Talking Green: Seeds photos

Hi again,

Here are some photos of some seeds to give you an idea what they look like and I will add a brief description as well.

ALYSSUM : Alyssum does well in full sun or part shade. They are low growing-about 4inches tall. When planting-do not cover seeds as they need light to germinate. They are very easy to grow and grow rapidly. I enjoy using Alyssum in my rock garden as well as containers/hanging pots. Do not confuse Sweet Alyssum with regular Alyssum though. Sweet Alyssum is related and has most of the characteristics of regular Alyssum but is a different plant. Sweet Alyssum comes from the family Lobularia where regular Alyssum comes from the family Bassicaceae. When you are in doubt with flower seeds-they should contain the family name as well so you know which one you are getting. Sweet Alyssum is a bit hardier apparently than regular Alyssum and has a honey scent to the flowers.. They are great fillers between other plants and as a border or edging. A little known fact about Alyssum : It apparently used to be used in folk medicine where it was used for treatment of Rabies.

ASTER: Butchart Gardens says "One of the most popular cut flowers, this mixture features large, chrysanthamum type double flowers on 2 foot high stems." Asters are a bit trickier to transplant because they do not like their roots disturbed or bothered so you need to take care when transplanting. Try to avoid transplanting as much as possible to have happier plants. They like full sun. There are many varieties of Asters-they come in Annuals and Perennials. This Aster below is an annual. Many types of asters are actually native to Canada which is quite interesting.

 COSMOS: Cosmos are definitely a favorite of mine here in Alberta. They grow quickly and I had one plant get 6ft tall one year! It was interesting because the plant was also in a container. lol When they are happy, they are full of flowers. I love the ferny foilage of the Cosmos as well. Cosmos can be anywhere from 1-6ft from my experience depending on the conditions. They love full sun but do grow in the shade but don't really flower in the shade as much. In the shade, I find they are still a nice plant for their neat foilage. One thing that can be a bonus or a headache is the self seeding quality of Cosmos. If this is considered a headache to you, you can dead head the flowers before they go to seed. Something interesting to note is that overfertilizing and overwatering actually causes fewer flowers so be careful with that. They are super easy to grow and the taller plants need some staking to keep from falling over. They flower right up until frost and often still flowering quite beautifully in the fall when other annuals are starting to look sad. There are different varieties of Cosmos and below I have the Candystripe variety but there are also single colour cosmos which are gorgous as well. The name Cosmos comes from Greek meaning Harmony. You can't go wrong with these!

LOBELIA : As you can see in the photo-these are one of the tiniest seeds and the tiniest I have ever dealt with and can be interesting to plant. They need to be started much earlier than other seeds as they take awhile longer to sprout and grow. They are a little more difficult to grow than the easy to grow plants like Alyssum or Cosmos. But not impossible to grow. I love Lobelia because they do well in the sun as well as the shade. We have alot of shade here so it is so nice to have such a beautiful plant that grows in the shade. They do better in the sun and will look much better in the sun but they still do good in the shade as well. They do not like afternoon sunshine as much which is something to keep in mind. Lobelia are low growing (about 4-6inches) and do great in hanging pots and they cascade down the sides which I love. They also do well in flower beds as edging/borders and I put them in my rock garden as well.

LAVATERA: This is a flower that I didn't even discover until a few years ago. Awful huh? They are so beautiful and it is too bad I didn't see them till I did. The picture on the packet really doesn't do them justice in my opinion. These flowers love full sun and do not do as well in the shade.This plant is another one that doesn't like transplanting/having it's roots disturbed so it is good to keep that in mind. I like to grow them in bigger containers right off so I can avoid transplanting till they have to go into the garden or hanging pots. Depending on the variety they can grow from 10inches to apparently 10ft. Something to keep in mind when you are shopping for Lavatera that you get the variety you want. You would not want to get a variety for your hanging pots that gets 10ft tall! lol In my experience, I have never had the Silvercup variety grow more than a foot or so tall and this is the first year that I am trying the "Loveliness" type. I am thinking I won't be dissapointed!

I have more seeds that I would like to share about but will stop here for this post. These are all flowers I grow here in Alberta and are favorites of mine. I hope this information is useful. I find it very useful myself to be able to identify different seeds the best I can so that if they get mixed up-I can tell which are what seeds. Happy Gardening!