Geraniums, 1 week.

One week has passed since the last entry, and all 6 seeds I planted germinated.  They are doing very well, and in fact, this plant seems to grow the fastest amont all other ones I planted.

Roots are already growing out of the peat pallettes, so I will have to transplant these seedlings to pots sometime soon....

Buds, already!

I kept busy planting other seeds and weeding after rains and forgot about Paperwhite for a few weeks.  Yesterday (10/30), I noticed some buds!

 I planted the bulbs on 10/3/10, so it has only been 27 days.

Today (10/31/10), white flowers were popping out of the thin skin.  If I am  lucky, I will probably see the flowers tomorrow.  How am I excited!

Other Plants In My Yard

There are some plants I planted before starting this blog, so unfortunately, I don't have record of them. 

These are Pentas, aka Egyptian Stars. 

These are Plumerias.  I heard it will take about 2-3 years to see flowers when Plumerias are grown from seeds.  Sigh-- it's a long wait, but I know I will enjoy seeing them grow every day.

Of course, I have a Japanese Maple (Bloodgood) tree. While I want to achieve the 'cottage garden' like setting, I want to grow plants that remind me of my home.  So there.

This is the top tip of my Avocado (Haas) tree.  It is about 5-ft-tall and planted on the slope of my hilly backyard.  New buds are coming out here and there, and the tree seems to be happy as far as I see it.

Forget Me Not is doing fine.

It's been 15 days since the last entry on Forget Me Not.  Thanks to the rare heavy rains we had in the last few weeks in San Diego, my plants are doing well. 

In this picture, the 2 middle ones and bottom left one are Forget Me Not.  They are doing pretty well.  I will probably need to plant them in the yard - I have to decide where.

Primrose (Showy Evening)

I've actually tried Showy Evening Primrose earlier and successfully planted it in my yard but forgot to keep journal of it.  I just promised my bestfriend that I would give it to her to fill her nearly 3-acre yard, so I sowed the seeds again.

These are the Showy Evening Primrose seeds.  Very tiny, but each seed can grow to rather a tall plant.  I sowed them on 10-17-10.

Today, 10-24-10, is the 7th day, and a couple of the seeds germinated.  Look at them - seedlings are as tiny as the seeds.

SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Ferry Morse's PRIMROSE - Showy Evening (Oenothera Speciosa)

Seeds bought from: Home Depot

Origination of the seeds: USA

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: 21-28 days - Mine took 7 days.

*  Days to bloom: 120-130 days

*  Plant height: 8-14 inches

*  Grows best: Sun/Partial Shade

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: February -March - I planted in October

Sweet William

I like fragrant flowers.  I've heard Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) smell nice, and I heard it is easy to grow, even for beginners.  Also, I felt Dianthus is a must-have flower for me because of my Japanese heritage.  Dianthus is called "Nadeshiko" in Japanese, and "Yamato Nadeshiko" (Literal translation: True Japanese Dianthus) refers to an idealized Japanese women.  So, why not?

These are Sweet William seeds.  They are not too tiny, so I was able to count and sowed three seeds in each peat pallet.

One week later, I started to see seedlings.  Stems are very long - why is that?  Is this normal?

Another week past, and the seedlings started to have true leaves.  Very cute :)

After a few days from the picture above, I planted the seedlings in the 6-pack container I saved from other plants I bought previously.  I hope the extra room for their roots will help them grow faster.
 

After about a month since the seeds were sowed, Sweet William seedlings are slowly but surely growing.  This picture was taken today, 10-17-10
SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Ferry Morse's SWEET WILLIAM - Double Dwarf Mixed Colors

Seeds bought from: Home Depot

Origination of the seeds: France

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: 5-10 days - Mine took 7 days to germinate

*  Days to bloom: 60-90 days

*  Plant height: 6 inches

*  Grows best: Full Sun

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: September - April - I planted in September

Geranium

My mom had Geraniums in our yard, and I didn't like the plant because the leaves smelled funny.  However, as I see them in my neighborhood, I must admit the flowers are pretty.

I bought a packet of seeds that was on sale from an online seed retailor called Thompson & Morgan.  

These are the Geranium seeds that I bought.  Don't they kind of look like little bugs?!  I will plant all 6 and see how many will germinate.

2 of the 6 seeds I planted on 10/17 already germinated on 10/22.  It took only 5 days!

SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Thompson & Morgan's GERANIUM - Vogue appleblossom

Seeds bought from: Thompson & Morgan

Origination of the seeds: Holland

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: 7-14 days (at 70-75F) - Mine took 5 days (10-22-10).

*  Days to bloom: N/A

*  Plant height: N/A

*  Grows best: Full Sun

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: January - March - I planted in October (10-17-10)