topic Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree in Garden

Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

x Hedge — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 21:34:29 GMT

I just got back from Dollar Tree with my early spring seed packets. 4 for $One Dollar!

I like their cool temps selection. I grabbed radishes, chives, chard and Batchelor Buttons. Think I'll do radishes in the kitchen window boxes just to see something growing when I open the kitchen blindes every morning. I grabbed a bag of their potting soil to top off.

Picked up a new wind sock and a couple wind spirals.

These are always so pretty but the connections are what you'd expect for one $buck. I always reinforce the socks with a stronger twine and a few well placed stitches before setting them out.

They must've stocked these seeds and yard items yesterday.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

sweetee2 — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 21:46:56 GMT

I saw these seed yesterday. Do they grow Ok?

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

Sweetbay magnolia — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 21:52:35 GMT

Very cool! I've started using fish emulsion on my houseplants, since the days are lengthening. My African Violets (all potted in my home brewed compost, I might add) are blooming. I have box of really pretty pansies blooming up a storm by the garage, and I see crocus and day lily foliage.

Do you direct sow the bachelor buttons?

I'll look for seeds the next time I'm out. I want to do spinach and lettuce. Seeds are cheap anyway, but I mean really? 25 cents a pack is dirt cheap!

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

x Hedge — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 22:24:43 GMT

@sweetee2 I've had luck with the herbs and cool season veg like radishes. I wish they'd had kohlrabi.

I wouldnt expect top-of-the-line tomatoes or peppers, or other things that are finicky. But radishes grow so quickly and are good enough for my salads. They had a nice bush wax bean but it wasn't the variety I was looking for.

Yes, @Sweetbay magnolia, Batchelor Buttons/Centaurea direct sow a week or 2 before last frost. They're pretty blue and make great dried flowers at end of their season. But their foliage is a bit coarse, so they're better viewed from a distance if planted alone. A nice way to "soften" that and bring them closer is to mix them with Love in a Mist/Nigella, also shades of blue, also sown in cool weather, but with finely divided "lacy" foliage.
But both self sow and need to be controlled.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

JustJazzmom — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 22:50:27 GMT

@x Hedge wrote:
@sweetee2 I've had luck with the herbs and cool season veg like radishes. I wish they'd had kohlrabi.

I wouldnt expect top-of-the-line tomatoes or peppers, or other things that are finicky. But radishes grow so quickly and are good enough for my salads. They had a nice bush wax bean but it wasn't the variety I was looking for.

@Yes, @Sweetbay magnolia, Batchelor Buttons/Centaurea direct sow a week or 2 before last frost. They're pretty blue and make great dried flowers at end of their season. But their foliage is a bit coarse, so they're better viewed from a distance if planted alone. A nice way to "soften" that and bring them closer is to mix them with Love in a Mist/Nigella, also shades of blue, also sown in cool weather, but with finely divided "lacy" foliage.
But both self sow and need to be controlled.

Bachelor Button fans look for the cultivar 'Amethyst in Snow' -- a purple center with white edges. Just lovely in my garden below the bird feeders in 2 spots.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

x Hedge — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 23:06:08 GMT

@JustJazzmom, do you cut and dry them to enjoy as dried flowers? I spend the winter looking at flowers I grew the previous summer.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

JustJazzmom — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 23:19:30 GMT

@x Hedge wrote:
@JustJazzmom, do you cut and dry them to enjoy as dried flowers? I spend the winter looking at flowers I grew the previous summer.

No, I don't. I do like the color they give to that area. I find that they have a sporadic bloom during the summer into early fall. Mine are on a Southeastern exposure.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

Sweetbay magnolia — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 23:22:30 GMT

@x Hedge, I love out of control self sowers! I will have to seed in some of the centaurea! Thanks for the cultivar rec, @JustJazzmom. Next I need some Verbena bonariensis - that stuff'll go mad!

I am fortunate to have a columbine that is astonishing for it's tenacity, in my area, which is not a high elevation. It pops up in my rock wall and the woodland and is breathtaking in the late Spring, in bloom. It's in shades of mauve and the best is a true deep purple. The foliage is persistent (all summer) and it regenerates like mad with even a hint of mild winter weather. I let it grow wherever it wants.

And muscari (grape hyacinth), oh it is something else in the border and in the lawn and in the roadside ditches.

I will buy seeds tomorrow.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

JustJazzmom — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 23:47:09 GMT

@Sweetbay magnolia, The only columbine that did successful self seeding for me was the double purple Biedermeier mix variety. I had to remove it because it was self seeding in between some daylilies.

Verbena bonariensis we call verbena on a stick!

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

Sweetbay magnolia — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 00:50:21 GMT

@JustJazzmom, could be Beidermeier! It's not a double, though. I suspect reversion.

I lived on a mountain and the Aquilegia canadensis grew wild. I have loved it ever since.

Yes, verbena on a stick! Now I have to get some joe-pye in there somewhere, too. And my vernonia (NY Ironweed) my gawd the darn thing has been known to get 8' tall. Last year I experimented with cutting it back, to branch, and it was more sturdy but we always seem to get a late summer thunderstorm, the winds blow from the north, and boom! there goes the vernonia. Butterflies and bees love it (even fallen to the ground).

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

marilla barb — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 17:37:58 GMT

I haven't purchased seeds from the dollar store because I didn't think the quality would be what I want. I did buy 4 new plastic hummingbird feeders though. For $1, at the end of the season when the red color fades to pink, I just toss them out and buy new.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

StraytoStay — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 00:34:18 GMT

I've bought seeds at a discounted outlet before and they did just fine. Most packets have dates on them to go by.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

x Hedge — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 04:29:10 GMT

@marilla barb wrote:
I haven't purchased seeds from the dollar store because I didn't think the quality would be what I want. I did buy 4 new plastic hummingbird feeders though. For $1, at the end of the season when the red color fades to pink, I just toss them out and buy new.

I haven't the patience or discipline to scrub out those hummer feeders regularly as they should be @marilla barb. I would rather grow a swath of red Monarda they can feed on while they're here.

No, you're not going to get top quality seeds at the dollar tree. But you can get some nice colorful filler to surround the plants you really feature.

Seems their Zinnia seeds did nicely to, as long as we don't get a solid week of rain & fog.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

lovesrecess — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 01:26:37 GMT

I buy the box of impatiens seeds at my Dollar Tree and sprinkle them around my larger blooming impatiens....cover them with soil and they usually sprout and grow and give my all -shade flower bed a lot of extra color a little longer...

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

lulu2 — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 21:42:31 GMT

@sweetee2 wrote:
I saw these seed yesterday. Do they grow Ok?

@sweetee2

My husband grows (a lot) of giant sunflowers along our fence. Dollar Tree's 4@$1 usually grow better than Burpee's at $3 a pack. The fact that he plants about 20 packs makes Dollar Tree's a more appealing investment.

Re: Spring Arrives at Dollar Tree

Laurel013 — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 16:33:34 GMT

i bought some seeds, too...on sunday. an introduction for my granddaughter.