Planting From Seed Can Yield Surprises
Raising a plant from seed is just about the most adventuresome thing you can do in the garden, but fewer and fewer gardeners seem to be giving it a try according to seed catalogue companies, which report dwindling sales of seed, while sales of live plants are skyrocketing.
Certainly it is easier to buy a plant at the nursery, and in some cases this is the better alternative because some plants come in special forms (called cultivars) that cannot be grown from seed but must be grown from cuttings.
But, this is exactly what makes growing something from seed exciting. You are never 100% sure of the results, and you can grow all sorts of varieties that cannot be found at nurseries.
Take the common cosmos for instance. Everyone has grown the large-flowered but plain-Jane lavender, pink or white forms found at nurseries. But there are also strains with smaller gold, orange and red flowers. And, there is a strain with petals that form hollow tubes, named Seashells. These are real showstoppers and fascinating cut flowers that will be the talk of the dinner table.
There is a cosmos with contrasting red stripes against a white background, named Candy Stripe, and one named Psyche with almost double flowers. There is a cosmos named Radiance that has a darker center, and the Sensation strain--the cosmos common at nurseries--comes in separate colors so you could plant only white for instance. But, only if you grow your own from seed. That’s the catch.
Last year I tried growing all of these for the adventure, ordering them from the seed catalogues of firms such as Burpee, Park and Thompson & Morgan. Seed catalogues are arriving right now in the mail. (If you aren’t on a mailing list, see the box listing catalogue sources.)
This year’s catalogues are full of similar delights, and now is the time to order seed. Seeds sprout best in Southern California in late summer (August or September) or in early spring (March and April).
Early March is especially serendipitous since a late rain may help the seed sprout and the seedlings will be big enough to plant in the garden by mid-April, so they are thoroughly established by summer.
Seed catalogues are traditionally thought of as good reading for the winter months back East, and they make pretty good reading for Californians as well, even if you just like looking at the pictures.
The 1990 Burpee Gardens catalogue for instance, is full of fascinating plants worth giving a try, from A to Z, achillea to zinnia.
Last year I tried the new pastel and autumn-colored achilleas, or yarrows, and they now have a permanent home in our garden. The colors, especially those called mustard, bronze, beige and silver, are unlike any other flower, and won the strain named Summer Pastels a coveted All-American Selection medal. These yarrows are spreading perennials by the way, not annuals.
At the other end of the alphabet is a new zinnia named Rose Pinwheel, with claimed mildew-resistance. Very good news for coastal gardeners if true, because mildew can finish off zinnias before their time.
Interestingly, this is a cross between the common zinnia, Z. elegans and the wild Z. augustifolia . That second parent also makes this a short zinnia at about 12 inches tall. Another zinnia is an AAS winner this year: Scarlet Splendor has very bright red, ruffled blooms that reportedly grows to 5 inches across.
In the vegetable department, a new picture-perfect radish with the delightful name Red Hot Sally sounds worth a try, and a few may be tempted to enter the $10,000 Prizewinner Pumpkin Contest. You have to grow a Burpee pumpkin named Prizewinner to be eligible.
Park Seed Co. has plenty of intriguing plants too for 1990. A new vinca named Grape Cooler, should be tried by anyone living in the hot interior areas of Southern California, since it is perhaps the most heat resistant of summer annuals and this looks like a nice new form with bigger, rounder petals.
Parks also has plenty of vegetables, including some of the best tomato varieties, and there is a section on dried flowers that is worth a look--many are easy to grow in California. In this department, they offer a new plant with the funny name of Fibigia that is grown for exceptionally handsome gray-green seed pods that dry well.
The Thompson & Morgan catalogue used to have the most pictures, but it has been streamlined this year with fewer photos, though the photos are still the most tempting of the lot.
Before you get two pages into the catalogue, there is a black carnation with white edges, a maroon pansy so dark it could be called black with yellow edges and a drop-dead, white-flowered, black-centered venidium, named Zulu Prince.
Venidium are wildflowers from South Africa that grow exceptionally well in our similar climate, though they have not been generally available. Fall-planting is probably better than spring, however.
It was while reading this catalogue that I decided to try all the cosmos and I notice that this year there is still another. Named Daydream, the flowers shade from pale to deep pink. If you can’t find enough to read in this catalogue, Thompson & Morgan also publishes an excellent quarterly journal, “Growing From Seed,” filled with information on the subject.
Thompson & Morgan certainly has the most variety in its catalogue, but many of the plants are untried in California; this is an English company. But, then that is part of the adventure of growing things from seed, trying something new at very little cost.
A packet of that black-centered venidium seed is only $3.85, which is admittedly high for seed, but this one is still brand-new and scarce. It is still less than a plant in a gallon can, and a packet of Seashells cosmos seed (100 seeds) is but $1.69. How can you pass that up?
SEED CATALOGUES
Seed catalogues (all are free for the writing):
W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Warminster, Pa. 18974.
Park Seed Co., Cokesbury Road, Greenwood, S.C. 29647-0001.
Thompson & Morgan Inc., P.O. Box 1308, Jackson, N.J., 08527.
