I have a bunch of unlabeled pots. The marker always wears off. It really bugs me, and I need the labels to last. There are 30 pots that I think are double dormancy seeds. I need to be more organized.

Of anyone has seeds for Lilium canadense I'm looking for some.

There seems to be Lilium canadense ssp. canadense, and a Lilium canadense ssp. editorum/rubrum. The deep red type is called Lilium canadense var. coccinea. I have to research this. I assume the variety coccinea only occurs with Lilium canadense ssp. editorum, but I need to see what Wilhelm and Weakley have to say. My autocorrect changed Lilium to Iliamna. It must be alive and intelligent. I hear that Canada Lily and Michigan Lily can hybridize. I'd love to see that. I tried to check which tribe the Calea ternifolia is in, but there's not much written. I'd love to have the whole Asteraceae breakdown on paper, with all the tribes etc. Maybe there isn't a fully completed list yet, because there are tens of thousands of species in that family.

There is another subspecies Lilium canadense ssp. typicum.. Originally they were varieties, and are now elevated to subspecies status.

My Illinois floras don't list Lilium canadense, because it's not native here. I do know people in Illinois that are growing them.

The guy from Catskills native plant nursery was selling those seeds and/or plants last year. I don't think they mail order plants, and you'd have to stay pretty up to date with the Native Plants of the Northeast group to find out when they are offering seeds. Lilies seem to be hard to grow, there is some introduced pest around here that kills them too.

I believe there is a massive tome about Asteraceae by Vicki Funk, cited as VA Funk, titled Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of Compositae.

Don’t have the Lily. I did buy one of the brother label makers with the UV resistant outdoor tapes for my sister in law a few years ago. They seem to work well, still can read the first ones. I would probably keep up with doing that with seeds and such. But it’s so often that I dig something out in the yard while weeding and stick it in a pot to plant elsewhere later. Got a new book. Mostly because one of my daughter’s friends is one of the authors (and one that took a bunch of plants of my hands to start her garden). Looks really helpful.

Gah I'm really tempted by that Lobelia, somehow wasn't really aware of it before. I already have 3 different Lobelias, that should be enough. I found one seller of L. puberula on Etsy though... tempting.

Iris that looks like a good book, probably useful if you really bring it out in the field and work through it. I can imagine my wife and kids whining while I stop to look at every twig and bud during our walks.

I have to say, I got some sturdy plastic labels last year, and wrote on them with pencil, and it held up well, and I was able to erase the pencil so I can reuse the labels this year.

Thanks for the info Skip. The Catskill Nursery is closed until April. I just watched a video about plant labels and it kept dragging on, but the ultimate solution was to use sturdy plant markers and a soft graphite pencil. I guess I should order small, sturdy plant markers. I tried writing with pencil on clear, smooth plastic and it's faint but readable. I bought a label maker at Staples and it was too complicated, so I returned it. I dont remember the make, but I'm pretty sure it wasnt Brother. I thought sharpie markers would last, but they dont. They sell a plant marker online that's supposed to hold up, but I doubt it. Do your permanent plant markers have a rough side to write on Skip? I can ID most of my plants if they lose their labels, but it's hard to tell what the unlabeled grasses and sedges are. We are having a 4 day heat wave and may get close to 70 on Wednesday. I would like to be able to ID trees by their bark.

Yeah the plant labels are rough and take pencil well, they're about the same size as a popsicle stick with one end pointed. I read the description and reviews, and looked at a bunch before I settled on one that had a rough surface that someone said they used with pencil. I used mechanical pencils, but they're just the normal Bic kind that I've had around for years. A regular number 2 pencil would work too.

I had a special marker that is used for glass and plastic components that go through chemical treatments, but even that marker faded from the sun and rain. I think the graphite pencil works so well because it isn't a type of ink or paint.

I ordered my puberula seeds from etsy. Are these markers like your's?

Lobelia kalmii

Lobelia puberula

I like both of them about the same.

I orered the Lobelia from Etsy this morning too, I'm super impulsive in the morning. I got the red and white alpine strawberry seeds too, might as well have something to snack on while I'm out there. I got these 4" plant labels

I got the billboard plant labels. I wish I knew about using pencils a few years ago. It would have saved me a lot of confusion. I had the priceana seedlings too close to the LED light and some of the leaves got bleached.

I'm kind of confused about the alpine strawberry. One source says it native to Europe and Asia, and introduced here. Wikipedia says its native to the whole northern hemisphere. Another source says that the subspecies Fragaria vesca ssp. americana is native here, while Fragaria vesca ssp. vesca is native to Europe and Asia. A source said Fragaria Alpina is the real Alpine Strawberry, but I don't think that species exists, and when I google Fragaria Alpina, Fragaria vesca pops up.

I'm guessing the Alpine strawberry I got is a domestic hybrid, because the description says it has small berries but good production, while wild strawberries are notorious for having poor sporadic production. I was wondering though if domesticated strawberries would still be usable by specialist insects.

How many priceana seeds dis you sow?

I had 2 priceana seeds left, and they are plants now. They should be fine.

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mbot

I heard that Wood Anemone Anemone quinquefolia, likes shade. Prairie Moon is sold out, and another place wants $16 for 50 seeds. I don't want them that bad. I tried germinating cylindrica and quinquefolia, 3 winters ago, and they never grew. I rescued an A. canadensis, and it's doing well, and it made a bunch of seeds that I scattered around.

Anemone quinquefolia, Anemonoides quinquefolia, native Wood Anemone.

Anemone nemorosa, Anemonoides nemorosa, non native European Wood Anemone

8 bog pots with bottom drainage holes. Limestone for calcium.

That Wood anemone is another plant that grows trailside on slopes in the forest, similar conditions to Mitchella repens and Pyrola americana.

I planted a few Anemone virginiana and Anemone cylindrica a couple years ago and none came back. I tried Anemone canadensis too and it didn't grow more than 2 leaves, I think I should have fertilized it.

I have more Anemone virginiana seeds to try this year. I'm going to start writing labels tonight and sowing some seeds tonight.

Skip, is there an advantage to using sand instead of chicken grit to mulch the tops of the pots?

I think they're pretty much equivalent. Once when I bought a bag of chicken grit I got the wrong size and the pieces were too big. It should be starter grade, sized for chicks.

I just went outside to clean up some stray pots and reclaim the labels, and found a little snake skin on one of the trays

That's cool. Looks like the wildlife can't wait for you to plant them in the ground. Some of the Anemone species seeds need double dormancy. I might have tossed some out by mistake. That soil in the cells looks compressed. Those cells look nicer than what I had.

Yeah that tray has been sitting out there for 2-3 years and the soil has sunk down a lot. I was hoping some of the seeds would eventually sprout this year, there was Asclepias viridiflora, tuberosa, and purpurascens in there. The empty cells are incarnata and verticillata that sprouted and then got planted. I guess it's time to dump them. The trays are really nice, 38 cells per tray, 5" deep. I got them 3 years ago and have been reusing them, I wanted more but they've been out of stock all year.

Just checking in real quick to catch up. Life happens. One of my dogs got sick. Seems it’s not only the human hospitals being overwhelmed. The first emergency clinic I called yesterday had a 7 hours wait. Went to another one that had a 3 hour wait, but we spent 5 1/2 hours there, so the daylight was gone. Hopefully he will be fine. Going to pick him up later tonight. The bill is more than my first car. Need to find time somewhere to continue my war against the goldenrod. Seems all these days I spent last Winter didn’t do anything.

Yes well this is what the goldenrod wants to do. Hope your pup feels better. Our dog got sick and we called the emergency vet and also couldn't be seen for 5 hours. We ended up giving him chicken soup and he perked right up until we were able to take him to the regular vet the next day. Still got that big vet bill though but we love our pets.

HAPPY SOLSTICE!

Wow. Almost Christmas. Should probably get some winter sowing going. The weather was really miserable the past couple of days. I like goldenrod. Of the somewhat well behaved kind :)

Skip, glad your dog was an “easy” fix. Mine is 13 years old. Good thing I am always overly concerned, they said it was pancreatitis. Still not back to normal, but better. Have been researching food for him instead of plants.

My older daughter went ahead and came down for the holidays. All boosted and plenty of tests on hand. Couple of hours later, she was out with a looper and saw. It’s such a big help to have an energetic, young person whacking around. And living high up in an apartment in the middle of the city, she really enjoys it. Hope she stays a while :)

Hope your daughter enjoys her stay! Christmas will be here soon.

Baked some sand in the oven to kill any weed seeds in it. Going to use it as a seed mulch and stratifying medium when I sow some more seeds. I checked the temp of the sand after 20min at 400°F and it was 191 in the center and over 200 around the sides. The sand was sitting outside in a tote for like 2 years before this and probably had all kinds of seeds and living stuff in it. I'll probably bake it again if I use it for seed stratification.

I bought a couple bags of Forest Farm Happy Frog, and a 50 pound bag of chicken grit. I have a huge piece of floating row cover. I could probably cover all the winter sowed pots with it, maybe underneath them too, to keep out bugs like pill bugs. I hope everyone has a nice holiday.

I planted Satureja vulgaris seeds last year, and I thought it was a different species than Clinopodium vulgare,, and I just realized they're the same. I had no luck with them last year.

I'm testing out the potting soil I got indoors before I fill 40 pots and trays with it. I just seeded a pot with Monarda didyma to see how it does. I put a heat mat underneath, a little bag over top to hold in humidity, under a cheap LED strip light. I had a spray bottle nearby that I thought was water, but I sprayed it to water the seeds in and realized it was liquid smoke, hopefully that doesn't hurt anything.

Happy holidays all.

Better liquid smoke than herbicide. I haven't tried using liquid smoke yet. I'm still on schedule and will be done winter sowing by Sunday, ( except the few seeds in transit.) Hopefully I've learned from my past mistakes, and will have more success next spring. When the labels get lost everything goes downhill. I already accidentally kicked and spilled 1 pot. Drug related mishap? It had Schizachyrium scoparium seeds in it. Hopefully a few will still germinate. The grasses and sedges need labels the most. They all look similar, when small, but they need way different conditions. I'm done ordering seeds and plants. I just have the 2 Lonicera canadensis shrubs on order. Unless something I can't get my hands on miraculously turns up. I mean I'll be done when I get the final seeds that are coming. There were quite a few dust sized Lobelia kalmii seeds, so I seeded 2 pots of those. I could use the extra plants, if any, for barter and bribes LOL, and gifts. The Tephrosia virginiana seeds are too small to effectively scarify with sandpaper. I think I'll use boiling water to germinate them. I should do it as soon as it stays above freezing, and then sow them in a pot and put them outside. Happy Holidays!

Oxalis versicolor, Candy Cane Wood Sorrel, South Africa

Look at that candy cane, nature invents everything then we copy.

Merry Christmas!

Is that pic photoshopped?

It's real but the stems holding the green balls from behind are out of focus. The ants are climbing it not holding it, I think.

Just learned that E.O. Wilson died. Sad. I just gave my daughter a signed copy of his book for Christmas. Hope you all had a nice one.

RIP EO Wilson. I read a few of his books last year or the one before. On Human Nature was a good one, apparently it really stirred up a lot of controversy when it came out, but he was brave and took a lot of pioneering positions throughout his life. I enjoyed Half-Earth as well. He wrote a lot I still have to dig in to.

I had exactly enough old pro mix to fill the 7 38-cell deep plug trays I cleaned out the other day, like not an ounce to spare. I have to figure out precisely what I'm going to put in them now.

Still waiting for the Monarda didyma to germinate to test out the other potting soil I have.

I almost get more excited about empty trays of soil than I do when I'm getting a live plant.

As it should be. E.O. Wilson hasn't been on my radar, but I just looked, and his books look like great reads. His face looks familiar. The Darwin of the 21st century, hmm, interesting. My Monarda didyma has never done well here. I think it may have given up the ghost. I love the hot red color of the flowers. I might try growing M. clinopodia, and M. media at some point. It's going to snow, and cover the pots. I'm taking the snow as a good omen.

Tiny Lobelia puberula seeds. I didn't think I really needed this plant at first, now I sowed a whole tray of them. It will be cool if I end up with 38 plants.

Yeah, I hope my puberula seeds do well too. I'm finished winter sowing all the pots.

Ready for more

Well. Wow. Winter sowing in progress. I haven’t done anything yet. It was 70 degrees again and rainy. Might get some strong storms tonight. Next week might actually feel like Winter (at least 20 degrees cooler during the day and some freezing). Hopefully will get something started then. Even had a wooly bear crawling around today.

I'm getting organized and I'm sowing 4 more pots. They are plants that I'm trying under lights, but I'm sowing outdoor pots of them too, just in case. 🥺🤣 Periderita americana, Silene nivea, Tetraneuris acaulis, Taenidia integerrima. The seeds of Apiaceae plants dont stay viable for long, so it's better to sow them all. I unwrapped the seeds that were cms ing in the fridge and put them in fresh paper towels. I haven't made any terrible blunders yet. I will start the indoor seeds February 1st. I forgot to cms the Asclepias purpurascens seeds, so I'm going to do them and a few more Asclepias amplexicaulis seeds. In case there is a problem with the amplexicaulis seeds, I'll have a few more already chilled. I have a little glass vial with like 3 Hedeoma seeds in it. I never got any to germinate. I think it's an annual. Hedeoma pulegoides.

Plant carnivory of Trantha and

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/33/e2022724118

https://www.fcbs.org/articles/The_Carnivorous_Bromeliads.htm

LOL 🤣

Carnivorous flowers, nice. Didn't realize Triantha was a carnivore. Witch hazel is still blooming at the woods

I'm surprised you didn't know that haha. I'm overstocked with native shrubs now, but a winter blooming shrub would be cool. I'm resisting the urge to get a Prairie Willow or a Chickasaw Plum. I think the plum would have way less runners, and Native tribes grew them. I wanted a couple Chinkapin, Castanea pumila?, but Reeseville's been having problems with them. They've been having problems with Lonicera canadensis too. I was relieved to find one other nursery selling it. I potted some Carex muehlenbergii seeds in a sandy mix. This gravel better work or I'll be emailing Joe Hollis. 2 or 3 Hedeoma pulegoides. Maybe I should start them inside? Iris, does your Immortality Vine have flowers and seeds?

I would be growing prairie willow if any nurseries around here sold it when I was packing plants in a few years ago. I saw a record of it on iNat in south Jersey near Camden but I'm not about to go look for it down there. The Salix discolor I have seems to be doing alright, satisfying my urge to have that genus in my yard. The trunk is getting thicker every year despite the leaves being skeletonized by japanese beetles every summer.

You firm up any design plans for this year? I'm already second guessing my idea for the Hydrangea and Euonymus americanus.

I dumped 1/8oz of Hedeoma pulegioides seed on the ground, don't think any of it grew. Joe Hollis suggested using gravel? In what way?

He covers the seeds with chicken grit gravel, to keep the soil, less compacted. If he's not sure how viable seeds are, he sows them very heavily, and covers them with gravel. Joe also likes to use grit on pots that need 2 years. I have real stone gravel and not oyster shell gravel, like I've used before. I like this stone grit a lot better. I have good feelings about it. I didn't top off all my pots with gravel. I sowed Hepatica seeds of both species, acutiloba and americanum. I saw a photo of some hepatica seedlings emerging from gravel and they looked great. They need double dormancy. I forgot about the Hydrangea arborescens. I'd like to get a couple of them from Possibility Place. I'm pretty sure they sell prairie willow. It grows at the sand prairie. I could take some cuttings, and root them. Native willows are great host plants for so many different creatures. I could plant one in my easement? That's where I want to plant the Zanthoxylum and Cepholanthus too. They can duke it out back there. Much better for wildlife, than White Mulberry, Buckthorn, and Ulmus parviflora. Years ago I grew an arctic willow in back, and it also made a thick trunk. When I proofread and edit, every time I use the space bare the whole thing scrolls down, and I lose my place where I'm writing. It's so annoying! Does that happen to you?? I plan on putting a bunch of shrubs, flowers, grasses,and sedges in my front yard. I have an idea for the design, but I don't have any designated placements written in stone. I'm working my way down the hill, and sticking plants in along the way. I try to consider their needs, so I put them where they have the right conditions. I'm sure once I get to know all these new species, I'll want to tweak everything and move stuff around, and I'm looking forward to it, we'll mentally anyways. Won't need to join a gym.

Yeah who needs a gym when we can toil in our yards. The text editor does jump around and erase words sometimes. I sowed the last of the trays last night, I had intended to do full trays of a few things but didn't have enough seeds to fill them and ended up going through old seeds and picking ones to fill in empty rows. I added Gillenia trifoliata, Chrysopsis mariana, Euphorbia corollata, and Penstemon calycosus. Still have to do like 25 other things in pots but it should take less time since I can just dunk the pot in a bag of soil to fill it and spread seed in one spot. I picked out a bunch of old seeds to try again too.

I have my Medeola seeds under gravel outside, they should germinate this year if everything goes well.

I'm hoping one of my empty,ungerminated pots will have some Mediola seedlings come spring, but just in case, I sowed 2 pots with all my remaining Medeola seeds. I bought 2 packets from Mountain Gardens. There was only 1 tiny Hedeoma seed left, so no point sowing it. It's not a big deal. The Clinopodium is similar anyways. The Hedeoma is supposed to be a good mosquito repellant, so maybe I could use it instead of deet. I'm going to retire this thread and start a new on. Look for it.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy new year!

Jay, I threw my immortality vine out. It was such a scraggly mess, and I never gor around to make any tea anyways. Another really warm day with on and off showers. Even a skipper was out. Weeds in the lawn are blooming. Any idea what kind of thistle this might be? Doesn’t look like the bull ones in another area of the grass.

The thistle is Cirsium vulgare, and not native. I started a new thread.