No complaining here either as I really like trading and take any goofs all in stride. But it was a little disappointing when a roma tomato turned out to be a cherry. And what was supposed to be Tumbling Tom (dwarf, you can grow in containers) turned into 6'+ monsters. I did have plenty of cherry tomatoes though! But with just a small veggie garden, I'd rather not have too many surprises there.
And the annual ageratum that I was expecting to be those neat little blue clumps? Turned into a border of 3' tall perennial spreading ageratum. When they hit 2' with no blooms it dawned on me they weren't what I was expecting. Ah well, finally yanked those babies out. There's always next year but I know what you mean. That's a long time to wait.

I traded for Verbena bonariensis, then got 2 more packets in group swaps. At this point, I've used most of those 3 bags, and have 0 seedlings! Not mislabeled, but why oh why are none of these growing? I suspect they were old seeds, passed around and around as bonuses.

Otherwise, the things I've sown seem to be right, or the plants aren't far enough along for me to know there's a mixup.

I did get a lot of astilbe and heuchera through trades and group trades, but I only managed to sow one container. I hope I have some of the real stuff in those seed packets!

Moonphase, I have Limelight Millet growing, and it does look like that weedy grass, or like what grows under the bird feeder. I think the difference will be when the seed spike comes up. (Unless my seed was wrong, too!)

I like to have the trader's name on packets for group swaps, so I either know who's a great trader, or who made a mistake--or who jams wet seeds into a plastic bag! I always put my name on the packets, and I hope that if anyone gets any seeds from me that are wrong, he or she will let me know so I can try to fix things. So, if there's a name on the bags, let the trader know--s/he will probably want to make it up to you. But it is disappointing to not have the seedlings this year.

Wow, I can't imagine the verbena bonariensis not germinating, even if it's old. It has reseeded everywhere in my yard. So much so that I fear it might take over my neighborhood. I don't think I'm going to let many of them set seed this year. The more I pull, the more that come up. They have been a major component of my compost this year.

Karen

Geez stage rat,I do good just to get mine labeled and put on my page that I keep track of date sown and germ rate and date.I don't put down who I got seed from.I still have the millet in the container and will keep it just to see what it does.I do hate that one container was not heuchera.I really like that plant and hopefully someday I will have the different varieties.I too have verbena bonariensis spreading through out my cottage bed.I thought I harvested most of the seeds-wrong.I will have to pull some next yr. if it continues to spread at the rate it is going now.I will gladly send you some seeds this fall,just remind me.I will have plenty.I'm sure no one intentionally mislabeled seeds.I have mix ups my self.But I still want my heuchera and astilbe wah wah!!lol it is going on my want list about 10 times this yr.
moonphase

I was a newbie this year and I did receive some mislabelled seeds - one pack was supposed to be bleeding hearts and turned out to be larkspur, and one pack of hosta seeds was mostly sunflowers (I thought those hostas were getting awfully tall). I also got quite a few seeds that didn't sprout at all. If I passed any of these seeds on to other people, I sincerely apologize. This year when I trade I will only trade seeds from my own plants or that I have purchased, or that I know germinated for me.

What do you do with seed from a previous year? Toss it? Put it in as a bonus, but marked as "old?"

I had several trades of astilbe and none came up, but I have too many heuchera seedlings. I don't know if they are the variety they are supposed to be, but they are definitely heucheras. Moonphase, were you looking for a specific heuchera? I have been trying to give my extras away as it is getting a bit hot to mail them.

Becky
ramazz

Well, moonphase, it's just one more word/name to write down on the page! I really do like to keep track. Sometimes Santa emails me at the last minute, asking for a report! :)

Ramazz, some people will state that they don't want retraded seeds, and people will indicate on their exchange page which seeds are extras from trade. If you make it clear that they're from another trader, people know what that may mean, and many are fine with that. You can always try to look up what the seed looks like, and can eliminate some seeds that way. For older seeds, you can mention what year you got them, etc.: "Extras from trade in 2006, germinated fine for me" or whatever. I'd have no doubts about those seeds!

Humanity happens. It can't be avoided. I have had a greater amount of mislabled commerical packs than those from trades, so I think traders are great...and their seeds are fresher too.

Stage Rat is 100% correct about describing seeds. As long as you give an accurate description of what you are trading then you won't have any problems.

I was just going through my seeds today and see that I have several packs pre-21st century. Those will never go out in a trade or a SASE but instead will be germinated here and their seeds taken to renew the seed stock. I have a lot of faith in older seeds because of my experiences with them, but a new trader/gardener who hasn't had much experience with growing from seed may balk at stale dated packages more than a year old.

T

Hi Kids!!!

I've been off GW for almost 3 months trying to get the thousands of WS seedlings planted here and I am down to a dozen jugs yet to go! Yay! (I've been trying to keep up by reading but not posting, but was olypartially successful.)

Oh, I have had so much fun with all of this...trades and mislabels included! I got Green-Gold Buplerum (spelling is something close to that) and it turned out to be a Euphorbia. It wouldn't normally be a problem, but I have 60 of them and they are sort of big! LOL! About half of the seeds I started were things that were totally unknown to me, so I am learning soooo much!

I sent in many, many packs --- to swaps -- of seed from F1 plants (doesn't that make it F2?) that I also sowed here and Oh MY GOSH! The resultant seedlings are a mismatched mishmash of sizes shapes and colors!

So, as many packs as I got that weren't quite right, I know I sent in at least that many myself...and I apologize to anyone who got my seeds and was unhappy -- they were all labeled with my name, so you all know it was me. On the other hand, they were very fresh, and every seed has the potential for an unusual & dynamite flower, so maybe there will be something really special in there.

(I must also say that I got several packs of seed from Value Seed that didn't germinate. I also had packs that only had 3 seeds in them when there were supposed to be 30, so it's not just trades.)

Lime

P.S. The Verbena bonariensis is reputed to be like Cleome -- hard to get started, but once you get it to bloom, you are set for life. It might take a while, and direct sowing a LOT of seeds might be another option. I had zero luck with the Astilbe, too.

Hi,
Out of 141 types of seed, 17 did not sprout, but a few of them are very difficult seed, so I think I did pretty good. I sowed a lot last year and had very similar results.
I got one pkg. of definitely mislabeled seeds this year, but I knew it from the get go. I grow the plant, and knew the seeds were not the same. I sowed them anyway to see what they might be. I got great germination, but what they thought it was is a perennial and I do think it also one so I will have to wait and see.
I have received seeds with not much info on them except some common name, but those are fun to try, and usually end up looking really nice.
Oh I have had things germinate in containers of something else even though I did receive the correct seed. Like last year, I sowed a container of 4 o'clocks which have big seeds. Well another thing grew formed a large rosette, so I planted it in the garden. It turned out to be a stray Canterbury Bells seed(they are tiny) that must of been in the 4 o'clock pkg. because I didn't sow them last year. That was a cool surprise.

I think if you do enough trades, you come out way way ahead of the game. So many gardeners are great generous people! My gardens look so much better because of this place : )

Lime,
I've failed with Cleome 2 years now!!! I have not problems with the verbena though, lol. I think I'm going to try direct sowing Cleome in the fall.

Becky,
Bleeding Heart seeds can only be sowed in the spring after they are harvested. There are a few plants, mostly woodland, that can not be kept in dry storage. So unless someone is offering fresh harvested seeds in late spring, don't trade for them.

Remy

Remy yes do try direct sowing cleome in the fall. I can't get rid of ours. I can even send some seeds your way from ours at that time. It reseeds like crazy for me in Scoutt's garden. I am out there everyday pulling up reseeders in her path and placing them in other spots. I love this flower, but it is one of those if you get it once you will always have it types. I think I may have bought the original plants 3 years ago. That and the amaranthus never fail to come back each year. They are later to start though. Right now theyare really started to sprout like crazy. It has to get real warm for them.

On the mislabeled seeds-I am in the middle on this. I understand the dissapointment of not getting what was traded for-happens alot to me-especially if you have limited space and are really looking forward to that plant that was traded for. I for one have the room to grow thngs, but it still is a bummer to not have it be what it is. Especially if you had plans for that specific plant.
I myself do not trade things that I have gotten in trades because of this. I offer those up as extras or bonus ones saying they were received in trades. If someone is really looking for something specific I want to make sure that is in fact what they are getting. If they don't mind seeds from a previous trade that is fine too and I'll just let them know that they are. I have a picture of all of my mother plants that the seeds came from on my page. That is just me though and that is because photography is a hobby of mine. So it is just fun for me to do it that way and I am sure people do find it useful.

I guess what I am trying to say is that saying the seeds are from a trade is the best bet. Most people just put the letter T so you know that means extra from a trade. I mean who really wants seeds to go to waste? Someone is gonna want the extras. And those are my ramblings for the day...........lol~Heather

I just had a thought - maybe the peeps that send seeds you know to be mislabeled don't realise they are?

If I grew mislabeled veggie or herb seeds I'd know it straightaway. But, since I'm fairly clueless when it comes to flowers, what if someone sent me a packet of "wooki-wooki" seeds and I didn't know they weren't? I'd probably grow them and, if I liked them, might trade them as "wooki-wookies", never realising they were actually "ooky-gookies", instead! How embarrassing. I hope if I somehow manage to pass on mislabeled seed someone tells me!

This was my first year using the seed exchange, and initially I was upset when I realized I had some mis-labelled seeds: Geum that turned out to be Violas; Larkspur that turned out to be tomatoes; Cerastium that was full of poppies; Cleome that turned out to be grass, and other weedy ones, but these were exchanges and I am sure lots of effort went into collecting them. The violas are in a pot on my patio table, the tomatoes are in the ground, and I will try to transplant the poppies, so all's not lost.
Northerner.

Heather,
Thanks for the offer!

Tosser,
Lol!" "wooki-wookies", never realising they were actually "ooky-gookies" " This is true. It has probably happened to a lot of people at one time or another.
I find that people using the latin names, in general, have less wrong seeds sent out. Not because of being a better gardener, but probably because they looked them up.

One time a trader sent me a dried flower with no seeds in it. It was for a fairly unusual plant, but I really wasn't worried about it. I did email them and tell them, because I didn't want them to keep trading the empty heads out. I specifically told them not to worry about it.
Later on an envelope arrived, they had searched for quite some time and found someone who had the correct seeds and then mailed them to me. That was very sweet of them to do.

Northerner,
I can understand "Cerastium that was full of poppies" being poppy have such small seed and they do seem to travel into other pkgs., but "Larkspur that turned out to be tomatoes"?!

Which reminds me, I often check the site below for what seeds should look like, because I am insane, lol : )
Remy

Here is a link that might be useful: The Seed Site