Seedlings you may have in your yard/garden

Don’t know about you, but I get super excited every time I find a sprouting seedling in my yard, like Japanese maple, lobelia, bacopa which is very rare, violas, helleborus, geraniums… Because of cross pollination, seedlings will not be exactly the same as the parent plants, and that’s part of the excitement I like.

First off geraniums. I used to get seed geranium starts from Fred Meyer on their annual fuchsia sale in April every year, (sadly it didn’t happen this year because of the pandemic!) and the following year I’d always find the little seedlings sprouting in the area I had the plants year before. Very excited to see them I’d transplant them into the proper pots, and PATIENTLY wait for them to grow and eventually flower… The best part of this is that you never know what color of flowers you’ll get, so it always will be a pleasant surprise and I have been very thrilled for what I’ve gotten so far.

This year, I only found one seedling, and it’s really small, so it’s going to take a while for it to mature, and only then I’ll know what color of flowers I’ll get! Have to be patient! Just something about growing the gorgeous geranium from a tiny seedling makes me feel really happy and proud!

So next time you’re out weeding your yard, keep an eye out for those little volunteers, it’ll turn your boring weeding job into a little fun “treasure hunt”…I hope!

And when you come across a little plant while you are weeding, take another close look before you pull it out, because it might be a cool baby plant waiting to be rescued before being eaten by slugs, eww yuck!

Happy Gardening!

Lobelias reseed themselves really easy. If you had them year before for sure you will see them pop up all over in your yard, you just need to spot them.

Bacopa is kind of touchy for me. One year I was able to make cuttings and stuck in the pots and they grew. But this spring I’ve tried many times from my over wintered bacopas, so far very little luck. And even two of my over wintered bacopas didn’t make it after I did “spring pruning” on them, so sad! Maybe try again in the summer. But at least I found a couple of seedlings which is the first time ever, can’t wait to see what color they’ll be!

Helleborus produce lots of seeds every year, and if you let them grow, you’ll get all sorts of different color, unexpected double flowers, some you’ll love and others you can live without. You can always share your surplus with your families and friends, because they are not cheap to buy from stores! BTW it’ll take seedlings a couple of years to bloom, and it seems like a long wait… But we all know too well that “Time Flies” especially when we are having fun in the garden!

These are a couple of my favorite hellebore from the seeds, what a nice surprise!

Those violas are my special collection, they are very different and pretty, my favorite! There are lots of violas everywhere, I always wait for them to bloom, then transplant the ones I like and just leave the rest where they are.

Of course I find veggie seedlings in my vegetable garden as well… Here are some of the volunteers

Honestly every year my best lettuce are the volunteers! They seem to know better than me where to grow and thrive!

We have had this Green Japanese lace leaf maple for almost 30 years, it’s now about 25ft tall & 30ft across. If the conditions are right, I find seedlings every spring…

The varieties you get from seedlings are abundant as you can see. By the way it does take a few years for lace leaf maple to grow big enough for landscape purposes. I have them in pots, and they surely add layers and textures to my flower pot arrangements, I really like them.

As you can see I am not short of maples!

Note: All the plants I have here are from last summer, that’s why they are not in bloom profusely yet. It works out for me because “stay at home”, so I have not been going for plants shopping at Farmer’s markets or stores, although I do miss that part. As some say “Anticipation is the greatest joy“, and that’s how I feel now.