My seedlings have matured

I thought I would show you a picture of this seasons seedlings, that have grown up somewhat. They are now about 12 to 15 inches tall, and the Salvia coccinea has started to flower again (I cut all the first flower buds off in January).



I have to come clean. Having suggested that seeds shouldn't be sown till 1st of March, these were sown in mid November last year in a light box. Its been a struggle to get enough light for them, because they were chucked out of the box in January, and I have raised another four batches in it since. They are all varieties of Salvia.

 

Shows how much i know PeterS, i was pleased with my little things! Not fair that you didn't tell us you were growing in a light box.

Can you tell me (cos i don't know unlike some others) what those photo's are of please?

cheers

 

Salvia's Sandra

 

Borrowers, they are all Salvias. But most of them are unusual and generally not commercially available. The seeds were given to me by a friend and I have never seen them fully grown. The ones displayed include:-

S algieriensis - an annual
S coccinea - 'Forest Flame' - similar named varieties are easily available. Thats the ones in flower
S astrocyanea - a tender perennial from Bolivia - grows to 6 foot
S darcyii - sometimes seen on sale
S dolichanta - hardy perennial from China
S macrophylla - I have four specialist books on Salvias and this is not mentioned in any of them
S patens 'Pink Ice' - a pink variety of the normal blue plant
S splendens - splendens is the vulgar, dumpy little red bedding plant. This is a red variety that can grow to over six feet!
S splendens - a pink variety that grows to five foot

You are probably as lost as I am - however I am really looking foreward to seeing them in flower. And I have another 25 more varieties on other windowsills!

 

You certainly like your salvias Peter, you really are becoming an expert on them.
Can I ask what it is that attacts you to salvias.
The way you are going you could end up with the National; collection.

I very nearly bought an argentea this morning, but the wooley leaves combined with the wet weather put me off.
The splendens that grows to 5 or 6 ft sound very interesting.

 

My seedlings are still quite small, although they have multiple leaves now.
They are still in seed plugs of 24 per tray.
Should I be watering them from below?
Should I plant them onto individual pots?
Some have suffered from damping off, but most are still growing, but slowly.
I have 2 trays of Viola fancy shades
1 tray of Viola Midnight runners
1 tray of delphiniums
1 tray of pansy's

This is my first attempt at growing from seed.
The sunflowers I grew are going like crazy, but they started in individual 4" pots.

Please advise.

 

I am very much a newcomer to Salvias Pete, but its fun learning. I visited a lovely National Trust garden (and house) at Coombe Fishacre in South Devon, where they had a lot of Salvias that I had never seen. That got me interested. I was looking for seeds for Salvia uliginosa, which I couldn't find anywhere on the net, and a Robin Middleton on another forum very kindly sent me some. He's the chap who recently sent me seeds of 33 different varieties. This is his site http://www.robinssalvias.com/

This is a picture of the giant Salvia splendens. It was discovered in these people's garden. I only hope it grows as big in Yorkshire.


Bashy. Its personal preferance, but I like to repot all seedlings into individual pots. Once they are an inch high I water them from the top, but taking care never to let the water hit the seedling (or it will knock it over). If a seedling is knocked over, you must help it upright again. It it is left in contact with wet compost it could rot.

 

Thats really is some salvia Peter, I look forward to some pics of yours at that stage.
Surely that is not one seasons growth.

 

where on earth will you keep them until the weather is suitable,we have two months of iffy weather to come.wish I had a light box your Salvias look wonderful,

 

Yes, I think that is one year's growth. Technically S splendens is perennial, but they are always grown as annuals. The small ones I have kept for a second year never did as well.

Joyce- I don't know!!! :confused: I only started to use my lightbox last November - for these seeds. I knew that it was far too early and that I would have problems later, but I was swept away by the novelty. Let me re-phrase that - it was a carefully controlled experiment to investigate the possibilities that the box could offer.

 

i cant wait tillmy seedlingsare all big and strong

 

PeterS :D Yeah, really a controlled experiment!

You are impatient like the rest of us. Come on, own up

Going to look up salvias now. Don't know what that means yet. Will do after though.

cheers

 

Would like to know how yours get on this coming year Peter.

 

Will let you know Pete - should have some pics

 

Oh you cheater Peter sooo not fair! :(

But I'll keep my fingers crossed that your early start is rewarded with a lovely stunning display of flowers. Hel.xxx.