Other Years

2009
April 9: I started 9 cells today, using seed from 2005 and from last year.
12: There are signs of germination among those seeds that are almost on the surface.
May 24: I set out 12 seedlings.
August 3: Coming along.
18: A few flowers are opening, very slowly as usual.
September 16: Flowering.
29: Some blossoms have gone to seed. Some flowers are orange this year. I don’t think I have seen that before.
 
2008
April 4: I started 9 cells with seeds from 2005, many per cell.
8: Some sprouts.
May 11: I set out 6 plants along the house and 3 in the garden.
17,18: I mulched with grass clippings to protect from water dripping from the eaves.
October 8: There were a few flowers but they never really amounted to much.
 
2006
April 15: I planted 18 cells, 6 seeds per cell. Half the seeds were from the package, half from my garden last summer. I put them on the heating mat which will keep them about 73°F.
20: 3 sprouts
24: Up to 10 sprouts now.
May 28: I set out my tiny pale 4 plants.
August 1: They died.
 
2005
April 23: I started a small tub with many seeds, half from each of 1997 and 1998, pressed into the surface of the soil mix.
May 2: No sprouts, so I bought more seeds and started 15 cells.
7: Sprouts in all cells of one pak, but not yet in all cells of the other.
28: There is still quite a difference between the paks! I set out a row today.
June 2:  I set out some extras along the west side of the house.
July 27:  The first flower has opened now. It has been opening for days, and now enough petals have turned out that the interior can be seen, although the stamens, etc, have not developed yet. Buds are opening on other plants too.
October 4:  Some have gone to seed and some are just beginning to open their second flower. They should have been planted closer together, and started earlier. I cut some flowers to dry.
 
1998
April 14: I started one 9-pak, 3 1997 seeds per cell.
19: Sprouts.
June 1: Doing fine outside.
June 11: Most gone!
June 17: 2 or 3 growing back from base or root.
~September 30: Perhaps it was too dry for them to produce well-formed flowers.
 
1997
April 13: I started one 9-pak.
20: Many sprouts.
May 30: 9 plants set out.
Aug 7: Starting to flower.
December 18: A good show overall.
 
1996
April 13: Seeds started.
May 4: Seedlings doing very well.
June 15: Doing fine.
September 3: Flowering profusely.
 
1995
~June 10: I planted 4 out.
July 29: They are starting to flower. The flowers are as dry as straw, even as they open.