What's in YOUR seed order?

[cyprinella]

I'm still going through the catalogs to figure out my veg order but I fell down the wildflower seed rabbithole. I ended up with a large bag of native wildflower seed mix from American Meadows with which to do some Concern Citizen Tired of Looking at Non-Native Weeds gardening over some finished road construction sites in my neighborhood. Anyone else have something cool on order?

Comments

[cyprinella]

Ooo, my husband was asking for hummingbird attractors so I'll have to look at that one. Right now I've got some cardinal flower but it's going to be somewhere where he's not really going to see them. I've got space for other ornamentals closer to the feeders though.

[theora]

If you've got space for a woody climber, scarlet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is an amazing hummingbird attractor. You will need a sturdy structure of 8+ ft to train it on, however. There's also scarlet runner beans, climbers too but annual and not so heavy, so you can grow them on poles or trellis net. And the beans are edible.

[sam_gardener]

Scarlet runner beans are reaiiy yummy, they've become my favorite bean.

[cyprinella]

Yeah, townhouse lot so there's not a lot of space for permanent stuff that's not feeding me. Runner beans might be worth trying. Are they a dried bean or can you eat them as green beans?

[theora]

I believe you can eat them both dried and fresh, but I've only eaten them as fresh.

[sam_gardener]

I've only eaten them as green beans but they're apparently also good dried, here's a link https://agardenerstable.com/2013/01/30/a-bean-worth-drying-the-scarlet-runner/ . I want to try that this year.

I've grown Scarlet Empress and several different varieties and colors from Territorial Seeds. I thought they aii tasted nice but can't remember if any were tastier than others.

[cyprinella]

Hm. I may have to give those a go. I was looking at what Southeast Seed Exchange had to say about runner beans because everything in Baker Creek said that they're cool weather beans. SESE basically said that here in Virginia they won't set pods until fall when temps drop, but if that means they'll spend the summer flowering instead, that's actually good!

[sam_gardener]

They were happy in Seattle for sure, though they make some beans here in southern Oregon during the heat of summer. We do usually have cool nights, which may be a difference. As long as they make flowers you can't lose. :)

[katertot]

Oh so that's why I never got any! I tried them for a few summers and thought something was eating them. Mine didn't flower much, either. :( Iowa has hot summers.

[cyprinella]

Hmmm, good to know! Virginia does hot (90F and higher) and humid. I'll have to ask around.

[gairid]

Agastache is definately a good plant for hummers! They also love salvias of all types (I like S. guarantica 'Black & Blue' because of the deep blue color, so I plant that - also S. elegans (Pineapple Sage) if you live in zone 7 or 8, because it blooms late(usually late Sept. and into October and if you are in a cooler area, the hummers have usually begun their journey south. It's worth planting, though---bright red color later in the season, good height (up to 4') and the leaves smell deliciously of pineapple.

Here is a close-up of Agastache (aga-stacky)

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Here's a shot of it in the pot - the background tall green plant is Aloysia citrodora (lemon verbena) and blue salvia (S. farinacea) 'Blue VIctoria' and a little upright fuchsiawhish I later dug out and replanted because it was being overtaken). The agastache has a bit of a unkempt appearance and works better if it has another plant to help support it (thus the lemon verbena)



This is a shot of the back garden in late August - cardinal vine (Ipoemea sloteri) -it's on a bit of fence that you can't really see in the shot-, Gallardia grandiflora "Oranges & Lemons" and the S. guarantica 'Black & Blue' te hummers like both cardinal vine flowers and the salvia.



Another annual hummers love is Penta lanceolata - best grown in a pot and placed where you can observe; they need to be deadheaded fairly often.



Other plants they like - lantana, bee balm, hosta flowers, diascia and mints of any kind when they flower though be careful where you plant it lest it take over your part of the world. They also visit butterfly bush.

Aren't ya glad you asked? :)

[cyprinella]

Yes, thank you! I'm not great at ornamentals so this is helpful!