Believe me, I've been working hard to gather more each year! My State has a Native Plant Sale in the spring that I have gone to the last 2 years, and last year I helped transplant the seedlings to bigger pots, so learned a LOT at that outing as well. This year hoping to help out at both transplant dates. So much fun to learn new stuff!!!
Lisa, yes this is my 4th year winter sowing. I have never taped,but I have lots of moisture here, and the jugs are on south side of the building. In the picture the jugs are not even closed, as I couldn't find my pipe cleaners, but they are all closed now. I've just always used the pipe cleaner to close it, as it's much easier to open and shut once the weather warms up. But, I know many from the page I'm on say taping is the only way to go. I think if you have a dryer climate, tape would definitely hold in more moisture than the pipe cleaner, too. I just water if/when needed once the seedlings sprout.
I’ll try to post when I gather some, if I can spare money for shipping, I’ll share with others. Two or three years ago, I had a huge amount of seeds. I raked my side yard, scattered the seeds, then raked back over. Got nothing. If I can gather enough, I’ll put them in well folded paper, put it in an envelope, and mail them like a letter. The ones I end up gathering are an amazing color, like a cross between neon pink, and a hint of orange, just shy of neon colors. I don’t have any pics anymore, I deleted a bunch of random pics off my phone.Jamie, usually the milkweed and butterfly weed (what JB is calling orange milkweed, same thing) grow very well in any type of soil, drought included. BUT, to get them to grow from seed, the seeds must be "cold stratified". That means, as they would in nature, the seeds need to go through cold/damp, then warmer, then cold(freezing)/damp, warm several times. It might be the same thing about the Indian Paintbrush! I'd LOVE some seeds of that.
I looked up the Indian Paintbrush, and how to grow it, and found something I've never heard of before! This is what the site said (JB, have you ever grown it, and if so, is this correct?):
"The Indian Paintbrush needs a good host plant to grow. Good hosts for many hemiparasitic species include low-growing grasses and sedges like Hairy Grama, Blue Grama, Buffalo Grass, Common Oak Sedge, Sweet Grass, and June Grass. With a knife make a 2" deep cut at the base of the host plant. Sow seed in the cut, making sure seed is not more than 1/8" deep. If host is transplanted at sowing time, the cut is not needed because damaged roots will be available for attachment by the parasite. You may also try sowing hemiparasitic and host species seeds together at the same time. To add hemiparasitic species to existing sites, scatter seed on soil surface (rake in if seed is large) in late fall."
And, JB, the only flowers that I grow that are not native, are annuals for extra color and for the butterflies, like zinnias. The queen Anne's lace will eventually take over the dill/fennel/parsley, once I have enough of it established and can show that the black swallowtail butterflies prefer it.
JamieB, I would be MORE than happy to send you a SASE! PM me with your address, and I'll send an envelope and some hints on how to send the seeds so they take one stamp. I just mailed out 12 different types of seeds to a lady, and I didn't skimp ... still cost only 1 stamp. I'm really good at how to put them in the envelope. LOL It works!