Seed Shopping
This is definitely the time of the year to buy some seeds for the next summer. Usually I start buying seeds as soon as they appear at the shops and when the first seed catalogs arrive. So I have been doing that for a couple of weeks now.
But seed stores online exist all year round, so I have been purchasing seeds even during the summer and in autumn. Today I have been shopping on eBay. I like buying on eBay, because sometimes you find a cultivar that doesn't exist at your local stores. I do buy online at "real" seed stores as well (such as RaraVäxter or Plant World Seeds) so it's not exclusive in any way. Actually I have been buying seeds for year online as well as at supermarkets, garden centers and practically from anyone who is willing to sell seeds at all.
Last summer I bought seeds from some Finnish hobby gardener online. They were all perennial plant seeds, so it will remain to be seen if they come true from seed. I know it's more than likely that especially Aquilegias will be something else than the mother plant. My favourite find last year was Touchwood Seeds and all those Aquilegias I wish to have in my garden next summer unless all the little seedling die during the winter. I kept sowing Aquilegias all summer last year, so I haven't been buying any new Aquilegia seeds yet. Now I'm interested in different poppy cultivars instead, both perennial and annual species.
I had some lovely annual poppies in my garden last year. Perennial cultivars were a disappointment, because all the seeds that were supposed to produce pink poppies turned out to be orange. Even the Papaver orientale cultivar I bought as pot plants, proved to be orange and not burgundy that they were supposed to be. But the annual Papaver somniferum cultivars were spectacular! Not all of the seeds grew up to be what they were supposed to be (especially those bought from various eBay stores) but some of them were even better than expected.
Today I have been shopping on an eBay store called Southern Seeds and this is what I bought:
There are oriental poppies, Bellis, annual poppies, larkspur, zinnias and California poppies, Gaillardia and Monarda. I hope they will be as spectacular as promised and that the seeds will be fresh. The amounts were quite small, like 25 poppy seeds per bag, so if the viability rate is low, I won't have too many plants. Bellis is a biennial plant, so I will only be able to observe the result the following year.
But seed stores online exist all year round, so I have been purchasing seeds even during the summer and in autumn. Today I have been shopping on eBay. I like buying on eBay, because sometimes you find a cultivar that doesn't exist at your local stores. I do buy online at "real" seed stores as well (such as RaraVäxter or Plant World Seeds) so it's not exclusive in any way. Actually I have been buying seeds for year online as well as at supermarkets, garden centers and practically from anyone who is willing to sell seeds at all.
Last summer I bought seeds from some Finnish hobby gardener online. They were all perennial plant seeds, so it will remain to be seen if they come true from seed. I know it's more than likely that especially Aquilegias will be something else than the mother plant. My favourite find last year was Touchwood Seeds and all those Aquilegias I wish to have in my garden next summer unless all the little seedling die during the winter. I kept sowing Aquilegias all summer last year, so I haven't been buying any new Aquilegia seeds yet. Now I'm interested in different poppy cultivars instead, both perennial and annual species.
I had some lovely annual poppies in my garden last year. Perennial cultivars were a disappointment, because all the seeds that were supposed to produce pink poppies turned out to be orange. Even the Papaver orientale cultivar I bought as pot plants, proved to be orange and not burgundy that they were supposed to be. But the annual Papaver somniferum cultivars were spectacular! Not all of the seeds grew up to be what they were supposed to be (especially those bought from various eBay stores) but some of them were even better than expected.
Today I have been shopping on an eBay store called Southern Seeds and this is what I bought:
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