Several of the seeds others are having difficulty with need a period of cold stratification. I refer to the old Thompson & Morgan Germination Database for cold stratification requirements. I have had good results ws delphiniums in March with germination about a month or 6 wks later. They need 2 wk cold stratification. One variety last spring had only a small amount of germination so I planted them out and left the container hoping for more germination. During fall clean up I found the container had several new sprouts. This odd fall with a cold October (3 snows here) and a warm November probably fooled them into thinking they had a winter and spring. Too late to plant out so I put the whole container in the ground and hope some survive the winter. Anemone, helleborus, and some clematis and other seeds need W C W, warm cold warm, or two winters of ws to germinate. Others like clematis stans will germinate well with only one winter. Actaea racemosa (cimicifuga) is one that I have had good germination with when keeping the containers over two winters. Some of the larger seeds will rot if the mix is kept too wet. Those, lupine, morning glory, datura, sunflowers, often germinate well when direct sown here. Other times they just take their own sweet time, last spring I thought one container of morning glory seeds had rotted so later sowed tomato seed in the container. After a few weeks I had tomatoes and morning glories growing together. LOL Astilbe has also been difficult for me. Only had a few germinate with my own fresh seed. Here is a link that might be useful: T & M Germination Database

Well I'm NOT a blue person. Indoors I have NO blue. My husband doesn't understand this. I have no idea why I feel this way. Outdoors things are different! I have a blue/yellow/white garden bed which I love. Yes, delphineums, catananche, campanulas, baptisia and more, are mixed with trollius, coreopsis moonbeam, peony Claire de Lune and low growing white clematis and aquilegia. It is a big mix and wouldn't be any fun at all without the blue! There are loads of clematis that are purple or blue/purple, but also some very nice blues I think. You do get into the question of "what is blue?" My husband and I think this could well be a male/female issue! Also, by saying a flower is blue, perhaps a catalogue gains more sales? * Posted by: coolbeans (My Page) on Sat, Feb 2, 02 at 13:12 This is my VERY favorite thread, and I totally agree with all those who feel that there is just "something" about blue flowers; they ARE magical, they ARE very special; and they make me happier than any other color flower. Don't know why...I just started a flat full of Bluebird delphinium seeds I saved from my one lonely plant last year. A bunch of them germinated, so now I can't wait to have a huge stand of them! Maybe they won't bloom this year, but maybe they will. And also "true blue" penstemons, I'm trying for the first time. I can't get enough of this precious color. * Posted by: Anne_Marie_Alb (My Page) on Tue, Feb 5, 02 at 17:47 WOW....... Did anyone realize that this thread started almost 5 years ago... on Feb. 15, 1997!!!!! I am amazed it has survived that long. Probably, the oldest thread still on the top page! I wonder if "Clare B" (who started the thread) is still an active member of the Garden Web!!! I personally love blue flowers (I mean blue, and not purple, which I also like). I can't believe how many blue flowers I am starting from seeds this year... and that was just a pure coincidence! I also love RED flowers.. Maybe, I should start a "red flower" thread! I will first check the archives! * Posted by: Clare (My Page) on Thu, Feb 7, 02 at 20:34 Yes, Ann_Marie, I am still here! I will be a bit sad to see this thread fade away when it hits the 100 posts mark. After that, the threads are closed. I don't think I have any true blue flowers still. "Victoria Blue" Salvia is the closest thing. I use it a lot. It is such a heavy, long bloomer, and about one in twenty of them will survive winter here. Just wish I could predict which would survive so that I could save seed from those alone and perhaps work up a more hardy strain. By the way, the Hydrangeas in Memphis, Tennessee are incredible. Some are so saturated blue that I'd have to call them navy. * Posted by: Dswan (My Page) on Sat, Feb 9, 02 at 22:37 I'm going to add to this extremely long thread only because there really is something to true blue. I grow from seed a very difficult plant to propagate called Penstemon cyananthus or Wasatch Penstemon. I cold stratify and plant these every year in hopes of gettting one or two in my garden every year. Absolutely gorgeous. * Posted by: Rosa (My Page) on Mon, Mar 11, 02 at 10:24 Did no one mention Gentians-now those are blue! (along with my favorite penstemson of course-some are indeed blue). * Posted by: pineshade7b ) on Mon, Apr 15, 02 at 11:02 i agree with gloria mc coy. i love blue and green , they are my favorite colors in anything. just look in my house and closets. blue..ocean, blue jeans, my own eyes are blue and my husband's are green. many reasons to answer -why blue. although i do not "hyperventilate" , if i should go into a nursery and ask for a blue -flowering plant and the staff looks down their nose at me, i'll know now that they are only doing it because they think I'M a snob. until i adopted gardening as a serious hobby i had no idea that blue was a "snob" color. i just naturally began to look into flowers in the colors i liked personally. you learn something new everyday. i would have been hurt and confused to walk into a nursery and be looked at like a pariah, what did i say? now i know, thanks clare. * Posted by: DesertGardner (My Page) on Fri, Apr 19, 02 at 12:38 Wow - I never knew there was such a controversy over the color blue in the garden. After reading all the posts, I now understand why some gardeners prefer the color. And I have to say that I've never met any gardeners whom I would consider snobbish. Most of them are really quite down to earth! (if you pardon the expression...) I recently tried planting a red, white and blue flower bed, with 'Victoria Blue' Salvia being my blue color. It's a little too purple and doesn't look right as a "patriotic" design. I will probably tear out the red and white and keep the "blue" (purple) since it seems to like this desert heat. Someone mentioned black flowers, and I remembered seeing black pansies in the most recent Burpee catalog. They're a beautiful velvety black with a spot of yellow in the center. I think I'll plant some this winter, and start an obsession with black flowers! (just kidding Clare...) -Kara [* Posted by: yeona_sky (My Page) on Mon, Jun 24, 02 at 0:37 I just bought a blue poppy and am nervously watching its progress. My success with blues has been an up hill battle, but that hasn't changed my desire to spotlight it in my garden. Why blue?, again it's a passion with me. Clare, I hope you get the last word on this thread, and I hope you understand Why blue, a little better. * Posted by: Duster (My Page) on Wed, Jun 26, 02 at 23:56 I agree with the many others about getting annoyed when purple is referred to as blue. Maybe that's why I take up the cause of truly blue flowers! 99% of my Delphiniums are the true electric blue ones. I'd love one of the Himalayan Poppies but just not right for my little yard. I like the blue flowers, rather than the blue foliage plants. And no, blue is NOT my favorite color - I have nothing blue in my home decor. I just like the uniqueness of the TRUE blue and my stubbornness to get people to stop calling it purple!!!!

I'm not judging them all. Just the morons who brought over the invasives lol. :) But I still think that they should be more concerned for their natives, but same can be said for the people here too. I am of European decent. We have only been out of the last dark age for like 50 years. About the time we realized we were killing ourselves with all the pollution and eviromental repercussions. Their are native plant lovers in all those countries who are fighting their own battles. So it's pretty much the same everywhere. We have a member who lives in Sumatra and grows plants. It upsets her to see all the jungles plowed and drained for oil palms, but what can 1 person do by themselves. It comes down to teaching the children for the next generation!

4,500 Sedum seeds. WOW! That is impressive! I did like 250 Sedum seeds. That's a big number for me and Sedums. They are so simple to propogate. I do crochet with them. I try to always have a few California poppies every year. The plain orange usually suffice. I'm still hoping to grow somniferums into something nice, but they never turn out right. I think it's climate change and too much unpredictable weather. Also trying out the corn poppies for the first time. They are said to spread with abandon over in England. Hopefully they will do the same here. I sowed seeds for prickly poppies too. That's all the poppies unless we were to get into the fumitories which is mindblowing! I'm trying to muster as much willpower as possible, and you've just tempted me into adding 2 more plants to my list! You have a lot of species and so do I. I'm going to write every one of them down once they are growing again and I sort it all out, casualties, ect. And then.........:) My Penstemon smallii seeds just came from PWS. They sent a freebee, Campanula trachelium. A plant I know absolutely nothing about. Are you related??? I have one more question. I was just looking at a few places that offer seeds for B.longifolium Bronze Beauty. Plant World Seeds sells a special dwarf cultivar of it. Do you know anything about that? Would it be better growing the true species? Its seeds need a warm period and then a cold period. I would love to grow it next year if there is any room left,which is highly doubtful but I'll probably sqeeze it in somewhete lol. I was thinking of growing another Burpleurum species that's an imortant Chinese herb so that's how I'm kind of justifying growing it. It's the closest I'll ever come to growing another Astrantia, oh too bad they aren't native, but they are amazing. My space is limited so I need to keep the exotic umbellifers to a few and still concentrate on collecting all the native Apiaceae. If I had 5 acres, I'd grow them all. Of course I try to grow plants representing as many families as possible for the greatest diversity and the most benefit to wildlife. The umbrellifers are the most beautiful scattered here and there throughout, mingling their textures with all the others. Getting back to dwarf plants for a second. I'm not fond of dwarf anything that's manmade. I bought what I thought were 4 regular Pentas last year and they were dwarves. The poor pollinators couldn't even see the blooms. A gardener really has to be on their toes these days, or end up growing frankenstein plants. How magical that you all grow single flowered Calendulas over there! I believed those multiple mop top blooms were it's natural form until recently. That's sort of like plants that are so invasive the locals think they're native. Can anyone say Verbascum thapsus! Basically I'm growing a lot of new plants to see how they handle the dryer conditions happening here from climate change. It's a project that will span years. Calendula officinalis. The way it evolved to look! Frozebud, if they could breed those STRONG stems into your phoophy delphs they would would make excellent glass scrubbers lol! Delphinium exaltatum