Last summer, I grew bedding begonias (begonia semperflorens) from seed. This wasn’t my first attempt. The first year that I grew bedding begonias from seed, I scattered the seeds in a punnet and covered them with seed raising mix. The germination rate was poor, probably because the seed raising mix was too thick for covering such fine seeds and they struggled to push through the surface. The seedlings were stuck together and the roots became damaged when I tried to prise them apart later on when transplanting them into 6-cell punnets. Thanks to some advice from the extremely helpful John McCullough, the owner of Egmont Seeds, the New Zealand mail order seed supplier that I purchased my seeds from, I managed to perfect my propagation technique last year and was very happy with the results. My favourite colours are bronze leaf white and pink and green leaf white, so I stuck to varieties that fitted this description. All of these were in the Egmont Seeds Commercial Catalogue, which is available from the company upon request. They will send you a link or you can ask if you can purchase a hard copy. This is the catalogue that commercial nurseries use and is different to the catalogue on the website and which is posted to home gardeners every winter. If you order from the catalogue year after year and meet the threshold of the minimum spend, they will send you a complimentary copy by post. Last year, I grew the following varieties from seed:
It is possible to find bedding begonias at garden centres in 6-cell punnets or as potted colour. This is ideal if you only have a small garden or haven’t grown bedding begonias before and want to see if you like them or not. If you need a lot of plants then it is much more economical to raise them from seed, especially since plants have become much more expensive since the pandemic. If you require a lot of plants that are the same colour, it is definitely better to propagate plants from seed as garden centres may have limited colours and numbers of plants. Don’t forget that other people go to the garden centre too and may have already purchased some from the tray, so there might not be enough for your requirements. If this is the case, you could try asking if the garden centre can order what you need from the grower. Here are my top tips for growing bedding begonias from seed:
In the picture above, you can also see some other plants I raised from seed last summer. Behind the trough is Malabar Spinach. To the right are some Climbing Cobra runner beans. Infront of the trough are African marigolds. I have recently written a blog post about growing marigolds, which you can read here if you want.
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Last summer, I grew quite a few different marigold varieties from seed and I thought it might be helpful to share some tips. Unfortunately, my favourite variety, a traditional red-orange marigold called Durango Flame, was unavailable last year but it was an opportunity for me to try growing some other varieties. I raised the following marigolds from seed last spring:
They are all African marigold varieties which are taller and have quite big heads compared to other marigolds. I purchased these from the Egmont Seeds Commercial catalogue, which is available upon request from Egmont Seeds if you live in New Zealand. If you live elsewhere, please check if seed suppliers in your country stock these varieties if you would like to grow them. You might not necessarily be able to find them on the shelf at your local garden centre, so try reputable mail order seed suppliers. I planted all my marigolds in troughs and some different shaped containers because I ran out of room, as the garden beds occupied all my dahlias and veggie seedlings and were very full. But marigolds do make a great bedding plant and look nice planted along borders. They are also a very good companion plant as they help keep insects off other plants. When I was a child, one of our neighbours was a rose aficionado and they comprised her entire garden. She always planted marigolds along the edges of her garden beds and explained to me that was why she did that. It also looks really nice when marigolds are planted in this way. Unfortunately the display shown in the photo was very short lived as we had a terrible summer in Auckland. I think my plants only looked like that for a week or two. There were cyclones and floods which did a lot of damage to my marigolds and they never quite bounced back afterwards. But in normal circumstances, marigolds have always provided me with a display which lasts several months until it starts getting cool in autumn. Tips for growing marigolds If you are new to gardening, you could always purchase a punnet or two from the garden centre to see if you like growing them. If you have been gardening for awhile and are comfortable with and enjoy propagating plants from seed but have never grown marigolds before, you could always purchase a small packet of seeds from either a garden centre or a mail order seed supplier, which usually costs a couple of dollars. If you wish to plant a lot of seedlings, it is always more economical to raise them from seed. You can also get bigger packets of seed if you purchase your seeds from a mail order wholesale or commercial catalogue. This also ensures that you will have enough of the same variety to complete a border. Garden centres may only have a limited number of plants and other customers might have already purchased some from the tray, so there might not be enough for your needs. But if you are time poor and money isn’t an issue, you could always ask your garden centre if you can order large quantities. They might be able to help you and it never hurts to ask nicely. Bigger packets of seed can also be helpful if you are running a plant nursery and selling plants, as I have done in the past. Growing marigolds from seed also enables you to grow varieties which are not available in garden centres. I generally find that plants propagated from seed are stronger and end up performing better when planted outside than punnets purchased from the garden centre. I think one of the reasons for this is because seedlings raised yourself are not exposed to so many different temperatures, whereas seedlings sold at garden centres started out in a nursery with artificial heating and lighting, before being transported to the garden centre and cared for on shelves. By the time you take them home, they have been exposed to so many different places and temperatures that they can end up quite shocked and not perform that well when they are eventually planted outside. I always sow marigold seeds on my heat pad in spring, as I have found that the warmth helps them to germinate at a time of the year when it is quite cold. But for the first time, I tried sowing the seeds in 198-cell seedling trays, with one seed per tiny cell. The germination rate was excellent and it helped the seedlings to form a plug, making it very easy to pluck them out and transplant them into 60 and 72 cell seedling trays to grow a bit more, before they were large enough and it was warm enough to plant them outside. After having great success using this technique, I don’t think I would ever go back to scattering the seeds in a punnet filled with seed raising mix again. It’s very fiddly separating the tender young seedlings and you risk damaging the roots in the process. Another tip I would like to share is to protect young seedlings from slugs and snails as they really love marigolds. This also applies to seedlings kept in your greenhouse and nursery, if you have one for raising seedlings. As it gets warmer, we always leave the doors of our greenhouse open. Despite the joke about snail pace, you would be surprised how far and fast slugs and snails can travel! They can be pretty determined when they have made up their mind that they really want to go somewhere. Even if your seedlings are stored on a shelf or higher surface, they can climb, too. Slugs and snails will also happily crawl into containers, so don’t forget to use some form of protection if you are using them to plant your marigolds in.
This is my final post in a series of blogs about the tulip growing trial I conducted last winter. In this post, I will focus on the peony tulip varieties that I grew. All of these varieties (except for Menton Unique which sold out really quickly and I had to source from another supplier) were kindly supplied by Bulbs Direct, whose generous discount made it possible for me to conduct such an extensive growing trial. It’s not too late to order tulip bulbs for planting this season but to avoid disappointment, I highly recommend placing your order when the catalogue is first launched online, as popular varieties sell out very quickly. You can sign up to their newsletters so you are notified when the catalogue is uploaded to the website. It is usually around mid-January, which is not usually a time when people are thinking about planting spring bulbs. Peony tulips Last season, I grew the following varieties.
Verona This is a very early flowering peony tulip with short stems. It is yellow in colour and is very pretty. Double Price Double Price has short stems. It is another early flowering peony tulip variety. Columbus This is another early flowering peony tulip. It is bright pink and is one of my all-time favourite tulips. Columbus has long stems and is perfect for picking. Highly recommended! Wyndham Wyndham is an extremely beautiful purple peony tulip. It flowers early in the season, usually around the same time as Columbus. It has long stems and looks great in a vase. Flash Point This is a mid-season peony tulip variety. Menton Unique This is a late flowering peony tulip and is one of my absolute favourite varieties. Menton Unique has incredibly long stems. Highly recommended! Renown Unique This is another late flowering peony tulip and is the sister to Menton Unique. Renown Unique has incredibly long stems. I recommend using a plastic floral sleeve when arranging them in a vase as they tend to flop over. Ridgedale Ridgedale is a new variety which I grew for the first time last season. I was very impressed. It is a rich, red colour and is late to flower in the season. It looks beautiful in a vase. Red Princess This was the second to last of all my peony tulips (and tulips generally) to flower, around mid-September. Red Princess has short stems but looks beautiful in a smaller vase. Orange Princess
Orange Princess was the last to flower of all my tulips and is the sister to Red Princess. They also have short stems and are suitable for a smaller vase. This is the ninth post in a series which covers the tulip growing trial I conducted last winter and spring. In this short post, I would like to cover the two parrot tulips that I grew and in my tenth and final blog post, I intend to cover the peony tulip varieties that I grew. All of my tulip bulbs (except for Camargue and Menton Unique, as they sold out really quickly) were sourced from Bulbs Direct, whose generous discount made it possible for me to conduct such an extensive growing trial last season. It’s not too late to order tulips for planting this season if you haven’t already done so. They still have a great range available on their website. If you missed out on any varieties you were after, I highly recommend placing your order as soon as the spring bulbs catalogue is launched online, which is usually in the middle of January. You can sign up to their free newsletters so you are notified exactly when they go on sale. Extremely popular varieties such as Alibi, Camargue and Menton Unique can sell out very quickly so it pays to move fast if you want to grow these varieties. Just a little reminder that Bulbs Direct will happily pre-chill your tulip bulbs for you in their chiller if you live in a climate with mild winters, such as Auckland. Just pop a note in the comments section when you place your order. They will dispatch your tulips at the correct time for planting, so you can’t go wrong. The parrot tulips I grew the following two parrot tulips last winter.
Mascotte Mascotte is a late flowering tulip. It has short to medium stems and is very pretty. Irene Parrot
Irene Parrot flowered soon after Mascotte. It is also very pretty. This is my final blog post about the single flowering tulip varieties that I grew last season. It is not quite my final post about the tulip trial that I conducted last spring, as I still have to cover the peony and parrot varieties that I grew. Nearly all the tulips in my growing trial come from the mail order bulbs supplier Bulbs Direct, whose generous discount made it possible to conduct an incredibly extensive trial spanning 49 different varieties. If you haven’t ordered tulip bulbs yet, there’s still time to do so. I used to plant mine towards the end of May but you can even plant them until around mid-June, which is what I did last year as I received my order a bit later than usual as the owner had to self-isolate and was unable to send my order out until he returned to work. I think I had my best tulip season ever last year, so planting a bit later than usual must have worked well. In this blog post, I will cover both bicolour and the princess tulips. Bicolour tulips Last season, I grew the following bicolour single flowering tulips
Dow Jones Out of all the bicolour tulips I grew, Dow Jones is probably my favourite. It has short stems and is really pretty. The red and yellow contrast is incredibly striking. It flowers early in the season. Leen Van Der Mark This variety is similar to Dow Jones in colouring, but has longer stems. It is also an early flowering bicolour single tulip. Karlijn Karlijn is an early flowering bicolour tulip with medium stems. It resembles Dow Jones and Leen Van Der Mark in colouring. Flaming Kiss This is a mid-season variety with medium stems. Flaming Kiss has quite an unusual colouring compared to other tulips I have grown, both in this trial and prior to that. The Princess tulips I grew the following two Princess tulips:
Princess Irene Princess Irene flowered late in the season, in early September. It is very pretty and has short stems. Pretty Princess Pretty Princess flowered around the same time as Princess Irene. It has very short stems too, but looks lovely in a vase like Princess Irene. This is Part VII in a series of blog posts about the tulip growing trial I carried out last year. Just a little reminder that almost all of my tulip bulbs came from the New Zealand mail order bulbs supplier Bulbs Direct, whose generous discount made it possible for me to carry out such an extensive growing trial encompassing 49 different tulip varieties, including singles, peony and parrot types. If you haven’t yet ordered tulips and are wanting to plant them this season, there’s still time. Bulbs Direct still have a great range available on their website. Beware that popular varieties tend to sell out quickly so make sure you order your tulips (and other spring bulbs) when the catalogue is first launched, which is usually around mid-January. You can sign up to their free newsletters and follow them on Facebook so you are notified when the spring bulbs catalogue first becomes available. In this blog post, I will concentrate on single flowering purple tulips. Single flowering purple varieties Last season, I planted the following single purple tulip varieties:
Alibi This is one of my absolute favourite, top performing tulips. Last year was the first season I grew it, as it was a new release. It is simply beautiful as you can see from the picture (at least in my opinion). But I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks so, as Alibi sold out on the website in no time at all. It is a beautiful shade of lilac purple, with medium stems. Alibi flowers early in the season. Cum Laude Cum Laude is an early flowering purple tulip. Saigon Saigon is an outstanding tulip. It flowers early in the season and has long stems. Highly recommended. Heydar Eliyev
This is a mid-season flowering single purple tulip. It is beautiful and has long stems. This is my sixth blog post about the tulip growing trial I conducted last year. In this post, I will focus on the single orange tulips I grew. Just a little reminder that all my tulip bulbs (except Camargue and Menton Unique because they sold out really quickly and I missed out) were sourced from the New Zealand mail order bulbs supplier Bulbs Direct, whose generous discount made it possible for me to conduct such an extensive growing trial spanning 49 different tulip varieties. A huge thank you to Kayne and his family! Single flowering orange tulips Last winter, I grew the following varieties:
Orange Babies This is perhaps my favourite out of all the orange single flowering tulips I grew last winter. It is early flowering and has medium stems. Orange Babies is absolutely beautiful and I highly recommend this variety. Ad Rem This is a Darwin tulip variety, which makes it suitable for growing in climates with mild winters like Auckland. Ad Rem is an early to mid-season flowering variety which has quite big flowers. It has long stems and is really beautiful. I highly recommend this variety. Orange Juice This is a beautiful orange tulip with long stems. Orange Juice flowers early to mid-season. It looks beautiful in a vase. Temples Favourite
This variety flowers later in the season and has long stems. It’s a good idea to use a plastic floral sleeve if placing them in a vase, as the flowers can tend to flop over. This is my fifth post in a series about the tulip growing trial I carried out last winter and early spring. I grew 49 different varieties, all of which came from the mail order bulbs supplier Bulbs Direct (except for Camargue and Menton Unique which I sourced from another supplier as they sold out really quickly). I had a collaboration with Bulbs Direct and am extremely grateful for the generous discount they gave me on my order. Without their generosity, I would not have been able to conduct such an extensive growing trial. It’s not too late to order tulips and other spring bulbs from their website. Normally they sell them up until the end of May. I highly recommend their range, quality, affordable prices and excellent customer service. In this post, I will focus on the single pink tulip varieties I grew last year. Single flowering pink tulips I grew the following single flowering pink varieties last season.
Pink Impression This is a very early flowering Darwin tulip which is suitable for growing in climates with mild winters. It has long stems and makes an excellent cut flower. Dynasty Dynasty is one of my all-time favourite, top performing tulips. It is a medium shade of pink with medium stems. It is early to flower. Its sister is White Dynasty. Piet Veerman This is a pinkish purplish early flowering tulip with medium to long stems. Carola Carola is a middle-season flowering tulip with short stems. Anaconda I was very impressed with Anaconda. This variety flowers around the middle of the season and has long stems. It is a very bright shade of pink and is excellent for cutting. Highly recommended. Grand Style Grand Style is another mid-season single pink tulip. Its stems are even longer than Anaconda. I recommend using a plastic floral sleeve when arranging them in a vase as they tend to flop over otherwise. I sourced these from a shop called Oceans, which is in the flower auction building in Mt Wellington. Otherwise you can order them from their website. Purk
This was the last of the single pink tulips I grew to flower. This is my fourth post in a series of blogs about the tulip growing trial I carried out last winter. A huge thank you to the New Zealand mail order bulbs supplier Bulbs Direct, whose generosity made it possible for me to carry out such an extensive growing trial spanning 49 different varieties. If you haven’t already ordered your tulip bulbs and are keen to try growing them, Bulbs Direct still have a great range available on their website. If you happen to have missed out on any popular varieties (and some do sell out very quickly), be sure to keep an eye out on their website around mid-January, when their spring bulbs first go on sale. Alternatively, you can sign up to their free newsletters by email, so you know exactly when the catalogue launch will take place. If you live in a region with mild winters like Auckland, where I live, Bulbs Direct are happy to pre-chill your tulip bulbs for the correct length of time, free of charge. They also dispatch your order at the correct time for planting them, so it’s really convenient. Single flowering red tulips Red tulips are a classic in the winter garden. They are extremely elegant and bring much cheer in the cooler months when it can often be grey and miserable. I grew the following varieties of single red tulips last winter.
I will describe each of these varieties in detail below, along with photos. Lalibella Lalibella is an early flowering red single tulip. This is known as a Darwin tulip. This variety fares well in climates with mild winters, like Auckland, where I live and as the name suggests. I’m not sure if they will grow in Darwin though! It is a more orange-red than pure red in colour. Lalibella has really long stems, making them perfect for cutting. I recommend inserting the flowers in a plastic floral sleeve when picked, so they sit upright as they can tend to droop otherwise. Ile de France This is another early flowering red single tulip, but it is what I would describe as a pure red rather than an orange red in colour. It has medium stems and looks great in a vase. Red Rover This is an early flowering variety, but not as pure red in colour as Ile de France. It has medium to long stems. London This is another early flowering red tulip and is also a Darwin variety. It is orange-red in colour rather than pure red. The stems are not as long as Lalibella. Strong Love
This is a beautiful deep red tulip that flowered mid-season. It has shorter stems than the other varieties. This was a popular tulip variety sold at the flower auction when I attended last spring. Its sister is called Strong Gold, a yellow colour. This is my third post in a series of blogs about the tulip growing trial I conducted last winter. A massive thank you to the New Zealand bulbs supplier Bulbs Direct for giving me an extremely generous discount on my order as part of our collaboration. Without their generosity, it would not be possible for me to conduct such an extensive growing trial with so many different tulip varieties. Don’t forget that it’s not too late to order tulips for planting this season. They still have a really good range available on their website. Single flowering yellow tulips I absolutely love yellow flowers. In summer, we always have yellow sunflowers, zinnias and dahlias in the garden of various different shades ranging from lemon to golden yellow. In winter, I rely on daffodils and tulips for my yellow fix in the garden. Yellow tulips are so bright and cheerful. They will be sure to bring a smile to your face or others if you give them away. I grew the following single yellow flowering tulips last winter:
Here is some more information about each of them, as well as some photos. Note that they are a mixture of early, mid-season and late flowering varieties. If you love yellow tulips like me, it’s a good idea to plant a range of varieties for staggered flowering throughout the tulip season. Friendship This is my all-time favourite yellow tulip. It is very early to flower and produces strong medium to long stems. Friendship is a great cut flower and is sure to add cheer to any garden and home. Balroyal Honey This is another beautiful early flowering single yellow tulip which flowered straight after Friendship. It has medium to long stems and looks lovely in a vase. Yellow Flight This variety flowered about the same time as Balroyal Honey but had slightly shorter stems. It is beautiful, too. Strong Gold This is a mid-season single flowering yellow tulip which has medium to long stems. It is lovely. Camargue Although I said above that Friendship is my favourite yellow tulip, Camargue is among my favourite, top performing tulips of all time. What distinguishes Camargue from all other tulips I have grown is its extra long stems. This variety benefits from being inserted in a plastic floral sleeve so the flowers sit upright, as they have a tendency to droop. You can buy these from a floral supplies shop or ask your local florist if they are able to sell you some. Camargue is a late flowering yellow single tulip variety. Golden Parade
This variety was the last to flower out of all my single flowering yellow tulips. Golden Parade is a beautiful tulip in a rich, golden shade of yellow. |
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