So the package sat in the hot garage for years and years. I kept meaning to throw the seeds out on the slopes in autumn, just as the winter rains began. Somehow I never got around to it. Then as the years passed, I kept meaning to throw the package out, but never did.
Finally when we were redoing the west slope, I decided it was time to finally throw out those old, old seeds.
Then it occurred--why not throw them on the slope? Too old to grow, but they would add to the organic material--better there than in a landfill. So I threw them on the slope.
We ended up with three plants, which is three plants more than zero. Better late than never.
I'm also going to be sprinkling all of my old seed packets around the garden this year. If I get three plants from each packet as you did, I'll be quite satisfied! (Although some of my packets are a decade old...)
ReplyDeleteIt will be fun to see what comes up. That package of lupines was from 2000, I think.
DeleteCongrats! If I had done this there would have been zero. Seeds hate me.
ReplyDeleteAwwww! Surely not!
DeleteThey're beautiful (even when there are just a few). Maybe they'll self-seed and fill your slope with springtime blooms in time. They've naturalized in spots along the roads around here but I've yet to get them to establish in my own backyard - maybe a timing problem there too, or simply insufficient rainfall.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read they are "pioneer plants", preferring to grow from disturbed earth and adding nitrogen to the soil. Which is why we see them along the roads. Woolly Blue Curls are also a "pioneer" plant--I did not know that.
DeleteI hope they bloom long enough so that they overlap with the CA poppies. The blue and orange together would be delicious. The poppies look to be another 10 days or more before the flowers start.
Good idea to put all the old seeds in the garden and your lupins were really wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, better in the garden than in the trash.
DeleteYour story brings hope. Lupines are usually bad news here, as they hate our summer heat and humidity,but a couple of years ago we sowed seed in late summer and they were glorious in spring. By late May we pulled the spent plants. Not bad for $2.69.
ReplyDeleteWell, this is a CA native lupine, of which there are several, so it comes up with the winter rains and dies as the heat arrives in late spring. Those huge hybrids that grow in--Scotland or Maine--those are truly amazing. But, can't grow Aloes in the ground in Scotland or Maine...
DeleteBeautiful. Lupine and poppies... heaven.
ReplyDeleteI just ran across a bunch of seed packets purchased years ago at the UC Riverside Botanic Gardens -- thought they were lost in the move. Wrapped in a plastic bag, so probably all dead, but this makes me want to give them a try.
Give them a try! You never know.
DeleteThey look beautiful dear Hoover!
ReplyDeletexoxoxo ♡
Thank you Dianne!
DeleteAaah, you never know when life extinct from tiny seed, from those 3 lupins you can have many in some years! Beautiful colour :-) I tried lupins in my garden but they didn’t like the shady conditions I think.
ReplyDeleteSeeds are amazing--a dried up little chip that turns into a plant. It's one of the most magical things there is, don't you think?
DeleteThe resilience of nature wins out yet again.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope the win streak never ends!
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