"Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders." --Henry David Thoreau The Green Postbus

Sunday

This page for Virginia Bluebell seeds and my other seeds is not current... rather, please go to THIS PAGE  » »
































































































































































 PAGODA DOGWOOD SEEDS/BERRIES FOR SALE: seed sales are finished for this year 2012. Call again around May or June of 2013 to pre-order 2013 seeds which are usually ready in July. 100+ seeds/berries for $20 ppd. (I am usually generous in that I include more than I promise.) I have not done a writeup on this species; please do your own research on these northern native dogwoods. Wikipedia article is good; they don't show a full pic of the tree but is accurate on most of what I have experienced with these dogwoods. Mine are wild type, white flowers. The berries from the mature trees are FANTASTIC food for birds in early summer. And of course the architectural shape of the tree is beautiful.



IT ONLY HAPPENS ONCE A YEAR -- SPRINGTIME!
Rare, hard-to-find
VIRGINIA BLUEBELL SEEDS FOR SALE

Virginia Bluebells - Mertensia virginica
for sale SEEDS - AVAILABLE EACH SPRINGfor sale
200 Va. Bluebell seeds: $20.00 shipping included
500 seeds: $40.00 postpaid


You won't find these seeds in seed catalogs or in your local garden shop--
Seeds of the beautiful, native Va. Bluebell need to be planted immediately after they are shed by the plant in the spring. That's why you won't find them for sale in the supermarket or garden center! They also need to go through a long period of cold treatment (winter) before they will sprout. They do not sprout until almost a year after they were shed by the plant. And then it takes about two to three years after that before they reach blooming age!
I collect my seeds in my woodland garden in SW Wisconsin and ship them to you immediately after they have been shed by the plant in late spring. You will plant them upon receipt, but they will not actually sprout until the following spring after they have gone through their first winter. They will sprout and then grow throughout that first spring but will not flower until their second or third spring. After that they will bloom every year for you, and so each spring from then on they will set more seed for you.

Great for in between hostas or in the shade garden! Virginia Bluebells are "spring ephemerals", which are springtime plants that die back in the summer and seem to disappear... the roots remain, but you won't see the plants again until the next spring. As you can see from reading the paragraphs above, they take a long time to get established but they are definitely worth it!
Detailed planting and propagation instructions will be provided when you buy seeds from me. My Va. Bluebells are descended from the southwestern Wisconsin gene pool.


HOW TO ORDER:  
call Janet Wissmann ~ phone 608-624-5511 - 9am-9pm CST
(I am near Soldiers Grove, Southwestern Wisconsin between Prairie duChien and LaCrosse)




SEEDS To order seeds, please phone me around March-June, and I'll then email you a bill and you can pay with your credit card using PayPal, or you can just send a check (payable to Janet Wissmann). WI sales tax and postage are included. When I mail your seeds, I'll include detailed instructions on how I get the best germination.
______200 seeds / $20.00 ppd
___________500 seeds / $40.00 ppd



ROOTS BUY ROOTS AND YOU WILL HAVE FLOWERS A YEAR SOONER! Normally it takes the perennial Va. Bluebell plants two to three years to reach flowering age when you start them from seeds. But you can get a head start by buying dormant roots from me that are already a year or two old. I raise my roots for at least one full season in pots, watering and fertilizing them so they grow at their optimum. When they go dormant by the end of that first summer, the roots are about 3/4" long, and can be safely shipped to you in that dormant state. I will pack them in moist peat and mail them to you. The plants will possibly bloom the next spring, or for sure they will bloom the following year, provided you have planted them in a place they like. (Remember: gardening with native woodland wildflowers requires patience. Bluebells usually take three years in the wild from seed before they will bloom.) As you can see from the photos here, Virginia Bluebells are definitely worth the wait! In a given year, phone me as early as July or as late as November  for roots -- first come first serve as there will be a limited qty. of roots each year.
10 roots / $40 ppd 
_________ 20 roots / $75 ppd



HOW TO ORDER:  
call Janet Wissmann ~ phone 608-624-5511 - 9am-9pm CST
(I am near Soldiers Grove, Southwestern Wisconsin between Prairie duChien and LaCrosse)





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An excellent book is
Wildflowers: A Guide to Growing and Propagating Native Flowers of North America (The New England Wild Flower Society) by William Cullina.
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Saturday

bluebell pics and hort. info

This page for Virginia Bluebell seeds and my other seeds is not current... rather, please go to THIS PAGE  » »
































































































































































just bluebell pictures + hort info








MORE SEEDS ARE SHOWN BELOW - CALL FOR AVAILABILITY










Basic Horticulture - Virginia Bluebells, Mertensia virginica, are one of the very first species to emerge in spring in the Upper Midwest of the U.S.--so early, in fact, that the plants often get covered with a late snowfall. These tough, perennial woodland natives are treasured by American native plant gardeners because of their beautiful sky-blue flowers--a rare color in spring when yellow seems to be everywhere in the landscape. As spring wears on, bluebell stems gradually droop outwards and the leaves begin to yellow. By late June the mature plants have faded away and will remain dormant until next spring. This ephemeral nature makes Virginia Bluebells perfect for planting in between late-emerging shade plants such as hostas. As beloved as these shade-loving spring natives are, it's impossible to find their seed for sale in garden centers or catalogs. That's because the seeds need to be sown immediately after they are shed by the parent plant and they need to go through a winter chill period just before they sprout the following spring. You'll see plants for sale in nurseries, but since the plants die back early in the summer, the retailers cease carrying them. (Just try selling a one-gallon pot of soil, with no visible life in it, for ten dollars!)
That's a shame, really, because, as any native plant enthusiast will tell you, what lies beneath that seemingly bare pot of soil is a piece of azure blue sky just waiting to burst out the following spring--even bigger and more beautiful than it was the year before. The best bonus of all is that Virginia Bluebells will self-sow over the years. Even though it will take two to four years for your self-sown seeds to mature into blooming plants, the wait is by all means worth it. We gardeners know about patience!
When choosing a location for Virginia Bluebells, keep in mind the conditions under which they typically grow: under trees; along riverbanks; in other forested, moist areas (not swampy); along upper edges of floodplains and riverbottoms; in moist forest edges; and besides brooks and streams. They do very well in moist shade gardens filled with hostas, daffodils, bleeding hearts, and celandine poppies. In fact, most plant books repeat the mantra that they are great companions for hostas, and they are correct! Plant bluebells where they won't be disturbed or mowed until late June. This will give adult plants time to self-seed. With careful attention, you can collect their seeds and plant more colonies of these wonderful plants in other areas of your garden. Here's how.

DETAILED PROPAGATION INFORMATION FOR VIRGINIA BLUEBELLS, FROM SEED
Below is a photo of bluebells that have finished flowering. You can see the spent blossom tips where the seeds are produced (click on picture). Up to four fat, crescent-shaped seeds are produced per flower. It is from plants like these that I collect my seeds in my garden to send to you.


Directions for sowing seeds:
Clear a patch of soil in a moist shaded area. Within two or three days of receipt of your seeds, sprinkle them into that spot. The seeds need to be sown immediately, although they won't actually appear to germinate until early next spring. You can also keep them in moist sterile sand for a little while, at room temperature. Do not refrigerate.
Sow the seeds thinly (6 to12 inches apart), or else you'll feel guilty about how close they are by the second year and you will spend a lot of time transplanting, or god forbid, even plucking. I use the term feel guilty because I consider these to be so precious! You can cover them with a little bit of sand or potting soil to mark the area. Water them, cover them with a few leaves for the rest of the summer, and aside from keeping the area fairly moist, you can forget about them until autumn or early spring.***

MORE SEEDS ARE SHOWN BELOW - CALL FOR AVAILABILITY The Following Spring:
The tiny seedlings don't have much strength to burst through a mat of wet leaves, so be sure to rake away most of the fallen leaves in the area in late autumn or as soon as the snow melts next spring. The eagerness of the seeds to germinate as soon as the snow melts is amazing, so don't wait too long to rake your leaves!

The seedlings are easy to distinguish: the leaves have a slight bluish/purplish cast. (click on pictures to enlarge.)
You can easily transplant the seedlings while they are in this cotyledon stage. But be sure to do it as early as possible. Any disturbance later in the growing season might cause them to go prematurely dormant for the rest of the year--which is not good, of course; you want them to stay green and happy as long as possible.

You can even transplant a few into pots and coddle them through June with weak liquid fertilizer and plenty of moisture and sunshine. This additional attention might give those plants enough energy to bloom a year earlier than they normally would.
A little bluebell seedling, sporting a flag-like first true leaf, will only be about 2" high by the end of its first spring.

It will take two to three more years for your plants to bloom for the first time. If you fertilize them and keep them moist throughout their first growing season, they might flower sooner.

After mature plants have flowered, the stems begin to droop and the green leaves begin to fade. At this point the seeds will ripen quickly. Watch your plants daily at this stage. Once you notice some of the seeds darkening from green to brown or black, snip off the flower heads into a bucket to catch the seeds before they fall. Your collected seeds will separate from these cut flower heads within a few days as they begin to dry, and any seeds that were still green will mature to black as they dry.
In future years, keep an eye out in your garden each spring for stray, volunteer seedlings. Babies may show up in surprising places!

So! A Virginia Bluebell typically takes three years to bloom from seed.But, oh, those gardeners who appreciate the azure blue of these lovely North American natives don't seem to mind the wait!




*** A slightly more elaborate way to plant your bluebell seeds: Prepare a nursery.
First, rake away all mulch or leaves from a bare, level, moist area. Then lay down a single layer of newspaper and moisten it, and then spread out good, weed-free potting soil about 1" thick over the moistened paper. Sprinkle the bluebell seeds on top of the potting soil, and gently run your hand or a rake over them to bury them a bit, tamp them down lightly, and then gently sprinkle with water. Keep the area fairly moist all throughout this year and into the fall. One way to keep the area moist, and to keep weed seeds from falling on the area during the summer, is to cover with a sheet of plastic and top off with a little mulch (to keep the sun from heating it up). But be sure to remove the mulch and plastic the minute the snow melts next spring because your bluebell seeds will be eager to sprout!

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS FOR BARE ROOT PURCHASES
I occasionally offer bare root plants at this website. Plant your bluebell roots in groups as soon as you receive them, spacing roots at about 1-2 feet apart. In a couple of years most roots will have multiple stems and you'll be glad you spaced them. If you are not sure how to orient a given root, just plant sideways and you will have good luck. Cover them so the crown is barely covered with soil. If you are planting on a hillside, I suggest you plant them at the top of the grade so that when they eventually set seed most of the seeds will be naturally deposited below the existing plants.

Tuesday

celandine poppy seeds, and other seeds

This page for sales of my Virginia Bluebell seeds and my other seeds is not current... rather, please go to THIS PAGE  » »



















































































































































































































































 
Celandine Poppy - seeds for sale - ordering time is between April and June each year.  Call to order.
CELANDINE POPPY - Stylophorum diphyllum
These bloom at the same time as Va. Bluebells; when paired together the display is stunning. And just like Va. Bluebells, these seeds cannot be allowed to dry out and need to be planted right away. I will pack them in moist potting soil for you and mail them.

Delicate and rare, clear yellow poppy flowers with uniquely-shaped glaucous (bluish) leaves.
The Celandine poppy is a native plant and is a great shade garden plant. It is a long-lived perennial which will re-seed and make more plants for you over time. Mature plants are 12-18 inches tall and 12-16" wide. They are lovely when planted with the sky-blue Virginia Bluebell because they bloom at the same time.

Like the Virginia Bluebell, you won't find Celandine Poppy seeds for sale in garden centers or grocery stores, because the seeds of Celandine poppies must be kept moist and must be planted right away. So they will not survive if they are dried and placed in those seed packets you see for sale on racks in stores. And individual potted plants in garden centers will be $10 each or more --if you can find them. One reason you don't find them for sale very often is that they don't transplant well.

Like the Va. Bluebell, Celandine Poppy seeds won't germinate until the following spring, and will not flower that first year, but most woodland and native-plant gardeners are very aware that patience is a virtue! These are long-lived plants and will flower every year once they are mature.

The seeds I'm offering for sale are from my own plants which bloom around April where I live in SW Wisconsin... my seeds are usually ready in June. I will pack your seeds with moisture, and will mail your seeds to you as soon as they are shed by the plant. You will need to plant them ASAP so they don't get moldy.

TO PLACE AN ORDER:
Please phone me, Janet, 608-624-5511 and I will  ask you whether you wish to pay with PayPal or send a check. Once you pay, I will mail the seeds to you, postpaid, as soon as they are shed by the plant. You will receive 200+ seeds, plus growing instructions, for $20 postpaid.

Note that this offer is only good for a limited time in the spring when the seeds are ready; I do not store seeds here longterm, so you will need to order seeds from me around April to June. I'll try to update here if I can, too.


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