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Messages - Diane Whitehead

#31
I checked several years' worth of seedlists of the Alpine Garden Society (based in England)  and the Scottish Rock Garden Society.  Each year about a half dozen species of Erodium seeds were offered, but never E chrysanthum.

Diane
#32
Current Photographs / Re: August 2023 photos
August 15, 2023, 04:58:27 PM
That is amazingly fast.
How did you manage it?
#33
General Plants and Gardening / Urban Garden Seed
August 01, 2023, 07:46:22 AM
They offer an amazing range of seeds - from cactus to vegetables, including lots of orchids, and also bulbs.

https://urbangardenseed.com

There are some negative reviews online.

Have any of you bought from them and been satisfied with the results?
#34
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
July 30, 2023, 12:35:59 PM
Perhaps wild Britain is as bare as all the landscapes I see on the mystery programs I watch on TV.  There are no trees or bushes at all - just short green stuff that is probably grass.   The programs might all have been photographed up in Scotland, and maybe further south there are woodlands, but generally,  it's a good thing that people plant gardens.
#35
General Discussion / Re: cleaning Trillium seeds
July 30, 2023, 12:25:05 PM
Hey, I like that, and the ants would, too.
#36
Current Photographs / Re: July 2023 photos
July 28, 2023, 06:41:03 PM
Anemone leveilii is supposed to have purple-blue anthers

The photo on https://www.ballyrobertgardens.com/products/anemone-leveillei  shows them., and so does your flower.
#37
Current Photographs / Re: Veratrum formosanum
July 28, 2023, 08:35:36 AM
Well, veratrums are extremely poisonous but perhaps not to invertebrates.
#38
Current Photographs / Re: July 2023 photos
July 22, 2023, 06:47:35 PM
Currently all the bulbs flowering in my garden are alliums.  The bees are delighted.

Various kinds of chives, lots of leeks - I guess I forgot to eat them all last winter. 

The ones in the photos are a kind of leek which is called Elephant Garlic. It is as tall as me when it flowers.  It has big bulbs which taste like a mild garlic.  When I pull them up, bulbils are left in the ground so I never have to replant them - they do it themselves.  I've read that if I don't let them flower I will have bigger bulbs - maybe I'll try that with a few of them next year.  I'll eat the scapes instead.

#39
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
July 10, 2023, 06:24:53 PM
Of course, a poisonous plant needs to be attractive to cause children to eat it.  One with brightly coloured berries would be more deadly than Conium.
#40
I'm glad they tried all those variables and found the seeds prefer the temperatures inside my house.  That'll be easy for me.
#41
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
July 10, 2023, 05:18:29 PM
Are they just going to cut it down and leave it there for the seeds to drop?

Conium maculatum only lasts one year, so if it isn't allowed to drop seeds, it can be eliminated from an area in a short time.

#42
No video - I'm usually too busy defending the seeds I'm gathering from the voracious ants.

Maybe you have  different ants.  We also have giant carpenter ants bent on eating the wooden frames of our houses.
#43
General Discussion / Erythronium sibiricum seeds
July 09, 2023, 12:28:16 PM
I just discovered a packet of Erythronium sibiricum seeds from the Scottish Rock Garden Club.  I am astounded that I didn't get them sown the minute they arrived, as this is a species I don't have and I was delighted they were being offered this year.

I decided to soak them a bit before sowing them.  After a few hours, it looks as though they have germinated already, but the white bits must be the elaiosomes which appeal to ants.  I wonder where they've been hiding.  They certainly weren't noticeable on the small dark brown seeds in the packet.

Well, I think I'll sow them with the eliasomes, unlike what happens in nature when the ants bite them off to feed their babies.

Most Erythronium seeds are very reluctant to sprout for me, except for E. revolutum which has produced hundreds of plants from my one original plant.  I sure hope sibiricum grows.
#44
We need a new topic:   Cooling Your Greenhouse
#45
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
July 05, 2023, 10:03:14 AM
Is the Poison Garden just a curiosity to attract paying visitors, or are some of the plants used for serious research - like antidotes to poisons?