I don't think I will be doing any this year - I have dozens of tomato seeds and saved beans and various herbs from last season. Not doing a heap of veg anyway.

I think you are right - it does seem to be getting earlier and earlier. My problem is I really don't have the time now to sit and go through catalogs and decide. For me too it's usually just after Christmas when things calm down and I can do it in peace and relaxation and enjoy the process (and I DO enjoy the process! - Except when my seed order is like $700 and I realize I need to cut back lol). But I do like to have my seeds by January since I wintersow.

Soooo...... whaddya gettttt?

:)

Dee

I'm 95% native, so I ordered seeds mid-summer, a number of which I could start in mid-summer and reach overwintering size before frost (Nov). However, I only got organized yesterday and created my spreadsheet of what needs what and when it should be sown. I have about 20 species to go.

Either today or tomorrow, I have a couple of things to go, that *should* have been sown in late summer, to grow over winter. Wish me luck.

Then 2/3 of things go in sometime during December for natural cold treatment.

This after I decided to cut down on seeds this year. Though the majority are native annuals that I won't have to baby all year, at least. Last year was hot and dry, and I couldn't really go away for more than about 12 hours, lest I start losing plants. Lets hope that's mostly the past now.

I ordered the seeds since September. Some of them I already sowed: Aulaya, California poppy, bachlors button, larkspurs. Larkspurs has not germinated and I will sow another batch. Still have I also ordered snapdragon, ageratum, calendula, gomphrena, which I will sow later or next spring.

This will be my first time to do fall direct sowing and winter sowing intentionally.

"Soooo...... whaddya gettttt?"

Not a whole lot this year. I'm cutting back on flower seeds, doing more cuttings of salvia and heliotrope. I did order "Blue Horizon" ageratum and "Royal Ensign " convolvulus -- if you've never grown R.E. the color will knock your socks off, looks good trailing out of containers. Also got a couple new sunflower varieties -- "Soraya" and "Shock-O-Lat". I have plenty of zinnia seeds from prior years so didn't need to order any this year. I kinda lost my seed-starting mojo since my best gardening buddy passed away, I grew starts for her every year, I still enjoy it but it's not quite the same anymore. So I'm not offering to grow for others in my circle, they're on their own this year.

On the vegetable front, a new variety of dill, and new variety of charantais melon that's supposed to be disease resistant ("Griselet") and a few new tomato varieties. I have had terrible tomato disease pressure and can't find an indeterminate type that is resistant to both early and late blight so I settled on a couple determinates that are supposedly resistant. Also ordered "Blacktail Mountain" watermelon, another one that's new to me and supposed to be good for cooler climates (it's been a cr*ppy couple of melon years...), and some "Lunchbox" sweet snacking peppers I've been wanting to grow for a couple years now.

I'll only grow a plant of two of each but seed keeps, so if they're winners I'll be stocked for next year. :0)

I have indeed grown R.E. convolvulus and it is indeed stunning! Gorgeous color! I also really like Soraya, and while I've cut back dramatically on growing sunflowers, I usually always start a pack of Soraya seeds, if no other sunflowers.

I've only grown melons of any kind once, when the little boy across the street gave me a watermelon plant he started. I think it was Sugar Baby or something like that, and I put it in my front yard so he could see it grow lol. I didn't do great with it but I got two or three melons, so he was happy (as was I lol).

I remember your gardening buddy, and I'm sorry for your loss. It's so hard when someone you share a passion with leaves you, especially if there aren't really any others who share it too. I hope you will find peace and maybe someday be excited about seed starting again, maybe in her honor.

:)

Dee

That's too bad you lost your gardening buddy, mxk3.

I have tried Royal Ensign Convolvulus once and what plants I ended up with were spindly and were not worth the bother. Do you do anything special to end up with good plants of it? I like blue. How long do you think most seeds stay viable?

I ordered some seeds in the last couple of days. I didn't mean to order so many since I don't have a lot of room to plant stuff. They're already in the mail.

From Baker seed: Superbissima petunia mix, Butterfly pea vine, an old fashioned petunia

From Swallowtail:

I got a lot of snapdragons since I loved Chantilly Mix so much last year and it bloomed pretty much nonstop.

Twinny Appleblossom

Twinny Peach

Chantilly Mix

Chantilly Purple

Madame Butterfly Cherry Bronze

Verbena bonariensis

Bee Balm Bergamo

Borage

Dwarf Dahlia cactus mix

Hollyhock fig leaf mix

Nicotiana sylvestrus

Brachycome

I'm thinking about getting a few from JL Hudson seedsman. Most packets are $2.00 or $2.50, and shipping is $5 in the US.

Sunflower Maximillian

Phacelia campanularia

Tropaeolum majus Purple Emperor

Hibiscus coccineus hardy red

not sure if they have abutilon this year

I might have to dig up something to make room or grow a lot of stuff in pots. I have a lot of rose seeds in the fridge as well, which I'll plant later in January in flats under lights.

"I have tried Royal Ensign Convolvulus once and what plants I ended up with were spindly and were not worth the bother. Do you do anything special to end up with good plants of it? I like blue. How long do you think most seeds stay viable?"

They need full sun. They're not especially full plants, so plant them close together to get a more fill-in effect. They do tend to peter out on me by maybe late July-early August, by then I just pull them, the other flowers in the container have usually filled out quite a bit by then and the extra trailers aren't really missed.

I've kept seeds for years. Technically I don't know how long they're viable or whether it depends on what it is.

Thanks!

O yeah, 'Cutting back'...HA HA HA HA.

The Hardy Plant seed distribution list arrived, anyway, so that's another 20 seed packets. I love this list. Extensive, fresh (so generally viable), cheap. There will always be something I have never heard of, plus a couple of things which I used to love but went off, so now due a revival (malva this year, apparently). I sometimes add in a random, potluck set too, but am not going there this year.

So, corynabutilon vitifolium, sphaeralcea incana, hibiscus richardsonii, pavonia hastata, anisodontea...plus a coupla of bindweeds - convolvulous cantabrica and altheoides. A few more salvia - subrotunda (although I bought quite a few salvias this year too). Penstemon, as usual. centranthus lecoqii,

O, have also fallen back into deluded thinking and ordered meconopsis seeds (cathcartia villosa)

I put convolulous RE in the same category as nemophila, limnanthes, linum, phacelia and phlox drummondii - lovely, but transient. I can always find a space in the corner of a pot for these little annuals. I have a different limnanthes this year - l.rosea with white petals and pink veins. I vaguely recall Katob was a member of the HPS too. Much cheaper than RHS membership - worth paying the small annual subscription, imo.

Sad to hear about your friend, mxk3. Sharing plants and seeds, being just a teeny bit competitive, bemoaning the weedy horrors and never-ending graft...yes, a sad loss. Hope your garden brings you consoling joys in their memory.