I don't really see a problem. Don't know that I've ever purchased seed that was from my local area. They come from all over the country.

Only thing that you should be careful of is collecting seed of trees and shrubs in sub tropical or very warm regions. Although the tree species may be growing here already, you are bringing in a strain that has not had a number of generations in our climate that is hardy here now. The seed you bring in will struggle and may not survive or take a number of years to take off. Bald Cypress and some Texas Live Oak come to mind. I had seed of both many years ago from the gulf regions of Mississippi and Texas and both were very wimpy for years.

randy

Gamebird,

Your nasturtium, hollyhock and daisy (what kind of daisy?) seeds should be fine here. If you have collected the seed repeatedly for years and it is very well adapted to Minn., the plants might struggle a little here with our heat during their first summer, but should adapt fairly quickly....probably in just a couple of generations of seed saving. If you purchased seed, it should be fine here since most retailers purchase their seed from the same handful of major seed wholesalers. Many of those wholesalers don't even produce their seed here in the U.S., but in many different places overseas, and adaptation is not a problem.

If you collected seed of wildflowers or native grasses, shrubs, trees, groundcovers, etc., there may be an adaptation problem as Randy pointed out. If you want to grow natives or wild plants that are well-adapted to Oklahoma's climate, there are several great regional sources.

I don't know if your nasturtiums and hollyhocks will do well in your first year here as they do best if planted very early in this climate. Early planting allows them to sprout, grow and flower before our summer heat starts going nuts, which tends to be about the third week in June here in southern Oklahoma. Perhaps someone in the Tulsa area can tell you when the heat really cranks up there, but it probably is about the same time it happens here.

My hollyhocks that reseed usually sprout no later than early to mid-February (and, indeed, are up and growing here already). They usually begin to bloom in late April to early May and are done by early July. Hollyhocks that I start indoors in late January and transplant in early to mid-March will usually begin to bloom in late May to early June. Both of these are great bloomers until the high heat kicks in and then they slow down and sometimes stop blooming.

In a cooler summmer....like one in which we don't hit the 100s until late July, the nasturtiums sometimes bloom all summer. In hot summers, they play out by July and I take them out and replace them with a heat lover like zinnias or gazanias.

I am in southern Oklahoma, though, and it usually gets hotter here earlier than it does in the northern parts of the state, so somewhere who gardens in the northern half of our state probably can tell you when the hollyhocks and nasturtiums perform best there.

Good luck.

Dawn

What kind of daisies? Um... back yard daisies? LOL. They were here when I moved in and they were one of the survivors of the first couple years of neglect, until I got the gardening bug. The petals are yellow and the center is dark brown. They grow aggressively, attract a lot of bugs and (at least here in MN) bloom for a long time.

I always assumed they were black-eyed susans, but that's just a guess. They certainly look like that's what they are.

I also have zinnias and all kinds of other stuff, mostly vegetables but I doubt I'll have the opportunity to get much of those into the ground this year.

Zinnias will do well even if you start them later. I found last year that staggered sowings of zinnias worked really well.

Could your daisies be rudbeckia hirta? Here's some from my garden:

{{gwi:689321}}

I hope your move goes smoothly!

Lisa

They look just like this stock photo: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2919291/2/istockphoto_2919291_three_black_eyed_susans_isolated.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/%3Fid%3D2919291%26refnum%3D877963&h=380&w=380&sz=65&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=2g0jcHBFRsbO7M:&tbnh=123&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dblack%2Beyed%2Bsusans%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Or just like yours, but without the red splotch.

That looks like rudbeckia hirta to me :) I call the splotched ones like mine gloriosa daisies, but that is just a common name. I think most people usually refer to the whole group as black eyed susans. Rudbeckia hirta is the real name.

They grow great here. I think they can be used as an annual, but usually I count on them being a short lived perennial.

Lisa

I've planted zinnias in June, July and August and they've grown and bloomed until the first killing frost....which can occur in September (rarely), October (fairly often) or November (about half the time here in southern OK).

And those daisies sure do sound like Black-eyed Susans and they are native here as well. On our property, they usually start blooming in June and bloom on and off all summer, as long as the rain continues. We have two kinds on our property...one is, I think, clasping coneflower, because the leaves "clasp" the stem. Those bloom a little earlier, usually in May. The black-eyed susans bloom later, and for a longer timeframe.

Also, even though Oklahoma is thought of as having a "long growing season", the truth is that for veggies, we actually have several successive seasons in one year. Here's how it tends to go:

Jan.-Mar.: Cold-season crops like onions, peas, potatoes, broccoli and other cole crops, carrots, beets, spinach and other greens, radishes, etc. can be planted during this time frame, although some go in earlier than others.

Mar.-May: Warm-season crops like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant (from transplants), and most direct-seeded crops like corn, green beans, summer squash, cucumbers, melons, etc. can go into the ground anytime after the last frost date, which ranges from late-March to late-April (and, in a cold year, maybe even early May) across our state.

The crops that like REALLY warm weather which includes watermelon, southern peas (black-eyed peas, cream peas, crowder peas, etc.), winter squash, okra and sweet potatoes can go into the ground from mid-May through the end of June. Since lettuce does not do well in our hot summer weather, you can plant New Zealand spinach or amanranth greens as a substitute. They both grow well in the heat.

Lots of crops can be succession planted, including corn, beans, cucumbers, squash, etc. so you can harvest throughout the summer.

Beginning in mid-summer, you can replace spring-planted crops that have been harvested with new crops for a fall garden. Most fall garden veggies go into the ground in July and August, although I like to plant fall tomatoes in June (paradoxically I need to plant them just when my spring-planted tomatoes are hitting their peak production).

Anything that you grow here in cooler months can be planted in the summer for a fall crop, and some of them produce better in the fall garden than in the spring garden. It DOES take very close attention to their watering needs to get them through the first 4 to 6 weeks of their life, though. Brussels sprouts are an example of one crop that tends to do better in the fall garden than in the spring garden. In the spring, it can heat up too fast for them....before they can make many sprouts. In the fall garden, they produce like crazy and tolerate some of the early frosts.

Garlic is another crop that grows best when planted in the fall here. If you plant in the Sept.-Nov. timeframe, you can harvest in late spring when the foliage yellows.

And, because our fall and even early winter weather often stays fairly mild for a long time, you can sow a winter cover crop too.

So, I think you'll find that you can still grow a lot of veggies your first year, even if it seems like you are getting off to a "late" start.

Dawn