Chocolate Flower - Seeds and Plants

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Photos: Both photos are from Mountain Valley Growers : Chocolate Scented Daisy or Berlandiera lyrata. Their Internet site describes it as having "a quarter-size, vibrant, yellow daisy with striking red striped undersides and chocolate-colored stamens."
 Mountain Valley Growers has the plants. The scoop on this beatuy - it is native to the southwestern United States, dies back in winter, and, grows to 1.5 feet tall. Blooms at night and emits its chocolate scent in the morning.

I have purchased several items from Mountain Valley Growers and most survived.

In the shed there are 3-butterfly bushes from MVG. I also bought a collection of Salvias that did well last summer and now are quite happy in the shed for the winter. The Maraschino Cherry Salvia was a knockout. I really, really want Hotlips Salvia now and will order it this month. Click here to see their list of available plants.


MVG has a 6-plant minimum, so 6-hot lips salvias plus shipping comes to about $37.00 with $13 shipping.


TODAY IN THE GARDEN


I planted seeds in the shed and dug more weeds out of the beds today. My mother-in-law gave me Asclepias seeds from her garden and those are being spread into places where Bermuda grass had to be removed by shovel.

Some of the seeds I planted in pots today were ones I ordered from JL Hudson Seeds in California.

J. L. Hudson Seeds sent out an email this weekend announcing the availability of Chocolate Flower Seeds (Berlandiera lyrata). They cost $3.00 per pack plus $1.50 shipping and handling.



What's unusual about Hudson Seeds is that you can get up to 20-packs of seeds for that same buck fifty shipping and handling.

USDA Plants Profile site calls Chocolate Flower greeneyes, another one of its nicknames. Its native distribution is OK, KS, CO, TX, NM, AZ which means it should grow well here. They say it is a perennial that grows to 4-feet tall. The seeds require no cold stratification to germinate. Full sun, little water, blooms mid-spring.

We need some of these.
Happy gardening.

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