Tiny Things, Seed and Weed.

There are plenty of seedlings in the garden this year, thanks to our recent rainfall.  For the past three years we've had few volunteer seedlings, and almost no weeds (there is a bright side to drought).  Seeds intentionally planted mostly shriveled up in the relentless dry heat.  This winter's rainfall changed that. 

I'm trying sweet onion seedlings this year.  A local nursery offers them, claims they are easy and that the crop is sweet.   Okay, we'll see.

The onions will make an odd contrast to their winter companion in the veggie patch,  ornamental sweet peas, which are growing very well this cooler, moister winter.  Flowers in a few weeks. 

After seeing wonderful performance from Hunnemannia fumariifolia (Mexican Tulip Poppy), I tossed seeds of it everywhere.  The seeds seem to require steady moisture to germinate--in those spots that have stayed moist through the too-long intervals between rainstorms, seedlings are appearing.  In the drier spots, not. 

Of course, if you are serious about seed germination, a seam in concrete is the best place.  Heat and moisture.  Hunnemannia fumariifolia seedling at the right,  the weedy invasive invader Brazilian Pepper, Schinus terebinthifolius at lower left.


Dandelion, California poppy, Salvia discolor.

In the weed department, four years after I removed the last Cercis tree, Cercis seedlings continue to sprout. 


Plenty of milkweed seedlings for the Monarchs, though the rabbits are mowing them down.  Bad bunnies.

The rabbits also mow the dandelions, though I wish they would finish the job.

A few lavenders emerge here and there, but they are never as nicely shaped as the selections, so they get pulled once they get about a foot tall--in the meantime, I enjoy the scent.  

A Gazillion seedlings of Scarlet Pimpernel weed, Anagallis arvensis.  Last year we went to a local tour garden and this was being grown as a cherished "native wildflower".  Ooooohhkaaay.  It was taking over.  It's trying to take over here, too. 

Burclover, Medicago polymorpha.  I remember the round spiked seeds sticking to my socks when I was a kid playing on the lawn.  I've resented burclover ever since. 

Some sort of mallow.  Malva parviflora, maybe.  Gets huge, like 6' tall if you let it.  I won't let it.  The orange Carex reseeds just a bit--that's one of last years seedlings that I placed on the slope. Not a weed, it's a gem. 

Speaking of last years seedlings,  the Agave seedlings are still tiny, but the Aloe capitata seeds are growing very well, and most of them look fairly capitata-like.  Blooms are years away.  

New Aloe seedlings this year:  I'm trying the seeds I got from Aloe deltoideodonta, which is in an isolated location, so I thought I might get pure seed, rather than a hybrid.  Seeds from this:

 I am curious to see if any of the seedlings will have the marvelous green and white striping of the original.  Maybe?  Too soon to tell here, too. 


And as to other tiny things, Mrs. Hummer, still on her nest.  More tiny things to come.