I sometimes get rose seedlings. I've never let them grow to maturity, so no clue what they'd look like - maybe I should! I've had impatiens crop up in cement cracks - ironic since they're not necessarily the easiest annual to grow from seed (I've got it down pat now, but wasn't easy when I was a noob). Yep, I've had random tomato seedlings pop up too. :0)

I have a lot of vinca seedlings coming up in a pot of it that survived the winter, and some VIP-type petunias coming up in various places. Also have some tomato and pepper volunteers, as well as Mexican gherkins (tiny cucumbers).

mxk3...Wish I had some volunteer roses. I did plant some rose seeds from Europe (see link) in the fall. They are doing nicely.
eahamel...same with my VIP petunias (Laura Bush series). Only had 3 come up from seed the first year. Couldn't grow petunias well from seed.This year I have many volunteers. Plus I crossed some supposedly sterile- type of petunias from 2 plants I bought from Lowes. What do you know, some produced seeds and many, many germinated. Then I got "Rain Master" thru a trade. Most of those seemed to germinate. Now I am swimming in petunias from seed. Yea, I guess that counts as a surprise.
Also, I have had many vinca volunteers, but when I try to plant them from commerical seed; that's tough to do. My favorite volunteer is currently growing in a drive way crack. The lack of soil all around keeps the soil borne diseases from killing it. Also have a beautiful strawberry swirl bloomed vinca still growing from last year in the IVY. Same with the soil diseases. The rest of the vincas in the beds get "sudden death" by August here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Not the hybrid tea Garden Party

This post was edited by bugbite on Sun, Mar 24, 13 at 17:29

The pink polkadot plants (hypoestes) always reseed like crazy but since I love these plants so much, each and every one is a wonderful surprise. I have put them all over my yard.

It is always fun when Persian Shield comes back from the roots. Same with pink firespike.

Salvia coccinea 'Coral Nymph' was new for me in 2012 and boy did it reseed. I have it coming up all over the yard! Easy to pull up the stray ones in the wrong places but I love all of the new plants. Yay!

Carol in Jacksonville

Hi Carol,
So happy to see a Jax post. I was just admiring my pink polkadot plants (hypoestes) yesterday, probably 12-14 two year old plants . I think I will pinch, pinch, pinch these things this year to keep them bushy and not have them create that long seed stem. Have you tryed pinching the polkadot plants ?
I like that I can get color variations among the plants from their volunteer seedlings.
Bob

No, I have never pinched them. I like them to reseed every Fall because I get so many new ones come spring. So for me, the long seed stem is a welcome site in what is usually a declining garden anyway.

Mine come back from the ground very bush every year. Not sure why that is - I don't do anything to them - they are very full as they flush out.

Carol

A baby Italian Cyprus. Not sure where it came from. No close neighbor has it. Of course, it's not where it should go, but I'm willing to pot it up and keep it for a while!

Suzi

Suzi, Everytime someone posts, I say, "me too". It is getting strange. And again I will say me too. I have the cutest little cypress I saw for the first time last spring. I moved it when I first saw it. I have to move it again to a better spot. I know it will get big. It is about 18" tall.
Carol, I counted my polka plants; there are 35 not 14 that I previously stated. Most big; some seedlings. Mine are bushy also now. But I am going to pinch a few away.

I get volunteer "sunflower seeds" every late spring.