Look out west coast, our organic milkweed and wildflowers are germinating

[ffr]

In all, about 4,000+ of them inside on shelves in our indoor greenhouse. It's one odd smelling room, but not too bad. Just needs to have the window open for a few hours to air it out.

Here's the list of what's planted in the greenhouse. No counts taken yet as to sprouts, but I imagine we're going to be busy finding locations to covertly plant our little monsters.

Showy milkweed, approx 1,200 seeds
Purple coneflower (echinacea; not native to region), approx 2,500 seeds*
Various sun flowers, approx 200 seeds
Red/yellow trumpet vines( not native to region), approx 500 seeds*

There will be generations of these plants raised, as we have more seeds, but no more room inside to grow them. It'll be several months before they'll be safe to take outside.

* These plants are not for distribution, restricted to our property as attractants for butterflies and hummingbirds.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Showy milkweed for monarchs ! Good job ! nt

[ffr]

2. You know it!

When we started two years ago, we figured 200 seeds would be enough. No, not enough. There just aren't enough plants left out there. And I'm tired of waiting for nature and natural predation to take its toll on what's left of what we're planting. Thus a controlled greenhouse environment where the highest degree of success can be assured.

[matt819]

3. Post photos

Would love to see the plants now and especially when they're in bloom.

We have have milkweed, sunflowers and a host of other stuff that draws butterflies (though not in the numbers we'd like to see) and bees. But nowhere near what you have going.

[ffr]

4. I'm reluctant untell there's an anonymous way to do that.

Wish I could, but too many bad people out there. This is a political website after all.

It's a rarity for first year plants to flower. None of our two y.o. Showys have yet done so and it took two years for the trumpet vines to do so. But we're hoping there may be a chance for a few of the seedlings we will continue to grown in the indoor greenhouse throughout the year. Our lot is decent size with lots of open area, so lots of room. Would love to see and share what it'll look like next spring with literally thousands of pollinating plants.

It's going to be crazy after that, as these plants will naturally try to spread. And that's one of the goals for the Showys especially.