ahead, try it! As you said, seeds are cheap and it's really rewarding.
Gandy
lynn pollock wrote in message
<8594-383...@storefull-111.bryant.webtv.net>...
Ann
>Have any of you ever established perennials from seed? I'm particularly
>interested in woodland/shade plantings. We are planning a meandering
>path with benches, statuary, etc through about an acre and a half of
>woodland bordering our lawn and I couldn't help but notice that seeds
>are much cheaper than plants. I know it will take longer from seed, but
>it would take just as long for me to purchase all the plants I want,
>too. How difficult is this? I mean the seeds being planted in ideal
>conditions, how much effort and care would they require?
Most of the woodland plants need stratification. If you have any
specific woodlanders you are interested in, let me know, I'll look
them up in my wildflower propogation book and tell you the conditions
they require. This is a neat little book from the New England
Wildflower Society and it covers most every woodland plant you might
ever want to grow in a garden (native to the US, that is, although
they do have a few European and Japanese varieties listed).
--
Ann, Gardening in Zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************
http://www.annzoid.com
Sterling Hill
>
> Have any of you ever established perennials from seed? I'm particularly
> interested in woodland/shade plantings. We are planning a meandering
> path with benches, statuary, etc through about an acre and a half of
> woodland bordering our lawn and I couldn't help but notice that seeds
> are much cheaper than plants. I know it will take longer from seed, but
> it would take just as long for me to purchase all the plants I want,
> too. How difficult is this? I mean the seeds being planted in ideal
> conditions, how much effort and care would they require?
>
> Lynn
There is a great article at
http://www.taunton.com/fg/features/design/abundance/1.htm
on aggressive propagation. Not so much on seeds but a good article. Once
I get all the english-ivy-from-hell out of my woodland, I want to create
a path like you are contenplating.
Sterling
Please change aol to mindspring in reply
lynn pollock
the advice.
Bill, everyone around here has the same things to trade. We are all
buried in iris, periwinkle, daylilies, and daffs. The nurseries around
here carry all the same tired old plants, not the ones I see in the
catalogues that I would like to try. I have lots of periwinkle (vinca
minor), violets, violas, oxalis (the native woodland variety), and
columbine that I can move once the path is finished. That's a start,
huh?
Gandy, I had success with Shasta daisies, too. My seeds were nearly ten
years old, but 3 years later, I was digging, dividing, and giving away
clumps of them! I want some painted daisies next. they're so pretty.
Sterling, you mentioned english-ivy-from-hell, around here it's
honeysuckle and briars. They are both impossible to dig or pull up, as
that always results in more plants springing up! I may try the round-up
trick, that is, cutting them close to the ground and painting the cut
with round-up, carefully, of course. Before anyone gets up in arms, I
love honeysuckle, but this stuff has ran unchecked for years and has
taken over all the beds on the wooded edge of the yard and killed, or
very nearly killed, many shrubs and flowering trees. I've had it!!
Ann, some of the varieties I'd like to try are the hardy anemones,
heucheras, lungwort (pulmonaria?), generally any woodland plant that
flowers. I'll purchase the rest, like maybe a hosta or three, winter
aconite, dogtooth violets, and whatever else I can find cheap enough.
Oh, check on hellebores, too, please. I wonder if trillium can be grown
from seed?
Would it be best to plant indoors or where they will be growing? Should
I go for a fall or spring transplant? My other option, the lazy way, is
to add a few plants a year, be patient, and let nature take its course.
But I'm an impatient person. oooohhh, impatiens........ mind
wandering.....
Lynn
wild...@my-deja.com
> I've grown many perennial from seed including crape myrtle, gerbera
daisy, candytuft, red hot poker daylilies and yarrow. I find it an
easy, inexpensive way to get a lot of plants. The only problem is you
have to wait a couple of years for them to flower.
wilderbe
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Jessie
>
> This is a neat little book from the New England
> Wildflower Society and it covers most every woodland plant you might
> ever want to grow in a garden (native to the US, that is, although
> they do have a few European and Japanese varieties listed).
Oooooo! That's one I don't have! Can you give me the
ordering info, Ann?
--
Jessie
ex-Pennsylvania, z.7
ex-New York City, z.6
now Minnesota, z.4 (brrrrr!)
entwold at att dot net
-------------------------------------
note the spamnot trap
"Thoreau never mentioned the icky little bugs." - City Boy
Ann
>Oooooo! That's one I don't have! Can you give me the
>ordering info, Ann?
I answered Jessie in another e-mail. For the group, this book is a
little spiral bound book published by the North Carolina Wild Flower
Preservation Society. Their address is 900 West Nash Street in
Wilson, NC, 27893. I don't know if it is still in print, I bought it
at the New England Wildflower Society here in Framingham many years
ago. I'll be happy to look up anything anyone wants info on, this
has propagation notes for woodland wildflowers, bog plants (basically
all kinds of wildflowers native to the east coast), ferns, trees,
shrubs, woody fines, etc.
Ann
> Ann, some of the varieties I'd like to try are the hardy anemones,
>heucheras, lungwort (pulmonaria?), generally any woodland plant that
>flowers. I'll purchase the rest, like maybe a hosta or three, winter
>aconite, dogtooth violets, and whatever else I can find cheap enough.
>Oh, check on hellebores, too, please. I wonder if trillium can be grown
>from seed?
Lynn, I finally found the book <G> and will answer you separately in a
private e-mail, OK?