My experience with melampodium has been the same as yours - three years running, with no success. I did manage to get one seedling last year, but it croaked on me before it even got true leaves. Very frustrating, but I wil be trying again this year.

For me, it was the same with bachelor buttons. Everyone said they were so easy, but I could not get them to germinate for me .... until the third year I tried them. Go figure.

Good luck to both of us!

PV

I had no idea that melampodium was hard to grow. I grew some last year (my first year winter sowing). I loved them. They had constant yellow blooms and required no care. They did croak at the first frost though.

I hope you can grow some this year! Not sure what I did to get them to germinate and grow. We had a lot of rain last year, maybe that helped. My yard gets some sun, but definitely not full sun.

Good luck. Melampodium is beautiful in the garden. Seed collection is easy too.

Wendy

Still waiting for sprouts for me. I was really hoping for these flowers. taterbug

they are prolific almost to the point of annoyance for me. but they are cute :) and bloom all summer. if you had lots of them last year, you should see them popping up soon this year.

I also had good success with it- 1st time around last year; Z5. Here's a pic:

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In 2005 I bought four tiny nursery grown melampodium seedlings and they did great. I saved seeds and WSed in 2006, they germinated. After my poppies pooped out in early summer and we pulled them to make room for something else, there was a sea of melampodium, self sown from one plant there in 2005, which had been totally hidden and shaded by the poppies. In this picture you can see them.

I already had some self sown ones come up there this year which died off in the freeze a couple of weeks ago. I suspect more will show up. I also sowed one jug of them this year and they also got freeze burn, but they're still alive.

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Karen

The first year I planted melampodium, they did great. Since then, I don't seem to have had the same luck though. Last year I had no germination. This year looks like I will have a few plants. They are great plants though, & worth the trouble. I wish they reseeded.

Hi everyone *waving*

Nancy- my 'melies' reseed like crazy! I have to pull out many of them- in my full sun, they get so big I don't have enough places to put them!

I sure wish I could send all of you a big bunch -
and, while I am at it, how about celosia and amaranthus?
I have tons of them reseeding too :))

no wonder I don't have to winter sow as many containers-
I have been fortunate to have so many nice reseeders..

good luck to all of you with the melies..
Linda

Linda - you are a grandma! The mellies germinated today and I have a container full of babies!

Thank you!

bakemom - when did you sow your melampodium????

I think on 4/17 the day I posted. It wasn't too long ago. More than 50% have germinated.

I winter sowed these for the first time last year. They get big!!!!!! They didn't do as well in my hanging basket as they did in the ground. I didn't save any seeds so I don't have this year. :(

Congratulations, Bakemom! I couldn't understand that they wouldn't do well for you, one of the experts, when I had so many re-seeders that I worried about invasiveness here in Cinti.

I have no more re-seeders yet since the early ones froze out in our late deep freeze a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I should have sown more... But more might still appear.

Karen

Melampodium thrives in HOT weather and dies at a hint of frost. As a reseeder it waits for really warm days, like mid-June. Reseeding periwinkles come up ahead of melampodium in my garden. Save a few of your seeds to try direct sowing during really hot weather.

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You'll easily recognize the seedlings. The first leaves are big and round and you'll exclaim, "What is THAT?" They literally come up blooming; a 4" plant will have a tiny blossom in the top.

Nell

WAHHH, why don't mine reseed! It ain't fair! It's not like other stuff doesn't reseed, usually way more than I want it to. Harumph!

Nell: I did sow one gallon jug of them this year. I left them outside, in their jug, during that late freeze we got a few weeks ago. It stayed below freezing, day and night, for several days, and was very windy. The melampodium in the jug got frost burn along the edge of the leaves but they have recovered well. The leaf edges look kind of brown and ratty but the plants are otherwise green and growing.

Karen

YESSSS! Finally got melampodium to germinate and thrive! After three years of trying!

Sowed 10 seeds and got 10 seedlings! Kept 5 and gave the rest away. Planted them out this past weekend, and they've gotten bigger already! Of course, since I've got them planted out in 6" pots, they might not get too big, but petite mellies are better than no mellies!

PV

Another plant I gotta try! Anything drought tolerant and heat loving should be happy in my garden. I only ever tried growing melampodium in a pot once. It died out pretty quickly and left the container looking silly. I probably overwatered it. That's almost impossible to do with my sandy soil so I'll be trying this one in the ground this time.

BTW, Karen, is that plant in the lower left of the last picture in your post Moonbeam coreopsis? So pretty!!

Well, the pictures clinch it. I found some nice-looking seedlings near where I grew melampodium last year, and assumed that's what they were. I transplanted them to a flower bed and they're doing well. But I started to doubt when I saw more of the same seedlings by the road. And now I see they're definitely not mel. Bummer!

I think I have some melampodium reseeding from last year.

This is last years photo of a melampodium seedling...
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This is the same spot this year. I have lots of sprouts and
I'm trying to identify them. I think the bottom seedling is melampodium and the upper seedling is a week. I know that hte red sprouts are intense purple amaranthus.
Can someone please confirm the weed and melampodium for me so I don't end up pulling the wrong thing out of the ground?
Thanks!
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Well, I finally (!) got melampodium to grow for me. Yay!

wrichard - I'd say your seedlings look like melampodium. Here's mine:

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Now, let's see if they flower ....

PV

I must say, it's on my must-have list from now on. As terrible as this growing season has been, these guys have flourished and are cheerful and healthy. The pictures posted really don't do them justice. It's that look of HEALTH that really shines.

I have had two plants survive this rotten year. They are champs and I will be proud to save and share seeds.

Thanks Linda in Louisville!

hello everyone!
so glad to hear the good news- they are a must in my garden too- you never see a 'dead/dying' bloom- they are beautiful yellow and then you see the little seeds -I guess the petals fall before they turn all the way dark/dry-

because of the terrible dry/hot summer this year, mine are only about 1/2 as big, but that's not a bad thing- last year, they were too big! hahaha

Nancy, I have the same reseeding trouble with morning glories (of all things!) most folks have them coming up everywhere - I have had several varieties and they don't reseed at all- one year I had Heavenly Blue that was wonderful, but they are gone now- I moved on to other things- I do have "Star of Yelta" aka "Grandpa Ott's" that came back this year on my back fence -will see what next year brings :))

Bakemom and PV- so glad you got some mellies to enjoy!
best wishes to all,
Linda in Louisville

i was wondering if anyone can tell me about harvest the seeds because they seem to be brown, but the petals are still green. I shook one onto a plate and the seeds are brown and looking viable, but as mentioned, the petals were bright green.

Did I harvest them correctly or should I keep a watchful eye and only harvest when the petals are brown - but then I fear them falling to the ground before I can get to them.

Thanks for any replies - Carrie

Carrie - I've been harvesting the seeds for weeks now. Seems like they have already reseeded in the pot, 'cause there are a bunch of little babies in there. If I wait until the petals drop off, the seed pod is mostly empty, so I just harvest them when I see brown.

If that's not the way to do it, I've got an awful lot of non-viable seeds.

PV

P.S. Hi Linda! Good to see you! And thanks for my mellies!!!