I've got some seeds to swap

[sue1002]

I have some seeds collected off this year's plants if anyone is interested in doing a swap:-

Cleome colour fountain mixed, the plants flowered in white, pale pink and dark pink (pic 1)

Begonia organdy mixed, these are an F1 which I grew from plugs, what the parent plants are I don't know. Being an F1 then any seeds sown will probably not be true to type, they flowered in white, different shades of pink and red (pic 2)

Mirabilis jalapa broken colours, these have flowered in cerise, yellow and cerise, and white and cerise (the largest plant in pic 3)

Will post anywhere in the UK.

[Miranda]

I'm looking forward to starting off the seeds you sent me, Sue.

I've got a few to offer as well:

Sisyrinchium striatum
Astrantia major
Digitalis - mixed colours
Malva moschata 'Alba'
Sidalcea - don't know what sort, but the flower is mid-pink.
Cosmos bipinnatus 'Sensation'

Hot chilli Bolivian Rainbow
Hot chilli 'Purple' - both the chillies have excellent heat and flavour.
Broad bean 'Martock' - this is a heritage variety and is small and tasty.
Tomato - 'Aunty Madge's' - another heritage variety, small and sweet, good cropper.

[Paul Narramore]

Sue

I cannot find the Cleome seeds you kindly sent me. Brain shot away! Can you post some more? Ta.:confused:

[Miranda]

I still have some left if Sue has run out, Paul.

[sue1002]

I've still got loads left, will put some more in post to you Paul.

[digger]

Have you got snow sue1002? it said you were going to get loads last night on tv

[sue1002]

No, we didn't get any here digger, my brother has just been round and he lives across the other side of town to me (about 6 miles away) and he got some, it's not fair as I love the snow and so does Sasha.

Paul - my son is taking your seeds to the postbox now (got him well trained).

[Paul Narramore]

Sue
Thank you so much. Did you watch 'Lullingstone' tonight? Now THAT'S what you call pruning!

[Paul Narramore]

Sue
The seeds arrived at 10am. What kept you? (Thanks so much);-)

[sue1002]

Pleased they arrived safely Paul, have you sown them yet? if not better get a move on;)

[Paul Narramore]

Yes Sue, I sowed the seeds yesterday and they are on the kitchen window sill. Cleomes seem to be pretty scarce (I think) and I'm really pleased to have them and looking forward to seeing them in bloom in the summer.

[Paul Narramore]

...and I now have a zillion Cleome seedlings.

[sue1002]

Well done Paul, loads of seedlings for you to play with, I find at the seedling stage they like to be kept a little on the dry side rather than too wet, it is when the plants have been put into pots or the garden that they require loads of water. The slugs love them too when they have just been planted out, I lost quite a few of them to slugs and snails last year within a few days of being planted out.

[Paul Narramore]

Sue
It's the same with my tomato seedlings. Of the original 18 or so, both the slugs and putting them outside too soon now means I'm down to five. Too much impatience however I have some more seed.

[Miranda]

My Cleome seeds are finally germinating! I started them off in the first week of March and was starting to wonder if they'd do it. Saying that, some seed of Bolivian Rainbow chillies took 52 days to germinate. They've all had gentle heat and have been carefully tended so I'm not sure why it's taken so long.

[Paul Narramore]

Miranda

About a zillion Cleome seedlings are about 3/4" tall now and I propagated them on the kitchen window sill. Talking about length of germination, I 'pinched' a rose hip from a red Rosa rugosa when I was in Lullingstone Castle's World Garden last year. I followed advice and placed the seeds in compost in an envelope and left them in the fridge for a month. This was last autumn. Then the seeds were sown us per usual. I'd almost given up them ever germinating but I noticed the other day about twenty tiny leaves have finally appeared, so all is well.

Of the seeds from the hip of a rose I saw in Uray in the Rocky Mountains during my motorcycle trip last year, only three germinated, one withered and died last week so I'm down to only two 1 1/2" tall roses.

[Miranda]

I guess the rose seeds needed the cold period to stimulate germination, Paul? It will interesting to see what you get from the Rosa rugosa - were there other roses about that they may have crossed with? I hope your remaining American roses are okay, I remember you saying about that rose last year.

Incidentally, I thought of you when we were driving home from visiting friends a couple of weeks ago and we passed Donnington on the M1. There had been a motorbike event and there were dozens and dozens of bikes on the road. Some were roaring along in quite big groups and I thought it must have felt good to be riding like that, all together.

[Paul Narramore]

Yes, you have to trick the seeds into thinking they've experienced a winter. Nevertheless they still took ages to germinate.

The hips I brought back from Ouray in the Rockies - incidentally think of a tiny area of Switzerland up in the mountains with vertical rock faces climbing to the sky, ski slopes and conifer covered slopes - were from the Rosa foetida Bicolor also called Austrian Copper, and I checked again and am now down to one solitary seedling. That looks very healthy but the second one has yellow leaves. It may recover but I doubt it.

I was never one for riding in large groups. I like riding either solo or with another rider, and then it has to be someone I know and trust. On Thursday morning, Dave a retired fireman and a dear friend, and I will be riding our bikes down to Horam in East Sussex, to a motorcyclists's cafe, and I know what I'll be having for breakfast, a doorstep sandwich in brown bread, with black pudding and bacon, plus a large mug of tea. Deep joy!

[Paul Narramore]

There is an online seed swopping website I've just come across - www.seedypeople.co.uk Once you've joined, you can either offer seeds in exchange for others or just offer seeds to anyone who wants them.

[linlin]

I'm on the lookout for ox-eye daisy and field or california poppy seeds, plus any wild flower seeds suitable for meadow planting in south UK.

I don't have too much to offer as yet - I'm pretty new to seed collecting - but I have huge amounts of poppy (papaver) and corn/field chamomile seeds.