Viewing comments posted by tabbycat

I got seeds of this cabbage in last fall's NFSR Swap from rockpile1369. It's the 1st cabbage I'd even heard of that was savoyed. They grew great here in our mild cold weather of zone 9. We enjoyed these slightly different wrinkled leaves, but they tasted and cooked just like regular varieties. I'd grow them again.

I got seeds for this pretty flowering tree in last fall's NFSR Swap from RHarbison in Texas. For lack of space, I put off planting them until now in October. I sowed 7 seeds indoors under my SunBlaster lights and they all sprouted in one week. I will grow them under the SunBlaster lights all winter. By spring they should have a head start and be nicely rooted pot plants. I am offering the surplus seeds in the DND Swap since they are viable and quick to sprout.

It grows into an 8+ ft. plant if never trimmed and gets wide, sprawling side branches. Then in Sept. it sets buds, and now in late Oct. it is loaded with the pale pink flowers until the 1st frost or freeze kills off the upper 1/2. It grows in a large pot on my south facing patio so it doesn't completely die and returns each spring. I also have the 'White' and the 'Red' that grow the same and are in full bloom also now but I didn't find them in the database.

Mine is 'Pam Puryear' variety I started from seeds I got here in a Fall 2016 Seed Swap. I have grown it in a pot, but after seeing how it sprawls I will plant it out in a flower bed next spring. It didn't get a lot of sun where it was this summer and it caused some flowers to turn out white. When moved to more sun, the flowers got pale pink again. No bugs or diseases seem to bother it.

I bought a Monrovia plant on clearance Sept. 1. It was about 12" tall and wide, but still growing. I repotted it in Miraclegro potting soil and watered with a dose of Miraclegro fertilizer for a good start. It's Oct. 21 and it's almost doubled and has its 1st tail, but it hasn't feathered out yet. It has gotten more red color than the green it was when I bought it. I have it in a pot in part sun, which it seems to like. I potted it so I can see how it responds to our milder zone 9 winters, but I can bring it in if the temps fall under 36*. It's a very ornamental grass.

I am enjoying watching young plants I started from seeds this spring. I collected the seeds late last fall when I saw the earlier green pea-size pods had turned black in our Taco Bell flower bed. I let them dry completely over winter indoors. They had shrunk to 1/2 the original size and were hard when I soaked them overnight and planted them in April 2018. By June 1st I started getting sprouts. It's mid Oct. and they are 3 to 4" tall.

Sept. 1, 2018 I took 3 stolon cuttings off my year-old plant and put them to root in water. Oct. 6 they had rooted, so I planted them in soil and they are doing fine. This seems to be a slow-growing smaller variety, but its pastel cream, pink and green color is beautiful and my favorite.

I had 2 year old seeds that I nicked, soaked overnight, and then planted 10 days ago. Of 10 seeds, so far 2 have sprouted on day 9, so I am really happy! I had done the same when the seeds were given to me, but those didn't sprout. This leads me to believe they have to dry out completely, thus the fresher 3 month old seeds didn't sprout when treated the same exact way.

It's mid Oct. and my hanging basket of this plant has vines that have latched onto the tree branch it hangs from and has its last flower of the season. I know that because another vine in the pot has developed a 3" green seed pod full of future seeds. It loves the filtered sunlight it gets under the tree canopy. Soon all the leaves will turn yellow then brown to the soil, so I cut the vine back also to the soil but I know a secret. The pot is full of finger size tubers that will sprout again in spring and send out 4 or 5 new vines for next summer's flowers.

This spring I started this plant from seeds after a few years of not growing it. I always put it by my mailbox so everyone could enjoy its beauty. It also has room there to get 6'x5' by fall. It's late Oct. and it's 5' with three perfect golden candles that glow out in the full sun where it grows well. I rarely water it, so it depends on rain every few days. It has never been bothered by bugs or diseases, so I consider it a perfect showstopper plant I highly recommend it for zone 9.

I got seeds 2 years ago from Esperanza in a swap here. They grew well the 1st summer but stayed small. This summer the 4 plants got 2 ft. tall in gallon pots. I put the largest in the ground in a full-sun bed and it grew to 3 ft. tall and made its first exotic red and orange flowers by mid summer. In Sept it set 2 seeds that dried on the plant, and I just removed them Oct. 15. These are supposed to be the dwarf variety, but I also have a plant I started from a seed from St. John in the Virgin Islands that is the full-sized tree variety. We are zone 9, so I don't know that it will become a tree in our 30* average lows.

I got seeds in the Nov. 2017 DND swap that were tagged 'Aloha White' ageratum. I've wondered whether they are the same as these 'Hawaii White' and someone crossed the name up by association as I can find no reference anywhere to 'Aloha'. I just love the neat 10" mounds and pure bright white flowers. They've bloomed all summer and I hope they will return from dropped seed heads.

I started this from seeds I got in a trade with someone from Texas about 18 years ago. It stayed under 6 ft. for years when I grew it in a large pot. But 8 years ago I planted it in a flowerbed near my patio. To my surprise, it is now a tree 18 ft. tall and wide. Because it's deciduous and drops flowers and seeds, it's too messy for near the patio, but it makes filtered shade all summer when it's leafed out. The pale pink flowers look white from the ground. The lower branches now support hanging baskets for eye level interest.

I got seeds of this in last Nov.'s NFSR from ishareflowers. I didn't get around to sowing them until July. They sprouted in a couple of weeks and grew slowly, but I ended up with 4 plants. Now, 4 months later, the largest is 2" tall and wide and is starting to "twist." I read in the database that they like moist soil. They are in potting soil with average drainage, but I never let them dry out and they are happy with slightly damp feet.

I've admired this plant in a neighbor's yard, but she couldn't recall the name. In the NRSR Seed Swap last Nov. I got seeds labeled 'Joseph's Coat Little Ruby' from rattlebox. I only chose them because of the name Joseph's Coat and had no other info. I hadn't sown them yet for lack of room, but last week I sowed them with a dozen or so other varieties, hoping they were still viable seeds. I also looked up the name in the database here and was overjoyed to see they are the deep burgundy plant my neighbor has thriving in full sun by her mailbox. In only 6 days now, about 5 sprouts have come up, so I should have a good start of this pretty plant for Spring 2019.

Hurrah! The seeds I recently got from shalyn have sprouted in only 8 days. I've wanted this plant for several years, but other seeds never sprouted. I've started them indoors under my SunBlaster lights since it's late Oct., but I wanted a head start on them for nice spring plants for my patio. Thanks to trading gardeners here on garden.org, I now have sprouts of this desired plant!

It's late October and my 8 foot tall plant is about to bloom any day. Because it grows in a 5 gallon pot on my patio, it's been cut back twice this year to stay manageable. The cuttings rooted very easily after 3 weeks in water and now have new homes with gardening friends.

Just found black pea size seed pods on my bush that's in full bloom now since Aug. 1, 2018. I will be offering them in the 3 Fall seed swaps here on garden.org.

I bought this plant from Almost Eden last Nov. 2017. It was about 12" tall. It has grown in almost a year to a wispy 4 ft. tall and wide plant. I have it in a 3-gallon pot on my patio, where it gets sun from noon to 5pm. All new leaves have shown some variegation. The red flowers draw hummingbirds. I was surprised to find what I thought were red flower buds but turned out to be 1/2" red seed pods starting about Sept.1. I've collected them and dried they split to reveal 4 small round seeds. I will sow some with hopes of getting some variegated plants.

My 2 plants I started from seeds spring 2017 are now over a year old and producing lots of pink flowers the hummingbirds love. They are growing in pots on my patio, so I have made cuttings when they get too wide and many have rooted easily in water in a few weeks. They will go in the ground this fall where they can really take off next spring. Depending on the sun's position through the year, they have gotten near white when in only dappled sun. When moved back in 1/2-day sun, they returned to medium pink again. A lovely plant.