mine that self sowed their selves are a deep green with a dark hue to them and they are sort of jagged around the edges. i will take a pic tomorrow and post it. or my son will as im a techno nerd. i am pulling thousand of these out of the ground. i grew 5 plants and this yr thier are millions of them. no kidding!! i do love the look of this when planted in a mass but i learned to plant it where i don't care if it self sows. i was cutting them down last yr trying to get them out before they let the seeds fall and i had so many in my hair i had to wash it three times.

Thanks Flowerchild (love that name!). If that's what the cotyledon looks like, too, I don't think this is what I've got. But I'd love to see the pictures anyway. It's funny, though, that I don't seem to have any seedlings from the dozens of plants that I grew last year... Maybe they don't self sow in mulch?

Marianne

You know, this one is supposed to only be hardy to zone 7...mine is coming back from the main plant...even survived our late hard freeze without a hitch...go figure.

I have re-seeds and growth from the original plant here in Columbus, Ohio. I'm off to work this morning, but I do remember them with the longer leaves with the jagged edges. They are pretty distinct. This is one plant I plan to harvest a ton of seeds from for giveaways this year.

Mine have put off new growth from the mother plants from last year, but no self-sowers so far. And where in the world are the seeds????? I tried to collect some for trades/sasbes last year and saw nothing but dust. What do the seeds look like?

I think I solves the mystery of my millions of seedlings - they are maple seedlings :-( I should have realized that since I used to have millions of them in my old place :-)

Now, I did help the Verbenas with the self-sowing this past fall so I hope it's just a question of it not having been warm for long enough yet. Methinks I had rather Spring-sow some to make sure I don't go without.

Marianne

I have some VERY tiny winter sown V. bonariensis seedlings still in the container. I can't quite figure out how to post picutres on the forum, but if you send me an email I will take a picture and email it to you.

Nancy

Marianne

Check with the experts here on the forum, but I do recall reading somewhere that verb. bonariensis need a bit of cold along with warmth to germinate so I am not sure if spring sowing will work. If it does, please let us know because I will spring sow them next year instead of winter sowing - but I have my doubts. Thanks

Carrie

Maple seedling...grrrr! I have plenty of those as well and my 5 maple trees are about to bombard me with helicopters any day now!

I sowed some Verbena bonariensis on March 23 and I noticed sprouts this week. I was not sure if these seeds were from 2006, 2005 or 2004. Below is a page that has a (rather small) picture of seedlings. I get a few seedlings in my garden but not many. I have seen plants grow in the cracks along the curb. The seeds must have washed down my driveway.

Verbena bonariensis is definitely in my top 10 favorite perennials!

- Brent

Here is a link that might be useful: Verbena bonariensis

Thanks for the pictures, Brent. No that's definitely NOT what I've got LOL. Carrie, I know for a fact that you can Spring/Summer sow these plants since I did it myself last year and got an abundance of plants! And I do remember that they took a little while to come up but bloom they did - all the way till November! What I wonder is whether they just don't self-sow well in a mulched area (I since mulched the area where they grew). That would be interesting to know.

Marianne

I have to apologize as i was the first one to say i would send you a pic of the seedlings and i didnt. I have fibromyalgia and got hit hard with it this week. I went to work and came home and thats about it. and we are having gorgeous weather also. and i just couldnt get outside. today i felt better, went out and worked in the yard, saw the seedlings and felt terrible. sorry!
Tanya

Thanks, laperouse - I will try them in the spring/summer next year when I get more seeds (unless the goldfinches get them first....)

Carrie

Flowerchild, sorry to hear about your condition. Hope you will be able to tend to your zillions of plants - WOW - that I saw on the photo page you posted. I'm truly impressed. Do you have space for all of these plants or do you give them away or sell for charity or something? And they all look so healthy!

Carrie, good luck. I had no problems with the birds - that I know of. I still haven't seen any self-sown seedlings though, so I have a feeling they are too small to self-sow through mulch. Darn. I'll just have to start another milk jug then. I am planning on taking some pictures of my own little babies and post them soon. Since this is my first year, I'm truly in awe of this method. It works! (says doubting Thomas!)

Marianne