On a whim and with 20 seconds to go I bid on a job lot of flower seeds from e bay,I got them very cheap, and there are a lot of them. Of course I didn't read the ad,I didn't have time, so was not surprised when they came and were out dated, that is OK, not a complaint, it was clearly stated.
My question is, can anyone tell me which flower seeds need to be fresh. I know veggies but am useless with flowers.
They vary in date from 2004 to 2007
XX Jeannine
I planted some flower seeds Eric gave us for the sale..I thought they were so old, none would come up..sooo I planted them all..we now have 300 of one type of poppy, 200 of another poppy, 300 cornflowers..glad I didn't plant any more ;D
oh, yes, some of them went back to 2002
Obviously you would get better results with seeds in date but to be honest I reckon you will be ok with most of them, they have propigated seeds dating back several hundred years in seed bank trials so a few years won't make much difference really.
It depends on the seed. Many of them, like poppies and docks, will live almost indefinitely as long as they're not abused by bring kept in a heated room, etc. Others, like many umbellifers, or Himalayan Balsam, only last a year or two. A lot of flowers have to be planted absolutely fresh, but you don't see a lot of those on offer as commercial seed. Meconopsis, for instance, is a complete fraud as a packet from a GC has no chance of being viable.
I agree with Robert, it depends how the seeds have been kept rather than their date - remember that there are hundreds of seeds from the Victorian period and before that are still viable in seed banks - you can but try and be surprised
Jen, i was given some out of date seeds & i threw them up the back of the garden incase they were no good, WELL, i was overun with beautifull flowers of allsorts so go on give them a try i certainly would. I spent about 2wks replanting the different ones they all flowered. Mary. ;D
Oooh Rosebud, It did cross my mind to open all the packets and make a flower mix and scatter them,sort of like wild flowers but not..if you see what I mean, there are so may I am just not sure what I will do with them!! XX Jeannine
Jen, just mix a few packets up & sow them in a spare corner or a bald path, anywhere they look great all sorts flowering together. If you have an allotment you could always sprinkle a few on your way there think how pretty it would look walking along a flower path. Let me know what you decide i would be interested in the outcome. Love Mary. ;D