6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Hard to be specific with that info, but some critical factor must have occurred -- too little/much water at key times, seeds buried in mulch or weeds, seed rotted or was munched by critters, fertilizer burn on seedlings, Round-up, ...? You'd need to investigate back to last year's blooms and think about what changed and if it was a big enough impact to take down a fairly reliable annual.
I was in southern OR recently and the stands of giant orange poppies were everywhere. Gorgeous, I can imagine you miss yours.
I can only assume that you are talking about oriental poppies since you are in zone 5, and they have been coming back for 18 years. These typically bloom very early Spring - you saw nothing? No new growth? (these die to the ground after blooming)Is it possible something was dumped on that area?
Thanks for your reply. I think you were right that the seedlings were suffering from transplant shock. They must have been rather delicate, because I transplanyed them carefully into individual litle containers. They've now recovered, and are growing vigorously.
I often start perennial and biannual seed in July. Right now I have shasta daisy, sweet william, foxgloves, painted daisy already germinated and am waiting on delphinium, columbine, salvia and sage to get started. I find it much easier to get them started outside when the soil is already warm and the temps make germination faster. If you start seed in July you can expect the plants to flower the following year. Some perennial and biannual seeds are very easy and some are hard. I follow directions on back of packet as far as if the seed needs to be covered or needs light and some need to be frozen for a while, set them on wet miracle grow potting mix, water well, but gently and put in a shady place until germination starts and then I move them to an area that gets a few hours of morning sun a day. Once their first set of true leaves is out I will move them into a place that gets 4 or 5 hours of morning sun. When their second set of leaves shows up the seedlings will be moved to either a nursery bed in my veg garden or for some into their permanent spot right away. The bulk will go to the veg garden and those I might cover with shade cloth if it is very hot (it will be in Arkansas in August). The hardest thing is to keep the soil moist while germination is going on and when they are vey small. Sometimes I have a complete failure, but for some like shasta, sweet william, foxgloves, painted daisy, gillardia they are so easy you will get dozens of plants. Almost always I get at least a few. Well worth the couple of bucks the packet of seed costs. Hope this helps.
I'm in zone 5 also and do the same as claire1--sstarting biennials and perennials about now and planting them in ground in early fall.
BUT, I was wondering if you have any tricks for delphiniums. My last sowing was early July and I only have about 5% germination. Last year it seemed to go a lot better, so I am wondering if it is my seed source or if it the high humidity and temps we have been experiencing. Any tips on good delphinium germination appreciated.
If you look into it a bit you'll find that some sources say Coriander does require Cold Stratification (and my personal experience is that, for whatever reason, I've not had much success with a second crop). I don't really know one way or the other so shouldn't have mentioned it and regret that I did. It simply happened to be on my mind at the time of writing so I provided it as an example ..and apparently not a very good one.
So please let's "strike from the record" my mention of Cilantro and get back to the original question and how it pertains to an anonymous seed that definitely does require Cold Stratification.
Actually I a somewhat new to this growing my own lawn thing mysel and have huge prblems with weeds. A month ago I put don weed and feed at the same time as putting down new seed (all scotts brand) and here I am a month later with all kinds of new pretty grass coming up everywhere and no new weeds coming up. I pulled the majority of the weeds out first and then carefully selectivly sprayed the foxtails and crabgrass with roundup. So far this has worked for me so don't give up. Make sure the soil is always some what moist and your grass seed will still grow.
When the seed will come out of the dry pod, they are ready to plant. Datura is a annual and should be planted early in the season for the best bloom, but they can be started in pots anytime if you don't care if you have enough season left to bloom. Mine are just starting to bloom now. I don't know how long the seed will last as all my seed was collected last year. Germination was very good this year and I will see how it does next year. Al
Just found this link, blackberry lilys are my new favorite and I have a few questions...my flowers have green seedpods where the flowers were and when I cut them open, there are green seeds. This is mid-July...do I need to leave the seedpods be and wait til Autumn or can I plant these green seeds? Thank you for any help you can give me!
thanks for the response!
I googled gladiolus-like and found a page with Cannas that had similar spikey thing.
Here's another page with cannas and it shows the thing I picked off, but the seeds inside when ripe are huge in the picture, and mine are like grains of sand, so I'll throw them out.
Here is a link that might be useful: Canna seed head
Almost all bulbs produce seeds if not dead headed. Some will grow true to the parent,(clivia,agapanthus,dietes,galtonia)but you will have to wait up to five years for the first bloom, so most gardeners will propagate from divisions instead. Al
Chris, here is a thread about mango from seed from the Tropicals forum...You may find some tips there.
Here is a link that might be useful: GW Tropicals Forum, mango
The leaf doesn't look right for speckled alder (alnus rugosa). If you can identify your shrub, someone here should be able to help you with the sowing suggestions.
Name That Plant Forum is helpful...
Here is a link that might be useful: 
Well, mine don't. Snapdragons are a royal pain, but I love them. They are a fall/winter flower here.
How much light are they getting? Too little will make them spindly and too much dries them up. Try spraying them with kelp & see if that helps. Also, if you have them in starter mix, they need food. I use fish emulsion.
Hope this helps.
This was my 1st year growing snapdragons from seed. I wintersowed them and the they were the 1st to sprout and the 1st to bloom. They have been blooming for 2 months now and they are beautiful! Try wintersowing them! It really works great and they are strong seedlings!
Prunus persica (Peach tree) is only hardy to about zone 7, so not much chance outside in Ohio. I don't know about this species, but most Prunus require several months cold stratification, and often several months warm stratification first.
Your best bet is to sow now and leave the pot outside to expect germination in spring. Before you sow, clean the seed thoroughly, then soak overnight in fresh water to remove all traces of the pulp.
Advise store seed at 40F for 6 weeks then sow within 6 months
Lightly cover seed soil temperature for germination 68-72F Numberoof days to germination: 12-15 growing time germination to transplant 4-8 weeks