Alana for posting that picture of black cotton! I see that cotton acres has them. I'll be placing and order for those babies after the holidays.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that sees certain pictures of plants that you never knew existed and suddenly it is on your must have list and you begin frantically searching for seeds.

Lisa

I love cotton acres! I've gotten a few cottons from them over the years.

Watch for a new game tomorrow, probably mid-afternoon.

New game:
This may end up being a multi-part game. This round I am going to post photos of five different relatively common but distinctive seeds. Each person has only one opportunity to guess, so no editing and make sure you have your final answer before posting.
Identify each seed based on it's appearance. Each player will receive 1 point for guessing the genus, or 3 points if both the genus and species is correctly guessed. The player with the most points wins.
In the event of a tie I will post photos of three more seeds, again distinctive but slightly less commonly seen ones. We will continue to winnow down a tie until we have the winner and UCSI (Undisputed Champion Seed Identifier)
For this round all guesses must be in by midnight Sunday, EST, to count. Let's get ready to rumble!!

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.

1. Mirabilis jalapa
2. Zea mays
3. Helianthus annuus
4. Tropaeolum majus
5. Cucurbita maxima

Thanks Erica, for breaking the ice. There is a bit of a disadvantage inherent with putting pen to paper first.

1. Mirabilis jalapa
2. Zea mays
3. Helianthus annuus
4. Tropaeolum majus
5. Cucurbita pepo

Maybe I made this one a little too complicated to hold interest.
I will post the winner in the morning as well as the list that person can choose a prize from.

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. Nasturtiums
5. Squash/pumpkin

:) that was my first guess but not sure of the scientific names

1 Mirabilis jalapa
2 Clitoria ternatea, Butterfly pea.
3 Tricolor ipomoea
4 Tropaeolum majus
5 Cucurbita moschata

#1. 4oclock
#2.lily bulbils?
#3.sunflower
#4.nasturtium
#5.pumpkin

I have not had a chance to tally these up yet. I'll do that in a little while and post the answers and winner(s). I've been staying up later and sleeping later while I can.

First, about the answers. No one guessed #2 correctly. I guess Castor Beans are not as common as I imagined. Also number 5 was really difficult. There are several species with seeds that look like that, but I went with the one that is exactly correct for what I posted. I could not give points to some because common names were given. The instructions asked for genus and species so I could not recognize any other names. Great job, everyone! I appreciate everyone who took time to do this.

1. Mirabilis jalapa
2. Ricinus communis
3. Helianthus annuum
4. Tropaeolum majus
5. Cucurbita maxima

Erica is our winner with 12 points. She got everything correct except number 2. Duane was 2nd with 10 points and luvsgrtdanes had the third highest score at 7.

Erica,
Which of these would you like as your prize? Photos for the first three are above in the previous game post, everything still on the list except the cotton.

Cuphea oreophila, collected last week, about 12 seeds

Ipomoea nil, Pure white, cupped mutant foliage, 7 seeds collected 2014

Salvia rubescens, 6 seeds, collected 2015 Sage (Salvia rubescens)

Musa velutina, 4 seeds Sorry, no photo, but I germinated two of these seeds recently, soak a couple of days (change water daily) heat mat, germination in a few days to a couple of weeks
Pink Fruiting Banana (Musa velutina)

Again, thanks for playing! I will post one more game in a day or two, ahead of the live swap.

Oh wow! I definitely wasn't expecting to win.

Thank you so much for offering up some of your rare seeds. It was a hard choice, but I'd love to try the Salvia rubescens!

They are yours Erica. I'll put them aside for you. Congrats.

New Game: Seed Swap Bingo

Directions: Sometime between now and noon Eastern on Wednesday select 10 of the swap related words below and send your choices to me in a private tree-mail. I have printed the words and cut them into individual strips of paper. Each day starting Wednesday I will draw 2 of the words and post them here. The first person or persons to get all ten of their words posted will win a prize. Multiple winners are possible if more than one player gets all ten of their words based on the same post and multiple prizes will be awarded in that case. The first person to call out Bingo on the thread will select first in case of a tie. I will try to keep up with it, but each person is responsible for tracking their own progress to filling their bingo list.

Remember choose ten and Tree-mail them to me. Don't post here.

Envelopes
ATP Time
Zinnia
Labels
Genus
Wish List
Salvia
Trader
Mailing
Vegetables
Postage
Gardener
Fun
Germination
Dibs
Five Stars
Seeds

Good morning! I've received 5 Bingo cards so far. There is still plenty of time to submit them.
I'll draw the first two words tomorrow afternoon.

Nine Bingo cards have been submitted.

10 now. This will be a good game.