Seed Exchange

[Deleted]

Well, I said I would start this and I will. I am a crazy seed saver and I save far more than I could ever plant, even with a 10 acre piece of land. So I invite people to list any seeds they have here, for trade. Of course, we must respect the laws regarding the importation of seeds, and I would check your own country's regulations regarding this. But I don't think that trade within your own country's borders is restricted.

Obviously, not everything will grow everywhere, so I think everyone should check out Bixa's great links for zone hardiness worldwide.

Here is a really rough overview:



I would also caution about sending seeds of plants that are invasive or noxious or illegal or in anyway undesireable. Half of North America's weeds were brought here from other continents, and things can get out of hand. Even certain roses have become problems. But I think it will be fun to share horticultural information from our regions, what does well, what doesn't, and whether we have success in our respective gardens with the seeds we trade.

[Deleted]

And to start off: Camassia quamash, or Camas. I started off with just a couple of bulbs, and they are dividing, and the flowers themselves produce seeds that will flower in two years or so.



Read more about it here.

USDA Zone Hardiness: mostly 4, but they say 3 - 8 is a possibility.

[Deleted]

Vaccinium parvifolium. Red huckleberry, red bilberry, red whortleberry.

northernbushcraft.com.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/berries/redHuckleberry/1.jpg

Delicious little berries, grow best on rotting stump matter.

Hardiness: It says: Vaccinium parvifolium inhabits forests throughout the western coast of North America, including Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and California. It generally grows in coastal regions and west of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada. With a wide geographic range, V. parvifolium is also widely distributed at elevations ranging from sea level to 5,000 feet.

I have millions of these seeds. It sounds like they would grow in a wide range of climates.

[Deleted]

Damn, I don't think the city would allow a rotting stump on my windowsill!

[Deleted]

Great star Lizzy, thank you.
Camassia is very, very "iffy" here. There's one variety that did OK for me for a couple of years them succumbed to rot.
I would have to check on the huckleberry. I would really like to grow it here and have just the spot.
I am in zone 9b technically, but, because we are more semi tropical than much of zone 9, many specimens that do well in other places don't necessarily do well here.
We could easily be zone 10a in many instances.
It's very frustrating.
Early on when I really started to get into horticulture here, I learned the very hard way and ordered plants that were supposed to perform well here, and woe is me, they didn't.
Many a disappointment.

How do the various (800 species and counting) salvias perform there Lizzy?

[fumobici]

We can only grow the hardy ones here--at least as perennials. The absolute line in Salvias here seems to be Salvia elegans or Pineapple Sage which grows great as an annual but usually only sends forth its firecracker red flowers right before our first frost shuts down the display. It would probably do great in NO though.

[Deleted]

Well, I catalogued my seeds this year, and here are the ones I have so many of, I don't know what to do. I hate to waste them. I'll ship them to you, just send me a PM with an address.

Natives to the Pacific Northwest:

Red Huckleberry
Douglas Iris
Sweet Mountain Cicely
Lupins (don't know the variety)
Salal
Sitka Spruce (tree)

Non-natives:

Violet Columbine
White Nicotiana
Shasta Daisy
Rose Campion
Assorted Portulaca
Hollyhocks
California Poppy
Nigella (assorted colours)
Evening Primrose
Purple-Pink Yarrow
Beautiful big red poppies

[cheerypeabrain]

I have lots of seeds spare too...I don't know if the USA allows seeds to be imported ? does anybody know? I'm fairly sure that Australia and New Zealand have quite strict restrictions about seeds.

[Deleted]

  Probably not.

[fumobici]

I've got seeds from Italy via the post no problem. I wouldn't worry about sending them here, the worst that could happen is they'd not get through and that is probably very unlikely. I read that most of the cannabis seeds our legal recreational cannabis industry is built upon were sent from NL or the UK where they are legal to sell.

[Deleted]

Well, Marc Emery, Canadian cannabis activist, spent five years in US prisons for sending seeds there, so I would watch the dicey items. But I sent some seeds to Britain recently and the small amount I sent really didn't draw any attention to itself. I put them in a greeting card.

[Deleted]

I have sent seeds all over the globe and never had a problem. (Never sent cannabis).

I will compile my list sometime soon. Have to figure out what I have, I have soooooo many.

[cheerypeabrain]

Well this sounds like a plan.....how exciting

[tod2]

Just to show you folk how a successful seed exchange has worked, here are two out of three trees that survived a winter and are now going strong. They are the Sour-sop fruit seed Bixa send me from Mexico. I do have more seed and plan to start planting them this spring so they will have a good start before winter sets in.

Casimira sent me seeds of the Dutchman's Pipe but I have yet to discover where they were planted by my garden man. I have more so will also try to grow another batch!

[cheerypeabrain]

I've been through my seed tin and ended up chucking loads out because they were years out of date. Once I've decided what I am going to keep I'll post a list.

[Deleted]

I've got lots of these, wild peas, which fill up empty spaces in hedgerows very well:

[tod2]

Those are lovely Lizzy! I would love some. You can tell me how to go about it..

[Deleted]

Just send me a private message with your name and address, tod, and I'll mail them off to you. And I promise I won't have a hundred pizzas delivered to your door or give the CIA your address or anything...