Ornamental seed saving circle 2016

[sunloving]

Hello all, since many of us grow flowers, gourds and other ornamental things it might be fun to have a seed saving circle just for non edible things.     

I'd say we aim to swap in November to give us a chance to save extra seed this year.
Things I select for and find really hard to get from cheap seed mixes are
Single colours
Vase life
Good dried flowers
Tall, short super hardy growers.

I think there are three of us ATM so speak up if you fancy it. Grow enough seed to share and swap for other folks seed in nov?

X sun loving

Taking part and ideas for saving so far are;

Sunloving, deep pink poppy, Yellow tall antiryhinum and helichysums in colour mixes, euphorbias, skyline super tall sunflowers, green nicotiana langsdorfii, achillea cerise queen
Jayb, Blue Bells, Cowslips, Bishop's Children dahlia
Markfield rover, Love lies bleeding, asters, carnations, larkspur mix and giant blue, scabious, dahlias, poss Californian poppies and carrots. Scabious, black millet,
Hector, wallflowers, hellebores, nasturtiums, white and blue Borage
Deb P, calendula species such as 'Indian Prince' and 'touch of red', agastache various, pom pom dahlias, angelica
Robert_Brenchley, checking his seed stash.
Ed dibbles, Californian annuals and other ornamental plants.
Silverleaf, nasturtiums, aquilegia, calendula
Debs, ox eye daisies, ragged Robin, Jacobs ladder, Malva (white), verbascum

Wants list
Sunloving, astrantia


Edit to add names and varieties.

[sunloving]

[Jayb]

Me please, though I've not got a plan at the moment 

[markfield rover]

Yes please, I grow most of my flowers on the plot and I do see them as having to earn their place .

[Hector]

I grow named wallflowers, hellebores, nasturtiums....so nothing especially exciting  ???

[Deb P]

I'd like to contribute, I grow calendula species such as 'Indian Prince' and 'touch of red', agastache various sorts, pom pom dahlias, angelica if you want height!

[Hector]

Adding: white and blue Borage.

[markfield rover]

A little of what  I have sown...love lies bleeding..asters...carnations...larkspur mix and giant blue..scabious .....dahlias... I could go on.....

[sunloving]

Great! It sounds like between us we can rustle up something. Is there a standard set of rules for sharing used by the edibles that we could abide by, maybe three varieties in! Or something like take out the number you put in or something simular?

Let's aim to have a list in a months time
Maybe we should start simple with easy to grows/ germinate

I was thinking deep pink poppy,
Yellow tall antiryhinum and helichysums in colour mixes and whatever else is a good doer, maybe a couple of euphorbias.and skyline super tall sunflowers.
Exciting!
X sun loving

[Jayb]

Are you going for a Circle sharing or a Pass the parcel type swap?

Circles - everyone gets an equal share of seeds. Each person puts in enough pre bagged and labeled seed for everyone in the group (plus an extra in case of a missing parcel). A bit more time consuming pre bagging lots of packets, plus seeds need to be sent to a central point before being shared. 2 postage costs, there and back, but the parcels are smaller than one large one being sent around. Everyone gets their parcel at the same time.

Pass the Parcel - normally one person has enough seeds to start a parcel and it is passed around the group in turn, each person taking and giving seeds. Different selection available as it travels around, not everyone may have the chance of getting something they wanted. It's quicker to put in a large bag of seeds rather than divide them up. People only take the seeds they are interested in rather than the full selection shared. The parcel is larger, but only one postage cost. People wait to get the parcel as it travels around, if it does go missing in the post, no back up.

[markfield rover]

My penny worth is -circle- and  I don't mind being the hub but others may fancy a go...
I think a catch-up in a month is a good idea . I did grow Californian poppies last year and was pleasantly surprised by their vase life and crossing over to edibles second year carrots that flower last well too.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I haven't been frowing anyhting exciting, but I'll look through my seed collection and see what's there that I can grow out.

[ed dibbles]

Can I join the circle too. 

I'm growing a number of Californian annuals this year so hopefully shall have some seeds to save as well as others. I try to save seed from as many kinds of ornamental plants as I can so should always have something.

[Jayb]

Yayy, exciting 

[sunloving]

Brilliant, I think circle would best to but since I'm in Eire it's not ideal for me to be the hub.
X sun loving

[Jayb]

Sounds like it is a Circle then, I've stickied the thread to make it easier for everyone to find.

Sunloving, postage to you may not be much more than to the UK, but sending a SAE might be a bit tricky? Paypal might be an option but would seem more work for you?

My penny worth is -circle- and  I don't mind being the hub but others may fancy a go...
I think a catch-up in a month is a good idea .

Brilliant, top offer 

I'd prefer not to be doing any organising for this one. Though happy to amend/edit posts if they need updating with information.

[Jayb]

and crossing over to edibles second year carrots that flower last well too.

I had some flowering purple carrots last year and they are so pretty too, the flowers are tinged a purply colour and look great alongside the white ones. I'm aiming to save some mixed coloured seed this year.

I thought I might have a better picture but I can't find it at the moment. It gives an idea of how they looked though

[markfield rover]

Ooh lovely Jayb  I have sown purple carrots but being impatient I am off to replant some . I am also sowing asparagus for a filler. We are going to have some gorgeous arrangements.

[sunloving]

That's lovely and a brilliant idea, I've had in my mind a while now to have a look at leek flowers because the bees love them so much and they are so easy to grow. And have brilliant vaselife . Love that we can try non traditional ornamentals. X sun loving. Ps thankyou for the sticky. I'm happy to send out the parcels no need for paypal. It's just sending to me will be slightly more expensive . I think up to 100g is £1.35 rather than 65p.

I've got some green nicotiana langsdorfii germinated this morning and achillea cerise queen fingers crossed those tiny things make it to seed set as they are lovely.
Exciting to be swapping new varieties I think the first year is a good chance to swap good doers with specials being a treat. Maybe we could have a wants list to to stimulate some sed saving.
For instance I have been hopeless at astrantia and wondered if anyone might be able to save some fresh seed? X sun loving
Sorry for rambling nature of post !

and crossing over to edibles second year carrots that flower last well too.

I had some flowering purple carrots last year and they are so pretty too, the flowers are tinged a purply colour and look great alongside the white ones. I'm aiming to save some mixed coloured seed this year.

I thought I might have a better picture but I can't find it at the moment. It gives an idea of how they looked though

[Silverleaf]

I'm not really experienced with flowers at all (and I have very few) but I could perhaps do something easy like nasturtiums, aquilegia, calendula, etc?

Mostly I only grow things that I can eat (or that my rabbits can eat)!

[Silverleaf]

Also happy to act as a hub if being in the UK helps!