Begonia 'Scentsation Mixed' : A Hit with the T&M Staff

This past March, we were so excited to find out The New York Times wrote an article mentioning Begonia 'Scentsation Mixed'. Several employees decided to grow the tubers for themselves and have gotten wonderful results.

I'm happy to report my begonias (shown above) have a delightful lemon fragrance that wafts onto my porch every morning. There's about 4 flowers open so far with another 6-8 flowers waiting in the wings.

Kathy L. , from our accounting department, has these Begonias peeking out from her backyard containers:



We'll post more photos to come we they become available. We're hoping that Begonia 'Scentation Mixed' is available in the 2010 catalog! (coming out in the fall) If you have any photos, please show us them!!

Happy Gardening,
Melanie

Rudbeckia Growing Tips From A T&M Customer

John H. e-mailed these photos, showing his success with our Rudbeckia seeds. The top photo is Cherokee Sunset, which he noted was re-blooming this year. Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy' (below) is also taking shape in his garden, so we asked how he got such wonderful blooms.

John writes ....

"Last year and this I started the seed in February under grow lights. The seedlings were transplanted a couple times into larger divided plastic grow pots--the last were about 3" .
When they were about 6" tall I started hardening them off in May, then planted them at the end of May. I've learned to plant them where my garden is dryer and not too damp. A number of 'Cherokee Sunset' started last year wintered over nicely and are full of blooms this year
I hope this year's 'Cherry Brandy' do the same."

1989 Was A Very Fine Year......For Seed

Here's one for the 'Believe It or Not' file.

We received an interesting e mail today from a person who likes to experiment with seed germination. They placed 2 seeds of Melon T&M Gaylia F1 Hybrid on a moist paper towel in a re-sealable plastic bag on top of the refrigerator. The first one germinated in 7 days and the other in 17 days.

While that doesn't seem out of the ordinary, here's where it gets interesting. This person received the seed from us back in July 1989- 20 years ago. The seeds had been kept at room temperature in the original packet with the foil inner packet since then.

After some searching in the Thompson & Morgan library, I found the original catalog description for this item:

Now that's impressive!

T&M Gardener Success Stories

Here are just a few more T&M Garden Successes we received this week.

- Simon in our home state of New Jersey, sent us this great video of sunflowers he grew with our seed. We can't believe how tall they are! Click on the photo below to see the video.

- Elaine from Terrace, B.C. Canada e-mailed us these wonderfully spectacular photos. The first two are Eschscholzia californica "Strawberry Fields" (#6260):

Elaine also had a bonus surprise in her garden - this wonderful mystery poppy shown below.

This poppy was sown from one of our seed packets, in wildflower corner with the hopes of a prolonged flowering period. We just love the white edging and pink blooms. Our horticulturist, Susan can't stop talking about them!

We want to know how our seed is doing in your garden. And if you'll let us, we'll post your photos just like Simon & Elaine. Many thanks to them for letting us share their photos.
You can email us your photos, videos & stories by clicking here.

Happy Gardening to All!

Share the Spoils of Your Vegetable Garden

Is your veg garden producing more than you can eat?
If so, visit Ample Harvest.org and help a US citizen in need.

One out of eight Americans need food assistance while millions of gardeners grow more than they could ever eat. Ample Harvest locates food pantries in your area that would appreciate any 'extras' you have in the garden.

Summer Seed Sale Time !