No idea at all - they could be hardneck, softneck or elephant and I'd probably scratch a leaf to make sure it smells of garlic. I'm not sure where in Zone 5 you are but normally garlic is planted in the fall and harvested in early summer up here. Right now, I'd do exactly what you are doing and also put some kind of marker as to where they are. If they're garlic, they're probably going to stop growing soon and die back to the bulb by around the end of july. After that, they'll rest a bit and start growing again in the late fall and create heads for you next year.

On your list from Johnny's, Bryan, you had Calendula, Ann. I was a little confused at first; but, Ann meant Annual. Right?? And, then, from Germania the last item was: Hegari Red Head Purple Mist, which are actually three different seed cultivars. We grew Hegari Sorghum this past season with mixed reaction from customers. They either loved it, or they hated it. It seems there wasn't any middle ground on this one. Red Head Sorghum is always a nice addition. We've also grown Texas Black Amber Sorghum. Purple Mist is a millet which is a new addition for Germania this season. It is on our list as well. I'm also curious why you might order some seed such as ProCut from Harris, etc. I mention this because it might be helpful for new growers to understand a bit of the nature of the seed business. A few dozen seed companies in the tropics (Costa Rica, Kenya, Indonesia), where the climate is favorable and labor inexpensive, produce most of the flower seed sold both at the wholesale and retail level. Seed is sold in bulk to companies such as Harris, Johnny's, Germania, Stokes, Burpee, etc. These companies repackage the seed under their own names. Thus, for example, if you buy Sunflower, ProCut, it doesn't really matter whether you buy it from one of the mentioned companies. Knowing this, you might want to purchase your seed on price and service. Patty mentioned collecting zinnia seed. Some of these seeds are hybrid, which means they won't come true from seed. You may not find uniformity in the flowers with not as many fully double flowerheads and a high percentage of mediocre plants. This may not be important to some gardeners; however, for some strains, the hybrids simply have better flowers. An advantage of some hybrids is sterile flowers which often have a longer vase life -- they're not putting all their energy into making seeds. You can be certain most of your market customers will let you know about the vase life of bouquets purchased from you. Some open-pollinated plants such as celosia self-seed so prolifically that you can treat this particular one as if it were a perennial, cultivating the same bed for many years.

Cool, Worth. I like to make peace between our native Lepidoptera and gardeners. I asked a while back if planting cilantro really did work. I think if it does, it will be the best way to build that bridge between us and insects. if hornworms only stayed on their side of the fence, no one would ever have incentive to kill them. they are large, high-profil insects which have big appetites. If you think a hornworm is voracious, try feeding out some Cecropia or Polyphemus cats! Sheesh! Cecropias get nearly 5" and a Poly is only 4' at the longest, but thicker and heavier than a tobacco worm. Well, Carolyn posted how cilantro does not always work. Maybe even mere coincidence. I have NO cilantro and still NO hornworms at all! Last year, I regularly combed my neighbor's tomato plants and found only 6 or 7 larvae--all of which were parasitized by the dreaded tachinid fly. This fly [an introduced species, has not only taken a huge toll on sphingids, but has been responsible for the extinction of a few saturniids and is still taking a huge toll on existing species! My neighbor told me just 30 years ago, hornworms were everywhere. I can believe it. Nature is out of whack and the virtual local extinction of the beautiful Io moth only proves it! I used to find Io's like you find hornworms--30 some years ago. I always reared Io's every summer. Now, I haven't even seen a wild Io in 15 years! Yes, hornworms are quite pretty. Not as ornate as our sat cats, but remarkably designed and strategically camouflaged. Green, the color of most plants, caterpillars and even some birds--is also my favorite color. Another hornworm and non-pest, is the ash sphinx, also found in Austin, and the ofen colorful white-lined sphinx. Unfortunately, disease, not insects, has destroyed much of my crop and if I don't get hornworms soon, I'm just going to abort about half of my plants!

Definitely not looking like butternut. Hope they taste good just the same. I too have had issues like this when seed is packaged. Sometimes I buy a variety and have found a plant or 2 comes up that is a different variety. In my case I presumed that the packaging line must not have run out all the seeds of one variety before they put in the next kind to be packaged. Dare we ask what the name of the seed company was that is on your seed packet? Just asking as your fruit looks like some kind of pumpkin.