Seed, Plant Catalogs

[kadee79]

Who besides me is getting lots of them?
Are you ordering anything, got a list made out, got things marked in the catalogs?

I'm about to send off 2 seed orders...maybe tomorrow.  Going to try a couple of new things this year and some new varieties of tomatoes for sure.
Since I'm in the south I have cabbage, English peas, radishes & carrots growing right now.  Looks like our frost this morning may have damaged one variety of English peas...I'll know for sure in a few days.

[busymom]

We just got our first seed catalog in the mail today. In fact, I noticed last week that our local hardware store had already set up their seed display area for Spring. I LOVE it!  Both DH & I like to garden, & even though most folks around here don't put plants outside until around Memorial Day, I can't wait! 

[Tennesseer]

I don't plant vegetables because the front and backyard cats poop in the flower beds.  But I do plant flowers.

A number of years ago at a local nursery I came across a cardoon plant.  I grew it and was quite amazed at the color of its flowers.  The cardoon is also called the artichoke thistle and the flower heads can be eaten like a artichoke if it is picked before the bud blooms.  The stems are also edible too.  There are recipes for the stems on the internet.  I came across some seeds for the cardoon at Amazon and ordered some.  I will try and see if I can get them to grow.  They are perennial in my zone 7-8 so I will see what happens. 

Here's a picture of a cardoon plant and its flowers. The flowers can sometimes grow very big like this one. (Not my hand.)

[NoNamePerson]

Those are beautiful Tennesseer. If I remember correctly you posted some pictures of flowers a while back - heck maybe even on the old board. Enjoyed them so hope you will post more!!!  But if I have you confused with another poster NEVER MIND in my best Rosanna Danna voice.

[copperboxes]

Jan 9, 2017 22:53:50 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

Who besides me is getting lots of them?
Are you ordering anything, got a list made out, got things marked in the catalogs?

I'm about to send off 2 seed orders...maybe tomorrow.  Going to try a couple of new things this year and some new varieties of tomatoes for sure.
Since I'm in the south I have cabbage, English peas, radishes & carrots growing right now.  Looks like our frost this morning may have damaged one variety of English peas...I'll know for sure in a few days.

It's crazy this year!  Normally I just go online to a single standby company and order the seeds I'd like to test.  This year I kept getting paper catalog after paper catalog in the mail.  I have a whole bundle of them on my bookshelf next to library books, Baker Creek, Totally Tomatoes, Gurney's, Territorial, Burpee, Stark Bro's,  Park Seed, etc. along with offers for magazines.  

Maybe something is going on with the seed companies?  I wasn't sure what sparked off the deluge.

We grew a ton of heavy feeding annuals last year which went well, but I was thinking about giving the soil a rest (and frustrating the pest population for annuals) by mostly going with sunflowers, wild flowers, herbs, and starting new perennial plants and fruit or nut bushes this year.  I'm reaaaaalllly tempted by some of the annual varieties the companies offer though, and most all the companies offer totally different species of the same types of nuts and fruits, so I need to research.  

Mostly I'm hoping my current little canes and bushes are getting through the winter okay.  We got a lot of snow and way lower than normal temperatures recently.  It got down to 1 and -3 degrees on friday and saturday.  I'll see in spring how the little fruit plants handled it.  I still get nervous when deciduous plants lose their leaves, lol.  I'm from an area with pretty much only evergreens and coastal fog, never really very hot or cold, so the effect of ice catches me off guard sometimes, and it's still amazing when I see trees that look dead as heck activate in spring again.

[haapai]

I got the last bulbs into the ground last week.  I don't think I got them in deep enough.  The ground was frozen below four inches. 

The next batch of flower porn showed up the next day.  Luckily for me, my parents dog favors chewing on the catalogues.  I refuse to open them. 

[cael]

I haven't seen these catalogs in years.. When I was little (like 4-5), I'd make flower collages out of the pictures, I loved them.

No idea what to do with our yard re: plants and flowers... I may not do anything this year and wait and see what comes up where. May have the landscaper come walk with me to tell me what's what.. all I'm going to be able to ID are the tiger lillies that were still blooming when we moved in. We have a little raised bed next to the patio, and while DH suggested we do veggies there I'd rather do flowers, but I don't know what's already in there.

[Tiny]

Do you guys use the seeds you buy for several years? I'm still working thru a bunch of packets of Winter Squash seeds. I had 4 different squash varieties and planted about 6 seeds each...  stored the seeds in their packets in my cool/dark basement and did another round of plantings a second and third years.   I will be planting  2 varieties (which I liked the best!) this spring and will probably use up the last of the original seeds.     Had very good luck with all the squash over all the years (the first year was alittle iffy - I didn't get the sprouted plants into the ground soon enough AND I planted some of them in unsuitable spots.    The other years I've had bumper crops of winter squash.   

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2017 10:44:31 GMT -5 cael said:

I haven't seen these catalogs in years.. When I was little (like 4-5), I'd make flower collages out of the pictures, I loved them.

No idea what to do with our yard re: plants and flowers... I may not do anything this year and wait and see what comes up where. May have the landscaper come walk with me to tell me what's what.. all I'm going to be able to ID are the tiger lillies that were still blooming when we moved in. We have a little raised bed next to the patio, and while DH suggested we do veggies there I'd rather do flowers, but I don't know what's already in there.

That's what I did, sort of. The first summer when we moved in, I ripped out the Enchanted Forest, which was just a pile of overgrown neglected bushes. I ripped them ALL out and then my neighbor tilled part of it, the part without the huge honking stump sticking out, and I made a vegetable bed for one summer. Turns out it's a giant pain in the ass hauling myself to the back corner of the yard for watering and weeding so I planted lilacs and sunflowers there. Less I have to do the better. Then I kind of let it go for the last 2 years but this year I plan to try to do something. I want to move my shed, guess I'll take the stupid thing apart and move it myself, then turn the old spot into a vegetable bed with fencing as the stupid bastard groundhog ate everything last year. AAAAAARGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

[copperboxes]

Jan 10, 2017 13:01:20 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Do you guys use the seeds you buy for several years? I'm still working thru a bunch of packets of Winter Squash seeds. I had 4 different squash varieties and planted about 6 seeds each...  stored the seeds in their packets in my cool/dark basement and did another round of plantings a second and third years.   I will be planting  2 varieties (which I liked the best!) this spring and will probably use up the last of the original seeds.     Had very good luck with all the squash over all the years (the first year was alittle iffy - I didn't get the sprouted plants into the ground soon enough AND I planted some of them in unsuitable spots.    The other years I've had bumper crops of winter squash.    

It's a mix for us.  

Last year we finally put up a fence to keep the deer out of the growing area.  Because of that I got a little over excited spading beds in the fenced space, and DH kept saying "plant more! MOAR!" because of an odd competition with a coworker, so I was planting every seed I'd ordered of things like okra, squash types, cucumbers, beans, corn, watermelons, leeks, etc.   Other things like tomatoes, chinese cabbages, basil, etc. and complete experiments like the mulukhiyah, I still have some seeds left since I did smaller plantings of them.  Growing a lot of hotter weather stuff like okra and watermelons and sweet potatoes are still really new to me, so I'm still having a lot of fun testing out different varieties for flavor and local hardiness.  I've got the spare seeds stored in a shoebox and made an excel file of the contents so I don't forget type/purchase year and how/when to plant them.  That probably sounds kind of like overkill, but I'm really scatter brained without records.

[wyouser]

Quick question for those of you starting plants from seeds. I've always bought bedding plants when it comes to peppers but I got a packet of Ghost pepper seeds from a friend. How long before planting time do you need to start them? I've heard these take a long time to germinate...Around here, as long as you keep something very close to cover them with we start planting stuff outside around mid may.

[kadee79]

Jan 10, 2017 18:32:09 GMT -5 wyouser said:

Quick question for those of you starting plants from seeds. I've always bought bedding plants when it comes to peppers but I got a packet of Ghost pepper seeds from a friend. How long before planting time do you need to start them? I've heard these take a long time to germinate...Around here, as long as you keep something very close to cover them with we start planting stuff outside around mid may.

Here's a link on how to start them...I didn't read it, but I do know it takes my Ca. Wonder bell peppers a good while to be ready to plant out. I'd start them at least 2-3 months ahead, but I also have a garden house where I can keep mine if the weather isn't co-operating.

homeguides.sfgate.com/germinate-seeds-dried-ghost-peppers-41196.html

[copperboxes]

Jan 10, 2017 18:32:09 GMT -5 wyouser said:

Quick question for those of you starting plants from seeds. I've always bought bedding plants when it comes to peppers but I got a packet of Ghost pepper seeds from a friend. How long before planting time do you need to start them? I've heard these take a long time to germinate...Around here, as long as you keep something very close to cover them with we start planting stuff outside around mid may.

Looks like since Ghost peppers take longer to germinate and grow, it seems recommended to start them indoors 10-14 weeks before the last frost date in your area (some places said 10-12 weeks).

www.growthis.com/how-to-grow-ghost-peppers/


Good luck, you're a braver person than me!  I think I'd be nervous to do the harvesting even with gloves like the site recommends, lol.  


EDIT:  Kadee beat me to it    

[kadee79]

Jan 10, 2017 10:44:31 GMT -5 cael said:

I haven't seen these catalogs in years.. When I was little (like 4-5), I'd make flower collages out of the pictures, I loved them.

No idea what to do with our yard re: plants and flowers... I may not do anything this year and wait and see what comes up where. May have the landscaper come walk with me to tell me what's what.. all I'm going to be able to ID are the tiger lillies that were still blooming when we moved in. We have a little raised bed next to the patio, and while DH suggested we do veggies there I'd rather do flowers, but I don't know what's already in there.

I'm guessing you moved into a new location later summer? Do you know how to post pics here? I don't have a photo bucket or other storage site so I can't post mine here. But if you can post pictures of things I'll bet someone here can ID your plants for you. Or find a gardening board and I KNOW the gals there can ID them rather than some landscaper who might or might not know....I've had too many instances when I knew more that guys who called themselves landscapers...in more than one area of the country too!
And I agree, you would be wise to wait a year to find out what all you already have.

Someone asked about using seeds out of packets/packages for several years...yes you can!  How long most are viable will depend on each species.  The germinate rates may go down each year, but you should still get at least some seeds to germinate.  Here is a link to a seed life chart...you have to scroll down....

www.gardeningchannel.com/seed-life-chart-how-long-will-seeds-last/

I store my seeds either in paper envelopes or plastic bags in my office closet on the top shelf.  Some folks put them in the freezer & others in the fridge...but they risk getting moisture in them there when they are taken out.

[kadee79]

Not to worry copperboxes...all info is useful...the more the better!


And I have a request of all you gals, if you feel comfortable doing it.  Can you add your general locations like I have under your avatars?    If you don't know how to do it, holler...but I'll have to go back and look to see how I did it...it's been a long time.
And one reason for this...I often have excess plants, bulbs or seeds and will gladly ship them to areas where I know they will grow, and NO reimbursement for postage either...all I ask is that you pass it on, when you have extras share with your neighbors, relatives or if you are able...ship it like I do.  I've shipped things to Ws., N.H., NY., Md., NJ., Tn., S.C., Ill., Ky., Mo., Ok., Tx., Utah, Ca., Fl., Ohio, In. & Az.!  I've gotten plants, seeds & bulbs from all over the US too....in fact, I have more things that were sent to me in my yard than things I've bought!

[cael]

Jan 10, 2017 20:53:46 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

Jan 10, 2017 10:44:31 GMT -5 cael said:

I haven't seen these catalogs in years.. When I was little (like 4-5), I'd make flower collages out of the pictures, I loved them.

No idea what to do with our yard re: plants and flowers... I may not do anything this year and wait and see what comes up where. May have the landscaper come walk with me to tell me what's what.. all I'm going to be able to ID are the tiger lillies that were still blooming when we moved in. We have a little raised bed next to the patio, and while DH suggested we do veggies there I'd rather do flowers, but I don't know what's already in there.

I'm guessing you moved into a new location later summer? Do you know how to post pics here? I don't have a photo bucket or other storage site so I can't post mine here. But if you can post pictures of things I'll bet someone here can ID your plants for you. Or find a gardening board and I KNOW the gals there can ID them rather than some landscaper who might or might not know....I've had too many instances when I knew more that guys who called themselves landscapers...in more than one area of the country too!
And I agree, you would be wise to wait a year to find out what all you already have.

Someone asked about using seeds out of packets/packages for several years...yes you can!  How long most are viable will depend on each species.  The germinate rates may go down each year, but you should still get at least some seeds to germinate.  Here is a link to a seed life chart...you have to scroll down....

www.gardeningchannel.com/seed-life-chart-how-long-will-seeds-last/

I store my seeds either in paper envelopes or plastic bags in my office closet on the top shelf.  Some folks put them in the freezer & others in the fridge...but they risk getting moisture in them there when they are taken out.

Oh good idea! Everything's dead now but when things start to come up in the spring, maybe I'll do that. When I walked through with the landscaper once he rattled off some things, but of course I forgot - I know our tree in front is a Dogwood, and there are lillies around and there are some flowering bushes in back I think, and tons of hosta too.

[kadee79]

Cael, in what area of the country are you located?

[copperboxes]

Jan 10, 2017 21:01:41 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

Not to worry copperboxes...all info is useful...the more the better!


And I have a request of all you gals, if you feel comfortable doing it.  Can you add your general locations like I have under your avatars?    If you don't know how to do it, holler...but I'll have to go back and look to see how I did it...it's been a long time.
And one reason for this...I often have excess plants, bulbs or seeds and will gladly ship them to areas where I know they will grow, and NO reimbursement for postage either...all I ask is that you pass it on, when you have extras share with your neighbors, relatives or if you are able...ship it like I do.  I've shipped things to Ws., N.H., NY., Md., NJ., Tn., S.C., Ill., Ky., Mo., Ok., Tx., Utah, Ca., Fl., Ohio, In. & Az.!  I've gotten plants, seeds & bulbs from all over the US too....in fact, I have more things that were sent to me in my yard than things I've bought!

If you've got some spare things, I'd be happy to give them a shot and chip in for shipping and handling.  People's preferences can pop up all kinds of good things I wouldn't run across normally   

In that vein, I've also been meaning to say for a while, Tennesseer , thank you for the milkweed recommendation/PSA you did on the boards a while ago.  I saw milkweeds at our place, but didn't really know what they were.  I mow around them now and just leave them be if they pop up in the garden space.

I admit for some reason I have a psychological barrier to posting my general location on my avatar, but it's not like I keep it a secret what state I'm in, so thinking about it, that strikes me as a little odd, lol.  I'm in USDA zone 7a, OK.

[Deleted]

Oh! Maybe i can find my Fedco catalog somewhere in here and make a cup of tea and a list this afternoon! 

[Tennesseer]

Jan 11, 2017 10:16:37 GMT -5 copperboxes said:

Jan 10, 2017 21:01:41 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

Not to worry copperboxes...all info is useful...the more the better!


And I have a request of all you gals, if you feel comfortable doing it.  Can you add your general locations like I have under your avatars?    If you don't know how to do it, holler...but I'll have to go back and look to see how I did it...it's been a long time.
And one reason for this...I often have excess plants, bulbs or seeds and will gladly ship them to areas where I know they will grow, and NO reimbursement for postage either...all I ask is that you pass it on, when you have extras share with your neighbors, relatives or if you are able...ship it like I do.  I've shipped things to Ws., N.H., NY., Md., NJ., Tn., S.C., Ill., Ky., Mo., Ok., Tx., Utah, Ca., Fl., Ohio, In. & Az.!  I've gotten plants, seeds & bulbs from all over the US too....in fact, I have more things that were sent to me in my yard than things I've bought!

If you've got some spare things, I'd be happy to give them a shot and chip in for shipping and handling.  People's preferences can pop up all kinds of good things I wouldn't run across normally   

In that vein, I've also been meaning to say for a while, Tennesseer , thank you for the milkweed recommendation/PSA you did on the boards a while ago.  I saw milkweeds at our place, but didn't really know what they were.  I mow around them now and just leave them be if they pop up in the garden space.

I admit for some reason I have a psychological barrier to posting my general location on my avatar, but it's not like I keep it a secret what state I'm in, so thinking about it, that strikes me as a little odd, lol.  I'm in USDA zone 7a, OK.

You are more than welcome. And on behalf of monarch and other butterflies, they thank you.

[kadee79]

Thank you Tenn.! I love all your pictures and I have looked at the ones you posted in another forum too.

I don't need any more thistles though...we have plenty of wild ones on our land.

Copperboxes, I have an email buddy that also lives in Ok., she is in the NE part and shares seeds all the time.  Her gardens are fairly new since they just relocated from the Denver area about 3 yrs. ago.  She has grown some amazing moon flowers (night bloomer) as well as several other things.  She sent me seeds for a white and a blue larkspur this year.  I have lavender ones already.  I'm getting a red honeysuckle started for her.


I will very likely have some extra seeds of mophead poppies.  They are prolific and will reseed readily.  Here is a link to a picture...scroll all the way down to just above "Next Page"...it is pink or lavenderish....


www.123rf.com/search.php?word=poppy+head&start=100&searchopts=&itemsperpage=100&sti=m01rz3tufvc6rbg8iq|

And my seeds for these originally came from a gal in Tenn.!  If you want some, pm me with your addy, other seeds would be cleome which will also reseed abundantly...they are pink or lavender & seeds are mixed.
I will also have a gold colored Brugmansia (aka, angel trumpet).  It would be an annual or need to be brought in or lots of protection if you are at lower zone than zone 8a.(my original start from a gal in Ca.)  Mine die down to the ground with the first frost & regrow on new shoots every spring...but they are slow to show.  I have one that gets to over 8' tall and has had over 200 blooms at one time and the smell heavenly in the evening..not much scent during the day.
There should also be a double pink rose of Sharon that is rooted & be ready to ship in the spring.  And a double orange daylily....it spreads, gets new shoots coming off the roots of the main plant.  That originally came from a gal in St. Louis.

And once again, I do NOT want reimbursement for shipping...just pass along any extras you have to others.  I've been giving a young gal at the beauty shop some starts too, she & her DH just bought there first house with NO landscaping.

I sure hope all this makes sense and my brain keeps going different directions at the same time....must be old age!

Brug images....
www.bing.com/images/search?q=brugmansia+images&qpvt=brugmansia+images&qpvt=brugmansia+images&qpvt=brugmansia+images&FORM=IGRE

Cleome images...
www.bing.com/images/search?q=cleome+images&qpvt=cleome+images&qpvt=cleome+images&qpvt=cleome+images&FORM=IGRE
www.bing.com/images/search?

Double rose of Sharon images...
www.bing.com/images/search?q=double+rose+of+sharon+images&qpvt=double+rose+of+sharon+images&qpvt=double+rose+of+sharon+images&qpvt=double+rose+of+sharon+images&FORM=IGRE

[copperboxes]

I do love the look of that rose of sharon, it's beautiful!  I've been considering roses of sharon a for a while since I see them around the city, but haven't gotten one yet.

I'd also definitely be happy to try out poppies and daylilies if you've got some spares!    Moonflowers keep volunteering here and I let them go nuts, so I'm good for those, thank you.  They really are beautiful flowers 

Fair warning though: most anything that needs to be brought inside during the winter probably won't make it with me    Most of my care consists of some watering and leaf mulching/weeding, spreading homemade compost and worm castings or pruning sporadically, but I don't really do sprays or temperature adjustments beyond site placement to keep gardening cost-beneficial (we mostly grow edibles).  I don't have a heat mat for starting seeds, I just plant them near the bay window in recycled food containers if they need indoor starting.  So far it works really well, so I keep doing it.  I kind of feel like I tell plants each year "show me what you've got."   Or go "oh sh---------ttttt" when they break free and attempt world domination.  The lady who lived here before us planted honeysuckle and wisteria, and they're beautiful, but they ran wild while the house sat empty before we bought it.  I have a really strong back from hacking at them, digging them up, and rescuing large trees they were engulfing, is all I can say    Vines can be intense.  The wisteria is mostly under control, the honeysuckle is an ongoing campaign.  There's some sort of very thorny climbing vine in the woods I need to tackle once I get the honey suckle handled too.  It doesn't seem like a tree crushing type, but it impedes movement at pretty good.

Lol, and if you insist on no money, I won't push.  I usually just figure if someone does me a favor, I like to try to let people know it's seriously appreciated  

[CCL]

Someone once gave me a bunch of rose of Sharon grown from seeds. They were about the size of pencils. It took 5 or 6 years for them to actually grow into real bushes, but after that they really took off and were beautiful.

[kadee79]

My ROS (rose of Sharon) I started from cuttings, so they are 8-10" tall or in that area.  My original starts that came from a gal in Fl. were about the same when I planted them out and they are about 5-6' tall now, in 2 yrs.


Copperboxes, that thorny vine in the woods, does it look like this?....

www.bing.com/images/search?q=cat+claw+vine&qpvt=cat+claw+vine&qpvt=cat+claw+vine&qpvt=cat+claw+vine&FORM=IGRE

Scroll down and look at some closer pictures of the leaves & forget the blooms.  The ones around here I've never seen bloom.  But if it's cat claw, you will have to dig out the tubers and keep following any underground runners for more tubers either formed or being formed.  It's bad in this area.  At one place I used to rent, I dug out tubers about as big as basket balls...no spray or roundup will kill something that big!  Honeysuckle is hard, but I've figured out how some of it spreads so much...mocking birds love to eat the red seeds/berries and when they poop....chances of another plant.  I have the Asian honeysuckle...invasive, and red & gold that are much more tame and pretty easy to control.  I also have wisteria...both white & lavender....and it's a constant fight to keep it in bounds.  I've trained mine up an old metal porch post I planted but I still have to watch for both ground runners and new branches coming out on the stems plus keep the top in bounds too.  It & Carolina jasmine (yellow blooms) both grow wild in lots of woodsy areas down here.

BTW CB...envelope on it's way.

[copperboxes]

Jan 15, 2017 14:56:58 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

My ROS (rose of Sharon) I started from cuttings, so they are 8-10" tall or in that area.  My original starts that came from a gal in Fl. were about the same when I planted them out and they are about 5-6' tall now, in 2 yrs.


Copperboxes, that thorny vine in the woods, does it look like this?....

www.bing.com/images/search?q=cat+claw+vine&qpvt=cat+claw+vine&qpvt=cat+claw+vine&qpvt=cat+claw+vine&FORM=IGRE

Scroll down and look at some closer pictures of the leaves & forget the blooms.  The ones around here I've never seen bloom.  But if it's cat claw, you will have to dig out the tubers and keep following any underground runners for more tubers either formed or being formed.  It's bad in this area.  At one place I used to rent, I dug out tubers about as big as basket balls...no spray or roundup will kill something that big!  Honeysuckle is hard, but I've figured out how some of it spreads so much...mocking birds love to eat the red seeds/berries and when they poop....chances of another plant.  I have the Asian honeysuckle...invasive, and red & gold that are much more tame and pretty easy to control.  I also have wisteria...both white & lavender....and it's a constant fight to keep it in bounds.  I've trained mine up an old metal porch post I planted but I still have to watch for both ground runners and new branches coming out on the stems plus keep the top in bounds too.  It & Carolina jasmine (yellow blooms) both grow wild in lots of woodsy areas down here.

BTW CB...envelope on it's way.

Yay!  Thank you so much for the package Kadee!       

They're not cat's claw vines, but your asking had me finally look around for what it is, I'd been meaning to     Looks like they're greenbrier vines.   I think there might be a couple types, since there are two main thorn patterns, a zig zag thorn pattern with the heart shaped leaves and an extremely dense thorn pattern that looks like bristly greenbrier.  

At ground level there are mostly just tons of thorn canes running vertically into the tree canopy, but at the very top there's always a puff of leaves and sometimes fruit whenever I spool a vine down.  Guess I'll be digging deep too since they've also got tubers  Hopefully they're not basket ball sized tubers like you've experienced with cat claw vines, but who knows yet.

On the plus side, apparently the shoots, tubers and berries seem to be edible.  I was always really curious about those berries whenever I'd wrangle a puff of them to the ground.  

Glad to hear you've got your vines tamed, sounds like you've got some really beautiful color in there!  Lol and yeah, I really like bird watching and identification but I think they're definitely keeping me running due to spreading the vine seeds around.  Eh, they're worth it.  The area our home is in here is pretty wild, we've got morels mushrooms in spring and wild turkeys that wander past, so we also get a lot of bird species nesting year round or migrating through.  I'm hoping they'll be okay with less vine berries on this particular patch and they'll feast on the local bug buffet, the tree/bush berry types and grass seeds here instead.  We'll see, it'll probably continue to be a gradual process to push them back given the vine densities and hardiness levels.  No sudden shock to the system in that regard, lol. 

[Tennesseer]

Jan 15, 2017 14:56:58 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

My ROS (rose of Sharon) I started from cuttings, so they are 8-10" tall or in that area.  My original starts that came from a gal in Fl. were about the same when I planted them out and they are about 5-6' tall now, in 2 yrs.


Copperboxes, that thorny vine in the woods, does it look like this?....

www.bing.com/images/search?q=cat+claw+vine&qpvt=cat+claw+vine&qpvt=cat+claw+vine&qpvt=cat+claw+vine&FORM=IGRE

Scroll down and look at some closer pictures of the leaves & forget the blooms.  The ones around here I've never seen bloom.  But if it's cat claw, you will have to dig out the tubers and keep following any underground runners for more tubers either formed or being formed.  It's bad in this area.  At one place I used to rent, I dug out tubers about as big as basket balls...no spray or roundup will kill something that big!  Honeysuckle is hard, but I've figured out how some of it spreads so much...mocking birds love to eat the red seeds/berries and when they poop....chances of another plant.  I have the Asian honeysuckle...invasive, and red & gold that are much more tame and pretty easy to control.  I also have wisteria...both white & lavender....and it's a constant fight to keep it in bounds.  I've trained mine up an old metal porch post I planted but I still have to watch for both ground runners and new branches coming out on the stems plus keep the top in bounds too.  It & Carolina jasmine (yellow blooms) both grow wild in lots of woodsy areas down here.

BTW CB...envelope on it's way.

If you want another well behaved honseysuckle, look for Major Wheeler honeysuckle. I have some growing on a fence outside one of my kitchen windows and can sit and watch the hummingbirds dining on it.

[kadee79]

Tenn, I have red honeysuckle and I also have a golden one. I have 6 plants of the red & 1 of the golden...just can't get a cutting to take from the golden one.


Copper, your green briar is what we call cat claw down here...so go back & read what I posted about digging them out & how big those tubers/rhizomes can be.  That was why I said to ignore the blooms on the cat claw link I posted, I've never seen it bloom here but a gal out at 29 Palms, Ca. has one that blooms in her yard...desert!


ETA....forgot, I got 2 seed orders last week.  One from Territorial & one from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.  Sooo, a couple of days ago I planted bunches of seeds in my garden house.  I use the 3, 6 & 9 pack plastic things I've saved from starts I buy through the years and I use trays like cafeteria trays to sit them on.  I have 3 trays FULL....I planted some veggie, several herbs and a BUNCH of flower seeds.  The flower seeds had all come from other gardeners around the country.

[Anne_in_VA]

Anyone have advice on growing herbs inside (SE Virginia - zone 7)?  I planted some basil, tarragon, parsley and oregano a few weeks ago.  The basil, tarragon and parsley are doing great and the oregano sprouted, but isn't getting any bigger and some have died off.  Thepots are in a west facing window and get plenty of sun, so I'm not sure why it won't grow.

BTW I started getting seed catalogs this year and am drooling!

[kadee79]

Anne, if your window sill is cold that may be affecting growth of some things. It can also be old or defective seed.  Buy another packet and of a different brand if possible.  Also, depending on the variety of oregano, it may be a slow grower.  Cut back on water too...over-watering kills more plants than just about anything else.
I dug out my oregano 2 yrs. ago that I had planted in the ground, it was trying to take over the world.  I really hated to do it cause the bees LOVED the blooms!

Just an aside...my DGS is going to college in Va.!

[Anne_in_VA]

Thanks kadee72.  I only water when the soil is starting to get a little dry.  I don't overwater so I'm not sure why it's growing so slowly.  I'love try with a different variety.

where in VA will your son be going to college if you don't mind my asking?