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naomi19_gw

Flowers in the TN valley

naomi19
10 years ago

Hi!

I'm new to gardening, and I found some seeds in my drawer. Does anyone knows if these flowers will grow in the Tennessee Valley climate?

Poppy
Sunflower
Hummingbird Wildflower mix

Thanks!

Comments (4)

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    10 years ago

    There are lots of different species of poppies and some have specific growing requirements. The most common type (at least for a pack of seeds) is probably Papaver orientale, or Oriental Poppy. They grow just about anywhere and naturalize (re-seed) in places ranging from Louisiana, down south, to Ontario Canada, up north, and to Washington state, out west.

    There are also many different types of sunflowers. Some are annuals, some perennials, some grow in swampy conditions, and some in drier conditions. One common type is Helianthus annuus. That's the annual type that grows very tall and has very large flower heads. They are native to every state in the US, so will grow just about anywhere that has dirt.

    Hummingbird Wildflower mix is a "pig-in-a-poke". We could guess what might me in there, but it could be all kinds of stuff. Some may be perennials and some may be annuals. There's just no telling what you have there.

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    10 years ago

    Naomi, I forgot to ask, where do you live? The TV valley is a big place. The reason I ask is because, as a new gardener, you should definitely check out your closest plant swap. If you are anywhere around Knoxville or the eastern part of the state (or anywhere else for that matter), you are cordially invited to the East Tennessee Plant Swap in May. You can come make new gardening friends and get some awesome plants even if you don't have much to offer in exchange. Many of our swappers have tons of exciting stuff they just want to find a good home for. We love new gardeners at least as much as our plant geeks!

    Here is a link that might be useful: www.EastTnPlantSwap.com

  • naomi19
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks Brandon! I appreciate the information :) The poppy package says oriental so hopefully they'll grow if I plant them right. My sunflower packages say lemon queen and autumn beauty so I'll cross my fingers on those as well. As for the hummingbird wildflower mix I figured it would be luck of the straw. Thank you for inviting me to the plant swap! I checked out the website and it looks great! I live in Cleveland so if I can get that day off I'll be there :)

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    10 years ago

    Naomi, you mentioned that you found the seeds in a drawer...how old are they? The packs should have a packaged date or planting year date on them. Many seeds (and probably these seeds) will be fine for a little while after the recommended planting time, but they will eventually loose viability. If the seeds are more than one year out of date, I'd probably expect a lower germination rate.

    I hope you can get the day off. Since we got New Harvest reserved this year, I hope the swap will be pretty big. We'll definitely have plenty of room and a huge place to swap even if it rains.

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