Propagation
It may not outrage you to learn that I ’m growing far too many things from seed this yr . My seed eyes are emphatically swelled than my garden .
Annual Climbers
For the last couple of years I ’ve tried to originate plenty of yearly climber , with sundry resultant . I ’ve either had poor sprouting or the resulting plant were a piece too diminished to finish with the fence flora when planted out . This twelvemonth is get going to be unlike , I hope . I ’m clear use of the indoor heated / lit disseminator for some of them that might favour cosier surround early on .
First up then , cobea scandens , cupful and dish vine , cite recently in a SoS post . I ’ve had zero luck with this in the past tense but this year I have three very nice seedling , little plants now really , that I call up will do very well . I will implant one to acquire up a fence , the other two I might plant in the same tub on the patio and fix up some canes for them to sputter up . I ’m hoping for a shower of flowers . Like many plants grown as annuals in the UK , cobea scandens is really a tender perennial and can be winter indoors .
Ipomaea lobata , formerlymina lobata , or spanish flag . This is another annual crampoon I have struggled to grow consistently . A couple of years ago I had some fantastic industrial plant from seed which covered a upright surgical incision of fence with a prospicient permanent show . Last year , nothing at all . Nothing germinate . This yr I bought some wise germ from Sarah Raven . The usual advice is to inebriate the cum overnight , but noting the absence seizure of this advice on this packet I did n’t bother . I sowed them on Friday last week and they are already up . They understandably care the warm propagator !
Rhodochiton atrosinguineas , purple Alexander Melville Bell . Another plant I ’ve failed to produce successfully . Also from Sarah Raven , I ’ve sown the tiny seeds two to a cell and popped them in the fancy disseminator . No mark of sprouting yet , but it is early days .
Thunbergia alata , black eyed Susan vine . In demarcation with some of the other climber , I did OK with this last year , ending up with several plant life that give-up the ghost in a mint on the patio . I ’m going again this year . No sign of sprouting yet , however .
Asarina scandens , snapdragon vine . This is a newfangled one to me , it apparently flowers non stop for 5 months once it gets going . It will also cascade happily , give chase from a window box or a planter . I ’m not sure where I ’ll put these ( a rough-cut theme in my plant grow experience ! ) . I should see seedlings in another week or 10 days .
Ipomaea , morning glory . These are collect seeds from last twelvemonth ’s plants which grew very well against the trellis at the back of my patio planters . They are clearly keen to raise , they are up in numbers . I believe I will do the planter / trellis fob again this year .
Lathyrus odoratus , sweet peas , I nearly blank out . The first batch was sow in in October last class and I ’m afraid were let to dry out over the wintertime , they attend quite sorry for themselves when I planted them out . However , they seem ok now and are beginning to acquire more enthusiastically now the sun is warm and the days are long . I think they ’ll fool up in no time . I do have a second batch sown this leaping which are a few inches luxuriously now , an insurance policy insurance it seems I did n’t take .
Annuals
I used to be sniffy about growing annuals . My thinking was that it ’s a lot of faff to mature plant from seeds ( an pleasurable one , to be certain , but a faff nonetheless ) , I should put that energy into growing plants that ’ll be in the garden for year , not for months . The craft off is that perennials are often slow ontogeny , and can take a few years to reach full flowering potential . annual , on the other bridge player , are up and at it straight away and many bloom their socks off for calendar month , till the first frost . In recent years I have yield and sown some of both . This year ’s annual are the common suspects :
Cosmos . A summer loyalist , last class I had some first-class and very robust plants from ‘ Dazzler ’ seed , so I ’m produce more of those , and some ‘ Candy Stripe ’ which had been in my germ drawers for year , and some other collected seeds from last years ‘ Apricot Lemonade ’
Tagetes‘Cinnabar ’ . I had so much seed , pull in from my own plant , I was happy to give loads away , sending them out to all corners of the UK . Like an changeling , I leave to reserve some for myself so last yr I did n’t have any in the garden at all ! I got some this year via the HPS schema and they have germinated nicely , and like the creation they are now in 9 atomic number 96 pots . I might pot them on again but more likely I will establish them flat out from these tummy in a few week , once they ’re hardened off .
Centaurea cyanus , strawflower ‘ Purple Haze ’ . I grew a different variety last year , ‘ Blue Boy ’ , with some success . ‘ Purple Haze ’ is a mix of , you think it , purple tint flowers , from quite spark with a lot of white , to almost black . I have sowed into module in the hope of moving them on without agitate them greatly .
Calendula‘arty shades ’ andCalendula‘Ice Maiden / Snow Princess ’ . I was founder these seeds by Higgeldy Garden for being a smartarse , point out an computer error in one of his tweet . I ’ve inseminate them , early days yet …
Malope trifida‘Vulcan ’ . I grew these last year but the resulting plants were swamp by other thing . It ’s a ignominy as they are a beautiful flower , magenta pinkish with a bright gullible star in the midsection . I am driven to have these grown properly this year , but we shall see .
Tithonia ‘ Red torch ’ . Another will they / won’t they plant for me . A few twelvemonth ago I had tremendous flora , 5 or 6′ grandiloquent , loads of lary Orange River blossom . Since then , rubbish weedy industrial plant or no sprouting at all . I ’ve got some fresh seminal fluid from Sara Raven this year , perhaps that ’ll be the trick .
Perennials
Another surprise , I ’m growing ( or trying to ) a brace of dozen different perennials this year . Most are seed from the HPS scheme , some are purchase in . Here are just a few of them .
Digitalis , foxgloves . An investment for the futurity , next class anyway , these will not do anything exciting this class apart from putting on a effective base system . I have sown d. mertonensis , the strawberry foxglove , and some d. ‘ pam ’s choice ’ . I have some of both ( I think ) in the garden , sown last class and getting quick to flower in the next month or so . Once they are done I will hoik them out and replace with annuals or possibly dahlias . These have been pricked out into individual cells and I will pot them on to 1L sens once they have grown a little .
Melianthus major , honey flower . A shrubby perennial , this can grow quite large if the condition befit and rime does n’t knock it back over winter . I ’m growing for the leaf which is beautifulen masse , a lovely ocean putting surface , profane almost , and interesting chassis too . In my garden it will likely decease back in the wintertime and go again the next spring . There are those that say it should be prune back hard no matter as the new leafage is a better colour and it will be a more realizable size too . I have three seedling . I might stick one in a large pot on the patio , one in the garden , and one for spares .
Linaria purpurea‘Canon Went ’ . Went where , we marvel ? To the garden center , I expect . These might not all get along true , some may retrovert to the more usual purple shade , but I ’m hopeful for several in the pink for which the Canon is justifiedly famous . I have a few quite matured plant life of the purple kind , I mainly care them for the leaves , but the flowers are obviously welcome to the garden party . They are still in their original 7 cm germ pot dormitory , I really take to bite them out into their next individual homes .
Eucomis bicolour , ananas lily . Not a plant I ’ve grown or even bought before . really that ’s not quite true , I did buy aeucomis comosa‘Oakhurst ’ last class in a rush of works sales agreement adrenalin . It is doing nothing much yet , so I am question if I did n’t provide sufficient protection over the wintertime . Anyhow , it ’s playfulness to try something new . These have evolve and I suspect more to come . i started this yr ’s growing season without any grit or vermiculite which I normally expend to top dress the gage . away from look neater it also reduces the potential drop for liverwort or other green slime to take up residence .
Anchusa leptophylla , bugloss . Another one that is new to me , I can apparently carry dark green leaves and little gentle flowers with a blank centre . A aboriginal plant , it ’ll be safe for the bees .
Aquilegia x ‘ Nora Barlow ’ . I collected these come from an excellent industrial plant I ’d grown from seed the class before . I am hoping to add to my solicitation . Nora should be felicitous in any aspect , include the full shade from whence she came .
That is far from everything , but it ’ll do as a decent hybridization section of what I ’m growing ( or trying to ) this twelvemonth .
If it does n’t all get too hectic , I ’ll be back in a few calendar week with a follow - up to this , hopefully with some germination or growing news show .
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