Sterile Seed Q

[Ellen]

Last year I bought Burpee Seeds (flower) from Wal-Mart. When I went to plant them, I noticed they had been packaged in France. A month or so later, beautiful foliage, but not one bud or flower.

I managed to find some more seeds on the shelves (Martha Stewart), also packaged in France. These did produce some puny blooms toward the end of the season.

How do I avoid having this happen? I am in Northern Michigan, so the season is short and seed stock is not re-ordered.

Is France the problem? Lowe's just opened but I do not know what brand they will carry.

Any suggestions would be welcome. TIA.

Ellen

[dr-solo]

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[Janet Baraclough]

The message from "Ellen" contains these words:

The seeds germinated and grew into plants, so they weren't sterile. France does not have any control over growing conditions /gardening skills in the USA :-)

Either you might be growing a variety unsuited to short seasons, or you might be overfeeding them which often makes annuals produce leaf instead of flowers.

Janet.

[Richard]

"Ellen" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

What kind of flower? Zinnia? Hollyhock? Were they annuals biennials or perennial flowers?

When did you plant the seeds? In Northern Michigan, you might have to start certain long growing varieties indoors and transplant them out after frosts end in order to get blooms.

A month isn't much time, when starting from seed, for some varieties to start blooming. How about after 2, 3 months?

Again, what kind of flowers were supposed to be coming from the 'seeds'?

Depends if you're a red state or a blue state...