I have started a whole lot of things the past couple weeks and am currently sowing trays of tomatoes. Leeks, green onions, broccoli and some lettuces have already sprouted and have been left on the enclosed (but chilly) back porch in grow racks to get as much light as possible - these specimens can take some cold. Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and certain herbs are out there during the day (not sprouted yet) when the sun makes that porch warm, but in again at night. It can be a challenge getting enough light to all the new plants as they come charging through the seedstarting mix - let's hope the weather is favorable this Spring with lots of sunshine!

Hi I mailed you the Genevieve Costoluto and other heirloom tomato seeds we discussed. The Sioux tomatoes I am growing are from this same group of seed packs. You are the first person I am sending Sioux tomato seeds and Indigo Blue Berries cherry tomato seeds. You should receive them on Monday. cottonwood/ragtime

Hi, I am a part of my agricultural class at school and we created a fully indoor, self-sustained hydroponics system. However, as we are a public charter school, we have limited resources and are looking for donations. anything you can offer would be amazing. we can offer payment for shipping or SASBE. If you consider making a donation, please email me at makenziejordyn@yahoo.com Thank you so much, Jordyn P.S. We are just now learning how to start from seed, so any kind of donations you make would be appreciated. Plant sales will be used to help fund the school and excess produce will be donated to a local soup kitchen. :D

Seeds from Jackmanii, or most any other hybrid clematis for that matter, won't give you more plants of Jackmanii, although the results could be similar; but equally they could be very different, or anywhere between! But that's the beauty of it - you get to raise original, new plants more or less every time, and you are the first person to see the new flowers. If you raise seeds over a reasonable period of time, if something particularly good eventually comes along you can give the plant a name, and, you never know, with luck and persistence you might even be able to earn something from it commercially, in time. But that's not the main aim - the fact is, most clematis (I am not saying this because I am biased!) produce beautiful plants with beautiful flowers that you will get a lot of pleasure out of - that is the main aim. Whichever, once the seed is germinated you are past the biggest hurdle and with a little more work you can soon have brand new plants producing brand new flowers, and I don't need to tell you, that's terribly exciting! Seeds of most of the jackmanii-types, and the other larger flowered hybrids, take between 180 (conservative) and about 400 days to germinate. You occasionally get some coming relatively quickly - about 200 days, but I would say the average is about 300 or so days, and most (but by no means all) will have germinated by 400 days. But you don't know in advance how long a given batch will take, so it is prudent to plant them in a manner that will ensure they are kept in good condition until they do germinate. So sow them in small pots with a dozen each pot, water, allow to drain, and once sown, cover the soil surface with a layer of grit-type material to a depth of one quarter inch or so - this helps preserve the moist, and helps suppress the growth of some mosses, liverwort etc. Enclose each pot in a top-sealing plastic bag and store the pots in trays for easy handling. For certain, keep them away from direct exposure to the sun's rays. Best to keep them covered and out of the way. (Personally I do this even for the quicker-germinating seeds too, but you could decide these specific ones perhaps don't need quite the same preparation). Yes, it's a little more effort, but these measures alone will ensure your seeds will keep in excellent condition for two or more years - plenty of time to germinate most types of seed. Once the pots are stored you can commence checking for germinations after 6 months, then weekly thereafter, until you notice the sprouts. There is then a critical period of three months while you bring the germinations from tiny sprouts to small plants. After this, the plants will largely look after themselves in terms of survival, but of course you will need (and want) to tend them throughout, otherwise, as with any other plants or young seedlings, neglect will lead to problems and losses. If they germinate in spring so much the better, because you will have all the coming season, with agreeable weather, to follow, while they are establishing. If they germinate during, or just before, winter, that makes things more difficult since you have to keep them going during the cold period - this is slightly harder, but that doesn't mean it is too difficult - it just demands a little more care. Once they are established, even young seedlings are tough, and in due course they will do their level best to flower for you as soon as they physically can. You just have to give them a little regular TLC and attention. When seedlings begin to produce flower buds for the first time the anticipation becomes massive, and as the flowers form you'll find yourself speculating on the possible outcomes!!! Not only are they brand new flowers, they are YOUR OWN new flowers! Never seen by anyone, ever, before! Remember that species seeds, as long as they have not cross-pollinated ("hybridised") with other clematis growing nearby, will produce daughters which are quite similar to the parents - they "come true"; whereas seed from hybrids will produce offspring that CAN be similar to, but, much much more likely, will show marked differences to, the parent = they usually WON'T "come true". So, seeds gathered from wild populations where clematis exist as discrete populations of plants, will more often than not "come true", whereas plants, even species plants, grown in garden environments, where other clematis may be growing in the neighbourhood, probably won't come true, because the bees and other insects introduce pollens from other sources to the flowers (clematis are insect pollinated). So, even if you receive seed from somewhere where the known pure species proper is grown, be aware that the seed may still produce some hybrids, if the plants from which the seeds are gathered are growing near other, different (but compatible) clematis plants. You'll find the smaller, thinner-walled clematis seeds are easy to germinate and raise on. So, any of the "orientalis" group species (C. tangutica, C. serratifolia, C. tibetana etc), and hybrids ("Golden Tiara" etc); and many of the alpinas and macropetalas, and so on, will germinate after 30 - 90 days and be up before you know it. And you can have (with best care) flowering plants sometimes even within a season, or at most, two seasons, from then. The viorna group - C. texensis, C. viorna, C. crispa, and so on, and their hybrids, are more like the large-flowered hybrids in that their seeds tend to be thicker-walled, tougher and take longer to germinate. Some might require periods of cold to help them germinate, but that's no problem - store your trays of seed pots where they feel the outside temperatures -I keep mine under the staging in the cold greenhouse - during the colder months they freeze and thaw with the natural cycle. That leaves a large batch of species, and hybrids of species etc which take, on average, roughly 100-200 days or so to germinate - in other words 3 to 6 months or slightly more. No matter what type you raise, treat them all the same in the first year after germination. There is no need to complicate anything more than needs be. And just because some need shorter periods to germinate, it doesn't follow that they are any less enjoyable or beautiful than those which take longer - they are just different types of plants. Some of the orientalis-group plants (the small-yellow-flowered group) will give seedlings which will fill a two litre pot with roots, and flower beautifully, even in the very first season after germination, even for the first-time raiser. So ideally you could start with a mix of several types of seeds, some of which will come relatively quickly, along with some that will take longer - that way you can be seeing germinations quickly, and then tending young plants, and bringing them to flower, even while you are waiting for the others to germinate. However much effort you put into it I can promise you that the results will always more than outweigh the work. This is just a quick reply so I have not thought every word through to the nth degree - so if anything seems ambiguous or unclear there is much more detailed info on the web site mentioned above. If you have access to seeds, have a look at the germination data (on the Germination page!), and just get an idea of what GROUP your seeds fall into - that will be sufficient for you to get a reasonable idea of how long they might take. Most of us start with seeds of large flowered hybrids from our own garden plants, and they are certainly a great way to start. You can look out for species seed sources as you go along; but do also try the orientalis group, the alpinas, the macropetals, you will be rewarded much more quickly and soon get bitten by "the bug".