Friday Rookie Topic XVI: Flowers in the SFG

In KY, Queen Anne's lace is a weed.

Which made me remember my hayfever that I've escaped since being in CA.

Which makes me wonder how I will do being around a bunch of flowers in my garden! They are going in, however.

The Tansy Aster is also toxic. Rather like the Oleander. Be very cautious. Ironically, they used to consume Tansy as a medicine, exclusively!

My daughter has her own butterfly & hummingbird garden of wildflowers(in ground - not SFG). She wants to know any tips to germinating and starting purple Cornflower and Lavender. She is having trouble with these. How long do they take to germinate? Should they be on the heat mat? Do they need anything special?

Thanks in advance.

Linda, maybe your daughter could sumbit a Friday Topic on making a garden for butterflies and hummingbirds?

I just finished looking up all kinds of flowers for these two. I planted a bee balm on Saturday.

'birds seem much easier. Butterflies seem to require so much I call them 'little divas.'

Sorry, I have no experience with seeds for either of those two plants. But I would love to have her teach us about these two!

I googled lavender seed germination and found this link , from what I know it will save me typing as it's the usual way to get them up and going . Though I'd try using MM as seed compost for the bed of the seeds and cover them in fine vermiculite to the prescribed depth . Perhaps also covering them with a bit of newspaper a couple of inches above the vemiculite to diffuse the sunlight and keep the temp under the paper a bit more stable..

I say use the fine vermiculite for since I've been using it I've noticed how well it retains just enough moisture to get the seeds going and once the seedling strikes roots down into the MM things really get growing as it is a good balance of nutrients aetc. if correctly made up .

I tried using my version of MM neat and found that it dried a wee bit too much on the top so seeds had a hard time breaking out their casings & putting down their roots.



Perhaps also google for " cornflower seed germination ".

http://www.ehow.com/info_8082900_germination-lavender-seeds.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask