Sorting Seeds

09.02.2024 - 18:33 / backyardgardener.com / Frederick Leeth

Since confession is good for the soul, I feel compelled to say that I always order too many seeds.And since making excuses is one of the hallmarks of the human condition, I will also say that my seed surplus is not entirely my fault.Seed companies and garden magazines and charities send me all kinds of small seed packets in an effort to get me to buy or subscribe or donate.Since to err is human and to forgive divine, I will strive for divinity by forgiving my own horticultural gluttony.

Still, forgiving does not mean forgetting—at least not this year. Before the latest seed order lands in the mailbox I am determined to figure out what to do with all the seeds left over from years past.

The four packages of giant sunflower seeds will be planted in front of our summer cottage.My seven year-old nephew loves sunflowers, and for some unaccountable reason my sister (his mother) has trouble growing them at home.I believe that she also has trouble attracting ants to a picnic, but that is another story.It’s better not to speculate on family foibles.

The packets of Viola ‘Helen Mount’, Viola ‘Scottish Strain’, Pansy ‘Ghost Mix’ and Pansy ‘Maxim Marina’ will be planted immediately, because they take a long time to reach blooming size.Given my previous success rate with pansies and violas, I should end up with about enough plants to fill a 6” pot.

I don’t know what possessed me when I spent $1.29 on a packet of mixed impatiens.Come spring I plan to strew them in a shady spot and forget about them.Some plants seem to regard neglect as a challenge, so the impatiens will undoubtedly germinate.In the meantime, I will have eradicated them from my memory.The appearance of a few flowers several months later will convince me once again that