I'm growing Limnanthes douglasii (poached-egg flower) this year.....sown in
various spots in the garden in mid-April. It germinated fairly quickly and
I've now got many very small plants that seem to have ceased any further
development. The plants seem healthy enough but there's no sign of blooms or
continued leafy growth. They've had cold, they've had hot, they've had wet,
they've had dry.....and everything in between. I've even got some in pots.
All have been at the same stage for at least the last month. Anyone know what's
up with this? All I can think is that I started them too late.

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7

Hi Tyra,
I tried limnanthes this year too, and while mine flowered, the flowers
were late, sparse, and bloomed for only a short period. I planted them in
late March. I'm in the inland Northwest, so I thought my climate would suit
them, but I suspect they need a little more marine-air influence to do
really well. The flowers are charming, but they disappeared next to the
other wild flowers I had nearby - (California poppies, nemophilia, linaria,
shirley poppies, godetia, alyssum, etc). Also, some sort of bug apparently
liked to eat the edges of the flowers, so I rarely saw an entire well-formed
flower. I would say that mine began to bloom about June 15th, and were
mostly done blooming by July 7th. I won't pull up the plants unless they
turn to straw, on the chance that they may rebloom when the weather cools
down in September - but I'm not optimistic.
"Tyra Trevellyn" wrote in message
...
I'm growing Limnanthes douglasii (poached-egg flower) this year.....sown
in
various spots in the garden in mid-April. It germinated fairly quickly
and
I've now got many very small plants that seem to have ceased any further
development. The plants seem healthy enough but there's no sign of blooms
or
continued leafy growth. They've had cold, they've had hot, they've had
wet,
they've had dry.....and everything in between. I've even got some in
pots.
All have been at the same stage for at least the last month. Anyone know
what's
up with this? All I can think is that I started them too late.

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7

From: "gregpresley"
Date: Thu, Jul 17, 2003 3:03 AM
Message-id:

Hi Tyra,
I tried limnanthes this year too, and while mine flowered, the flowers
were late, sparse, and bloomed for only a short period. I planted them in
late March. I'm in the inland Northwest, so I thought my climate would suit
them, but I suspect they need a little more marine-air influence to do
really well. The flowers are charming, but they disappeared next to the
other wild flowers I had nearby - (California poppies, nemophilia, linaria,
shirley poppies, godetia, alyssum, etc). Also, some sort of bug apparently
liked to eat the edges of the flowers, so I rarely saw an entire well-formed
flower. I would say that mine began to bloom about June 15th, and were
mostly done blooming by July 7th. I won't pull up the plants unless they
turn to straw, on the chance that they may rebloom when the weather cools
down in September - but I'm not optimistic.
"Tyra Trevellyn" wrote in message
...
I'm growing Limnanthes douglasii (poached-egg flower) this year.....sown
in
various spots in the garden in mid-April. It germinated fairly quickly
and
I've now got many very small plants that seem to have ceased any further
development. The plants seem healthy enough but there's no sign of blooms
or
continued leafy growth. They've had cold, they've had hot, they've had
wet,
they've had dry.....and everything in between. I've even got some in
pots.
All have been at the same stage for at least the last month. Anyone know
what's
up with this? All I can think is that I started them too late.

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7


Thanks for the input, Greg. If we hadn't had such a cool wet spring/early
summer here, I wouldn't have held out hope for the plants for so long (and they
probably wouldn't have lasted if we'd gone to heat as early as we sometimes
do.....). Since they've been hangin' in there, I guess I'll still hold out
some hope for them. I know they prefer misty-moisty climates but they seemed
worth the try. I've still got some seeds in the packet and I may sow them in
the autumn and see what happens in the spring, if I don't get any blooms to
reseed.

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa z7