On some of my plants.

[Christine Weetman]

Hi all, these have done really well, I have at least one hundred seedlings growing so really well, I started separating them out now into pots, but boy, there are so many of them.  Here's a little about them.

 

Celosia cristata is a member of the genus Celosia, and is commonly known as cockscomb, since the flower looks like the head on a rooster (cock). They are annual plants of tropical origin, and their leaves and flowers can be used as vegetables. They are often grown as foods in India, Western Africa, and South America.

They grow well in both humid and arid conditions, and their flowers can last for up to 8 weeks. A high number of seeds can be produced by each flower, up to 43,000 per ounce. The plant often grows up to 1 foot in height, though many are smaller. The leaves are either green or bronze/maroon, depending upon the cultivar. The flowers are usually red, yellow, pink, or orange, though other colors can be present. In some instances, a variety of colors are present in hybrids.

Cultivars include 'Jewel box', 'Century mix', 'New Look', and 'Pink Castle'.

[Roy]

Christine, are all these indoor plants?

[Christine Weetman]

No Roy, they are all outdoor plants, I started them from seeds, all the same variety, mixed flower colours, in my plants case.  I started them in a standard seed tray then started thinnening them out by planting them in plant pots, I'm running out of pots now! lol I plan to put some outdoors, but as yet they are still only the size of your little finger but they stand quite strongly and I can feel and handle them without any problem of hurting them.  I love the things, I hope they will continue to thrive.  Maybe if I have some spare seeds I could send them to you, but I'd have to check.

 

Chat soon, Christine.

[Dr Norman Waddington]

Hi Christine,

 

These sound most interesting.  Would they grow in tubs outside in a sheltered position?  If you have any seeds later any chance of you sending me some?

 

Norman.

----- Original Message -----

From: Christine Weetman

To: blind-g...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 12:48 AM

Subject: [B-G-1071] On some of my plants.

[Christine Weetman]

Hi Norman, I have no idea if they'll thrive in pots outdoors, I got them as they are tropical oragin so I thought they'd do well in my greenhouse, so just an experiment, course I'll send some seeds to anyone who wants them if I find I have any left or they happen to seed well.  Not managed to check them out yet though as we've been so busy moving everything I'm not sure where my box of seeds has gone right now, but no doubt they'll show up soon.  Maybe I'll have a clear out and offer different seeds on the group for those who'll want to try them. I was wondering if anyone wanted to take part in a seed-swap?  Just a few seeds in a small bag might mean we don't have to buy too many and over load our greenhouse as I seem to be doing! I just can't keep up! Smiles.

 

Chat soon, Christine.

[Dr Norman Waddington]

Christine,

 

The hardy Plant Society do run a seeds swapping scheme.  One thing to remember is that most seed has to be really fresh or it will not germinate.  One problem with the HPS scheme is that they keep their seed to long and most is no good by the time you receive it.

 

I would suggest that we had someone as a co-ordinator if we were going to run suhch a scheme.

 

Just some of my thoughts.

[Christine Weetman]

Hi Norman, yes, seed packets have sell by dates on them, so as long as we promise the seeds are "New and in date" I guess we should be ok?  How do you think this could be co-ordinated?  I was thinking more of people just saying what they had to swap on the group and people could respond, keeping the chatter on group, so as to help the group flurrish a little, what do you think?

 

Chat soon, and thanks for the suggestions, I'm listening and looking forward to further emails on this subject.

 

Speak soon, Christine.

[Dr Norman Waddington]

Hi Christine,

 

I think your idea of people swapping seed individually would be a good idea to start with.  Perhaps eventually we could nominate someone as seed co-ordinator who would send all seed out as required.  Perhaps they could create a Word document to send to the list of the seeds which people had available.  Perhaps a nominal charge could be made for say 10 packets of seed.  It would depend on what seed was available and it would have to be first come first serve sort of thing.

 

Just some ideas.

[Paula Kilburn]

I love this idea. Will you be able to send them to Canada.

[Dr Norman Waddington]

I think there could be problems with plants listed on the rare plants lists.  I would have to get a list and we would have to check with DEFRA in the UK before we tried to send you any seeds.  We could get into serious trouble if we sent anything which was listed.

[Christine Weetman]

Norman, that's what I thought too, but I wondered, you seemed to be into factual things, so I'll leave that question to you, no point in us both looking into the same thing.

 

Thanks, from Christine W.