iDJ got me a heated electric propagator. So far I’ve killed a lot of corn, grew a few tomatoes and a few super hot pepper plants growing in it. The heat makes stuff shoot up instantly or rot to mould instantly, so I’m still figuring it out.
Last week, I popped in some sunflower seeds, and also something I figured would be hard to grow: Buddleja, or Buddleia – otherwise known as the butterfly bush. I got the seeds free from my mother-in-law, of course. And I’m damned glad about the free part! We were at a garden centre over the weekend and holy shit – €4.99 for a pack of seeds!?!? No. Even worse that they wanted €7.99 for one plant I can grow from a tuber or bulb for €5 for three. Anyhoo, it is the most expensive place around, but also the only dedicated plant place around.
I’ve rambled.
The Buddleia. It’s a damned bush. So I expected some rather sturdy seeds in my free packet. Ah, no. They were tiny; so very tiny they were smaller than grains of sand. My only choice to get them started was to stick my damp finger in what looked like dust, dabble it on top the soil, and hope.
Hope worked. Or my green fingers did, who can say for sure? Either way, the tiny little sumbitches are growing.
I’m not sure how to explain just how microscopic these seedlings are. Do you see the tiny white things? Those are beads of what we used to call styrofoam. Not sure what it’s called in these post-CFC days. No matter, the beads themselves are tiny. Wee. Itty-bitty. Minuscule. And my buddleja bushes are way, way smaller and so very fragile looking. I have no idea how I will ever transplant these buggers!
Have you seen a Buddleia bush? They are quite large!
(Photo credit http://www.seedterra.com)
For true scale, I also planted sunflower seeds. Just take a gander at these ginormous things:
The sheer wonder I feel about growing from seed, hopefully visualised. If these tiny babies live, I will have enormous bushes for decades from the wee sprouts, but only one late summer batch of flowers from the big mofos.
heretherebespiders 
I’ve got exactly that shade of Buddleia in front of the window that’s in front of my desk. I get swallowtails there when it’s warmer; a nice distraction to lure the eye from a screen if I fart around online too long. Never thought much about what the seeds would look like. Yike.
Swallowtails are so beautiful! Nothing that cool here, I’m afraid. But if I can keep them alive, I will be taking butterfly photos like crazy.
Impressive. Really – they came up and are growing -cool! (Singing old MAcDonald had a Farm in your honor)
Gorgeous plant. I think we have some in the neighborhood.
I’ve got a couple of sunflower plants growing by the fence…so far not dog foot has crushed them…but it’s early in the season.
Have a great weekend
Good luck! I’ve planted them for hubby, the sunflowers, since he likes them so.
Interested to hear how they do – it does seem odd that the seeds are so small. Don’t have the patience for growing from seed as I either kill them or end up with far too many plants 😉
Too many? What’s that? Hahaha! If I end up with extra, I have people who will gladly take them off my hands. Spreading the green love!
Ah! This page has been open since about five minutes after you posted and I still haven’t commented.
Isn’t it cool that a bush starts with powder? Nature is impressive 🙂
Yesterday, I finally found a cactus. I needed a new belt and decided to visit Target for one (and ended up buying new pants and sucks too). I saw their garden department. No plants, just accessories, but it inspired me. I decided to go at Walmarde to see if maybe they have cacti now. They had few, but these were for little girls. They were small, cute, but had no thorn. A renovation material store has a garden department. I went there and, oh!, cacti. A lot of them. I can’t believe I had not considered visiting there before. Obviously, that isn’t their specialty. All the plants there are identified by their Latin name, but cacti are only identified as cacti. I picked one that looked good. The pot was obviously too small (plants are always sold in too small pots, aren’t they?) and I was quick to notice it was in black soil. Who the hell grows a cactus in black soil? So I bought a larger pot, made of terracotta, and a bag of playing sand. There, I have a cactus now.
We are cold again today. With huge hard winds of 50 m.p.h and the promise of one to three inches of snow. It is so cold I had to start a fire in the woodstove. Man, I am ever sick of winter.
✿♥ღLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Cool