Harvesting Zinnia Seeds

Mid-September and my Zinnias are still blooming. They are so pink andpretty. And because of them I still have some color in my garden. I want to tryto harvest the Zinnia seeds this year.

Look at all the Zinnias

I did a little research and here are the steps in harvesting these seeds.

1) You need to locate the dried seed heads from your zinnia plant. If theZinnias in your garden are mixed colors you might want to separate thedifferent seeds so next year you can plant the colors you want. The seed headsare the center of the color. Once dried, they should be brown and most of the petalshave fallen off.

2) You need to test the pod to make sure the seeds are mature. Break apartthe seed head with your fingers and the seeds should fall out easily into yourhands. The seeds should look like little arrow heads.

3) Each seed head will have hundreds of seeds. So collect as many dried seedheads as you wish and share the extras with your friends and family. Placeseeds in a bag or a container to keep them cool a dry. Don't forget to labelwhat you've collected.

4) Around 4-6 weeks before last frost you can start your seeds indoors orsow seeds outside after last frost.

I don't have much seed heads yet. So I'm going to wait for a couple moreweeks and I will then try to harvest them. I will post pictures of the processonce I get to it.

Anyone out there harvest Zinnia seeds before? Are the instructions listedabove accurate? Anything else I should be doing? If there is please let me know!

Seed head here but I don't think it's completely dried yet

 

 

Early Happy Birthday to Me - Orchid and Bromeliad

Since some of my family members are going on vacation soon they all decided to celebrate my birthday a few weeks early.

And my sister got me this. How sweet of her. She also remembers...I've always wanted an Orchid. I've own some in the past but I could never keep them alive. Hopefully now that I have a little more experience with plants I can keep this plant alive longer.

I believe she brought this beautiful container from Whole Foods. They use all moss when planting both the Orchid and Bromeliad. It seems kind of wet when I got it. And it's still very moist 3 days later. Roots please don't rot this time!!!

So anyone out there can give me some advice on how to take care of my new baby?

Orostachys Iwarenge - Chinese Dunce Cap

I brought these succulent at my local nursery this summer. I feel in love with the small blue grey rosettes. I planted this succulent in one of my hypertufa container that I've made. It worked well in the container.

 

Early August I've noticed the middle of the roseletts started to grow outward.

 

These pictures below were taken today. After doing some research I found out this succulent is starting to flower. I believe they will start to turn into pinkish conical spires. These spires can reach up to 6 inches tall. And the flowers will be pink and white. The sad part is that after flowering the plant will die. How upsetting. Hopefully it will self-sow so I will continue to have these beautiful flowers again next year.

 

Anyone else have these succulents?  Do they really come back from seeds the following year?  Please let me know!

Over watering my Bromeliad

I've owned this Bromeliad for over a year now. I was very excited was I saw growing pups (babies). And now with pups I don't know why I choose to over water it now. It seems the plant roots had rotted.  The mother plant and one of the pups had fallen off.

 

Do you think I can save these two plants? One pup is still attached to the roots. I wonder if I could keep this one alive.

 

Anyone out there that have experiences with bromeliads please let me know.

Here are two pups from my other bromeliads that I've harvested. Look how good they are doing. :)

 

 

Another Morning Glories Update

More and more flowers are popping out. And now I have a new color of morning glories blooming. White!!

Enjoy the pictures!