Gardening by Mistake

The flooding we had this past weekend washed away part of my pocket prairie. That is, I’d put down a thick layer of cardboard topped with leaves in an attempt to smother all the nasty stuff growing there already (like poison ivy– what fun!) before I planted my prairie plants.  That seemed to be working beautifully. The water washed away the leaves and some of the cardboard. Once I can get out there again without walking through water an inch deep, I’ll see if I can’t repair some of the damage. The fence at the far end of the garden caught a lot of the leaves, so I might be able to haul them back to the prairie area.

The fact that I hadn’t been able to plant my prairie seems like a blessing in hindsight. I’ve been frustrated that I couldn’t get that planted this year but there’s an upside. It would be worse to get it planted and lose a bunch of plants to the flooding. The prairie didn’t get done this year for two reasons: the first was that the cardboard and leaves hadn’t decomposed as I’d thought they would. Hopefully that won’t be the case next year, and if it is, I’ll consider removing the cardboard since it will have been smothering things for over a year at that point. The other reason was that I had the darndest time getting the native grasses to grow, and at a certain point it became personal so that I’m determined to do it myself rather than buy plugs or small plants.

I did end up getting big bluestem to grow… I thought. In fact, it grew much more vigorously than the little bluestem. And when it got big enough, I couldn’t see that it was different from some invasive weed grasses. I just don’t know enough about the various grasses to know for sure. The big bluestem seed came from a trade, however, rather than a commercial source, so I worried that it was mis-identified. I certainly didn’t want to plant an invasive non-native grass in my garden. I have enough of that to pull as it is! So that went bye-bye.

So I’ve come up with a different approach to getting my prairie. I’m going to try some native grasses that are supposed to be easier to grow. And I’m going to keep trying the big and little bluestem at the same time.  As I said, that’s become a personal challenge. I’ve ordered the seed and I’m going to get busy with it as soon as it gets here. If I can get some germinations, the plants will still have most 4 months for growing.  They might be large enough for planting next year.

A reader wrote and asked for information for germinating liriope muscari.  A study was conducted at the University of Kentucky to determine the “optimal temperature requirements and stratification period required to break dormancy in Liriope muscari.” The write up of this study and its findings is a PDF found here. This is the information upon which I based my treatment of the liriope seeds I received in January.

I’ll have more to share about my experience with growing liriope from seed in a few weeks.  Believe it or not, I just potted up more of the seeds from my original batch in January. These were handled differently and I’m waiting to see the results before I write more on it.

A good general write-up of liriope can be found here.

I found myself wishing multiple times that I’d sown more of some varieties of seeds. I was reflecting that I’m stingy with my seeds— I never want to sow more than I can use. I’d feel like I was wasting them. That song Every Sperm is Sacred just started going through my head and I had to laugh at myself. Next year, I’m going to live large with the seeds. Even if it just about kills me.

When it comes to seeds I’ve harvested from my own garden, I don’t worry about using too many. It’s just the ones I have to buy. Some are more rare than others and come in smaller quantities, often for more money. Those I’ll still be careful with. But on the others it’s going to be more Darwinian gardening for me. There’s a lot of that going on in my garden already.

True to the name of this blog, I’ve got two new gardening mistakes to confess. One is bad enough, but two! Geez.

I decided to re-arrange all my pots today, which is how I became aware of the problems. One of the storage containers now has only pots with sprouts. The other storage bin has pots where nothing has sprouted yet. Those are now the pots I’ll be checking anxiously every day.

The first mistake is one most gardeners make and, in fact, I made this mistake with a seedling this past fall: not labeling a plant. I know exactly what I was thinking: “I’ll remember what that is because it’s the only one.” Ha! I do not remember what seed that lone pot contains and I can’t figure it out from a quick check of my records. I suppose I could try to mark off every container against my records, but that’s assuming my records are completely accurate. Who knows? I have to laugh at myself because I imagine those seeds sprouting and me having no clue what it is until it blooms. (And maybe not then! Most of these seeds are plants that are new to me and quite a few are uncommon natives). And, being perennials, it could be 2 or 3 years before they bloom! If it germinates. I’d like to think that, having done this twice now, I’ve learned my lesson and won’t do it again. I suspect, though, that I’ll end up in a hurry again at some point and succumb to the temptation to skip the label because “I’ll remember what that is.”

My other labeling mistake? I’m actually not sure where it went wrong. I used a sharpie to write on pieces of an old Venetian blind. That’s not an uncommon way to label plants. I didn’t think I’d need to worry about the sun fading the labels since the pots are inside clear storage containers. It might be condensation washing the labels, I’m not sure. Whatever it is, I’ve got to get those re-done ASAP. A couple I looked at tonight were frightening faint. I’m not sure I’ll be able to read one of them. (Then I’ll have two mystery containers, instead of one.)

I have a row of about 20 Graham Thomas roses. They are heavy hip producers. I’m not interested in growing hundreds of baby Graham Thomas roses, so I thought I’d offer these as a trade. In particular, I’m hoping I can trade for other OP rose seeds. (So far, no luck although I have made a trade for some pretty pink asters).

That prompted me to think about putting together my “have” and “want” trade lists. I pulled out my box of seeds that I don’t intend to use this coming growing season and started writing them down. Oh. My. Gosh. I had no idea how many seeds I have! I think I have almost the entire Thompson & Morgan line! Okay, maybe not quite that many, but embarrassingly close. And not just from T&M, either.

The worst of it was that as I looked at most packets, I’d find myself thinking, “I should grow these this year!” The only problem is, of course, that these seeds were in my “reject” bin. These were the seeds I’d set aside as not being seeds I wanted to grow or that didn’t fit in with my plans for the coming year. I have another entire shoebox-sized container full of the seeds I do intend to grow. My seeds set aside for that purpose already number more than is realistic. And now I’ve got a whole new pile of seed packets that look so enticing. What am I to do?

I was so overwhelmed by my list, that I haven’t posted it yet. I think that’s a good thing. The last thing I need right now is more beguiling seeds from trades, like those pink asters headed my way.

As promised, this is an update to my seed order from May 12th.

On July 29th, I posted my experiences to date with Hardy Perennials. They were not good. On that day, I spoke with an actual person, although not the guy who was supposed to have mailed my seeds to me. I was told I would get a call from them the following day.

I did not get that call, the following day or any other day. On the 31st, I called again. I told the poor man who had to deal with irate people like me that I had not gotten the promised phone call. I was told I would get an e-mail that night. I did not.

On the afternoon of August 7th, I received an e-mail from Paul (the owner) telling me that my seeds had been shipped. Now, I’d been told this once before and never received my order of seeds. I was skeptical that I’d get them this time, as well.

My seed order from May 12th finally arrived yesterday (August 11th), a mere 3 months later and far too many weeks into the growing season to be of any use to me this year. (I’m very unhappy about that, too). I ordered 14 packets of seeds. One seed was out of stock, which left me 13. As others have reported when they’ve waited too long and had to keep after him for their orders, Paul included extra packets. There were 22 packets in my order. I don’t know if it was a substitution or an honest mistake, but the “Buxton’s Blue” geranium I ordered was not included; g. sanguineuum nanum and g. viscosissiumum— which I did NOT order— were. I love hardy geraniums and I had picked out the three I ordered quite deliberately. I have a single Buxton’s Blue that I grew from seed two years ago and I had hoped to add others. The viscosissiumum has a very northwestern range and I don’t know if it will even live in my area. As difficult as it was to get my order at all, I don’t feel like trying to get this fixed. I’ll just go without more Buxton’s Blue, I guess.

The seed packet that was out of stock was an allium mix. In lieu of that, he included packets of three varieties of allium. My guess is that this largely replicated the allium mix I ordered. This was actually an improvement over my order since now I’ll know what each plant I’m growing is and I can plan on where to put it. With the mix, it was just chance as to what grew where. I did get my callirhoe seeds— the original reason for ordering from him to begin with.

So, if you feel like you want to order some of those hard-to-get seeds from Paul, my caution to you is that you’d better be prepared to do two things: 1) wait a long time and 2) harass the guy by phone. Don’t wait as long as I did. And don’t rely on e-mail, as I did. (Mistakes, both of them). I don’t think he reads his e-mail, so if there is a problem, he will be unaware of it and you won’t know that.

Thursday (7/24/08) I called Specialty Perennials. Not surprisingly, I got an answering machine. I left a message stating that my May order hadn’t arrived and I wanted an explanation and either my seeds or a refund. Of course I had no response.

I called again this morning (7/29/08). I spoke to a man who I believe, based on the reviews of others, must be the guy’s father. When I gave him my order number his immediate response was “Oh, that’s an old order!” My reponse? “Yes, I know, and that’s why I’m calling. Where is it?”

Here’s the funny thing: he thinks it got lost in the mail. Now, I know the post office can lose things, but I find it interesting that if you read the reports on Garden Watchdog the post office seems to lose a good percentage of Specialty Plants orders. Odd, that. Must also be the post office’s fault that Specialty Perennials doesn’t respond to (and may not even read to begin with) customer e-mails reporting problems, asking questions, etc.

The man I spoke with today said I will hear from them tomorrow. We’ll see. I’ll certainly let you know.

This is my personal experience with this vendor, so I can’t tell you what kind of service you might receive. I wouldn’t want to chance it, though, if I were you after reading this. Ordering from Specialty Perennials (hardyplants.com) was, in my case, a big mistake. Unfortunately for me, I ordered before checking the Garden Watchdog section of Dave’s Garden. (Click here to read what the Garden Watchdog has to say about Specialty Perennials). Had I done so, I would have placed a different (smaller) order— if I ordered at all.

On May 12th, I placed an order. The website said to allow two weeks. I did that. No seeds arrived. On May 30th, I sent an e-mail asking about the status of my order. I got no response.

On June 11th, still having never gotten any kind of response ever from Paul at Specialty Perennials, I sent a second e-mail titled “CANCEL MY ORDER” (in all caps, hoping it would catch his attention). Included in the e-mail was the invoice and order information and a note explaining why I wanted my order canceled. For one thing, I had just lost a month of growing time. Anything I started at that point would be struggling to grow during our most brutal hot weather.

Again, no response… until July 3rd. Out of the blue, I received an e-mail telling me that my order had shipped. Notice that this is weeks after I cancelled my order. (Does this mean I wouldn’t have to pay for it?) Oh, really? As of July 13th my phantom shipment still had not arrived. I sent another inquiry. No response. Now I know the post office isn’t always held in high regard, but I’m quite certain a package mailed to me from Minnesota does not require three weeks to reach Missouri.

On July 15th I sent my final message titled, “Garden Watchdog: Should I File a Negative Report About You?” I bet you can guess what happened: Nothing! So, here I am today warning the rest of you.

I did call the guy this morning. (Garden Watchdog is the only place I found his phone number. That should make the customer hesitate). Not surprisingly, I didn’t get to talk to anyone but had to leave a message. What do you think are the chances that I’ll get a response, much less my seeds?

The unfortunate appeal to this company is that it purports to carry seed varieties that are unavailable elsewhere or at least very rare and hard to come by. I stumbled upon this company in my search for callirhoe seeds. (I’ve since given up on ever getting those, so I pilfered three seed heads from some callirhoe I encountered at two different locations recently).

I will post an update if there is ever anything to tell you all. Otherwise, once again, learn from my mistake!

Update:

I did find the following report which may be of interest, as well, at RipOffReport.com.