Gazania sprouts!

Tonight I decided to peek at the gazania seeds I started last week (the packet said to keep them in the dark for 7 to 14 days so I was deliberately not looking at them). It's a good thing I did because as you can see they have all sprouted, and it looks like they've been up for a while. They're awfully etiolated but hopefully they'll be able to recover now that they're under the lights.

Intriguing mystery bulb

Last year, the landlords' kids and I rescued a bunch of bulbs, mostly of unknown species, from a garden down the street that was being replaced by sod by the new owner. We're looking forward to seeing what comes up this year. Today I noticed this beauty; I have no idea what it is. Anyone recognize it?

Tagetes tenuifolia 'Lulu': sprouts

Tagetes tenuifolia, known in English as "signet marigold" and in French as tagète tachée, is an annual native to Mexico and Central America. The low-growing plants have feathery foliage and flowers in various shades of orange, dark red, and yellow. This cultivar has single lemon-yellow flowers.

Here are my marigold sprouts a week after sowing. (I know, all the sprouts I posted today look almost exactly the same...)

Solenostemon scutellaroides 'Wizard Mix': sprouts

Solenostemon scutellaroides, known in English as "coleus" and in French as coléus or coliole, is a tender perennial native to southeast Asia widely grown for its colourful foliage. Cultivars are available with various patterns of white, pink, red, yellow, brown, black, and green leaves.

Here are my coleuses (colei?) a week after sowing. They're too small to be showing their colours yet.

Reseda odorata: sprouts

Reseda odorata, known in English as "sweet mignonette" and in French as réséda odorant, is an annual native to the Mediterranean. It is grown for its very fragrant but not especially showy greenish flower spikes.

Last week I sowed a few mignonette seeds indoors under lights. Now most of them have sprouted (not sure if the others are laggards or duds). I am very curious to see what they smell like once they reach the flowering stage.

Echinacea purpurea: sprouts

Echinacea purpurea, known in English as eastern purple coneflower and in French as echinacée pourpre or rudbeckie pourpre, is a perennial native to eastern North America. It is used as a herbal medicine and is becoming popular as an ornamental plant. The flowers are like big purplish-pink daisies with conical brown centres.

Last week, I posted about the poor bedraggled echinacea sprouts that had been languishing in my fridge since last year. I planted them and put them under fluorescent lights, and a surprising number (8 or 9) of them seem to have survived! As you can imagine I am thrilled!

Dianthus chinensis 'Double Gaiety Mix': sprouts

Dianthus chinensis, known in English as "Chinese pink" or "rainbow pink" and in French as œillet de Chine, is native to east Asia. The flowers are in various shades of pink or white, often bicoloured, with zigzag edges as if cut by pinking shears.

Here are my dianthus seedlings, only a week after sowing!

Eranthis hyemalis: first growth

As I mentioned earlier, I was worried that my winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) wasn't coming back this year, since the neighbours' snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) and crocuses are already up, and my aconite hadn't shown up at all. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to see this tiny, not-yet-opened winter aconite emerging in front of the house this morning.

I rooted around under the leaves and found two more baby Eranthis. (And then I tucked them in under their blanket of leaves once again.) Maybe tomorrow I will have a photo of a fully-opened bloom to post!

(I'm not sure what those long thin leaves are, but they are definitely not the aconite, which has leaves like a clown's ruffle under the flower.)

Can these Echinacea sprouts be saved?

On March 18, 2008, I put a bunch of Echinacea purpurea seeds in a plastic bag of damp potting mix to cold moist stratify in the fridge. They were supposed to be there for 6 to 8 weeks, but my fridge being what it is I didn't find them until August or September. By then they had sprouted, and they say that if they sprout while being stratified they should be planted immediately, but I didn't think I could put them outside so soon before winter so I just left them in the fridge.

Today, about 6 months later, the sprouts look much like they did back then. At least some of them look like they might still be alive! Here they are, sown at last. I just set up some fluorescent lights for starting seeds, so they will get a chance to grow a bit inside while we wait for the weather to warm up. If even one of these sprouts survives, it will still be a bargain price for Echinacea, since the whole packet of seeds (Gardener's Choice from Canadian Tire) was less than a buck!