Tag Archives: is seeds

Sold Out! Indigofera Suffruticosa seeds for sale

23 Apr

(Sold out for 2021! See you next year!) The temps have finally cranked up in central Texas and I am finally confident I can keep my Indigofera Suffruticosa seedlings happy. You can join the seed planting party here at my Etsy shop. https://etsy.me/3tnpIAv As of early July seeds are still available in my shop. You’ll get a good start of growth still with the summer heat!

Seeds soaking in hot water overnight.

I’ve soaked my seeds overnight allow them to swell. They are labeled to keep my husband from “cleaning” the bowls. Imagine why….

After overnight soaking seeds are ready to place in seed trays.

Using a spoon I put them in the prepared seed trays. Hopefully the 80° F weather will feel better than the cooler temps. We gone thru worm season, now I need to watch for crickets. Weather is cranky this year and the insects are confused, as are the humans.

The bad news is that I believe I lost all my plants during the Texas deep freeze in mid-February. We covered the plants with frost cloth and had heat lamps in place but 6 days without power, freezing temps, ice & snow took out my plants despite our efforts to protect the plants. I lost 2, 3, & 4 year old plants. We are on the north range of the plants and usually can protect them. This weather was evil. Olive tree growers ride the same risk being located at the northern boundary of the grow zone. I am seeing reports of olive tree loss.

Fortunately I have seed and will grow again. We haven’t pull the plants yet, I keep hoping they will surprise me. The prairie larkspurs are giving them a send off.

Sad IS plants, the denial is real..

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Indigofera Suffruticosa Seeds

24 Oct

Seed crop is looking good. I will know more if I have enough to sell in Jan/Feb 2020.

This picture gives you an idea of one year old plants versus two year old plants. This year I will definitely keep them safe from killing frosts. Leave room to grow. I have digging armadillos hence the Fort Indigo.

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10 day difference for Japanese Indigo seedlings

30 Mar

10 days & temperature increases and sunshine made a big difference. March 17th I planted my Japanese Indigo seeds, by the 27th I had sprouts! I ordered the wrong seed tray. Duh, but seeds planted in new tray sprouted sooner than my old method. I am smarter now despite myself. Next up I will plant my Indigofera Suffruticosa seeds. I’ll throw Cota and Hopi Sunflowers into the mix this year also. Maybe I can beat the birds to the seeds for dye this year.

I am still on bud watch on my older Suffruticosa plants. Will the 3 year old plants live longer? Did the freeze this January take the younger plants out? The drama of gardening continues.

Plus the Texas Persimmon is budding and blooming. Before I know it I will be out picking persimmons in July for the dye.

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SOLD OUT FOR 208 Indigofera Suffruticosa Seeds for sale

2 Mar

Ok folks, here you go….Indigofera Suffruticosa seeds for sale in my Etsy Shop, ColorsOfMy Valley, which is located here.  SOLD OUT FOR 2018!

Offered just in time to start your seed trays.  THIS IS NOT JAPANESE INDIGO!

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 It is Indigofera Suffruticosa or Anil De Pasto from the warmer climates.  You can give a try growing it in colder climates.  With protection it might be a perennial but I think it will turn annual on you with hard freezes and snows.  Not a hardship, if you can get it to seed stage you can replant for the next season.

It starts out small in the seed trays, without trimming the shrub can get to 7+ feet.

I place about 4-8 seeds in each tray to start my seedlings.  Here in the Texas Hill Country my biggest enemy behind drought is the crickets.  I hold my seedlings in a protected area from frost and crickets and plant out when it is safe.  They are mulched well.   Tiny crickets can take your seedlings out early in the season, larger grasshoppers come for your leaves in the fall, be aware!  Also give the shrubs room to spread.  You can see from the photo above that untrimmed the suffruticosa will go for the sky.  The hummingbirds love to hang out in the branches and visit the flowers.

When they are happy, they grow, produce indigo leaves, flowers and finally seeds.  The curved pods resemble banana bunches.  My shrubs have usually lasted 3 years. Very hard freezes can take them out. The prior season shrubs put out new branches fairly early.  I pull the dead shrubs and put in the new seedlings in to fill the space.

These shrubs fill in nicely, can take east and west exposures with irrigation.  I am testing them this year to see if the deer will much on them.   My crops are grown in a protected area the deer cannot access.   The flowers are lovely and the birds love the branches thru the winter to perch on.  The hummingbirds use them for launching sites in the early spring.  They are pleasant plants to have in the garden, they add height and take trimming in stride.  But of course, it is all about the leaves!  I trim my shrubs to shape and strip the leaves off of the smaller stems.  I weigh my stripped leaves at this point to keep track of the color intensity yielded.

If you use fresh leaf extraction you are limited by the leaves you’ve harvested.  I tend to do several harvests a year and dye skeins over the year.  Building the layers as the leaves grow.  Be patient.  Of course you can also extract the pigment and save it for one annual dye bath.  I simply prefer to continue to experiment with what each harvest gives me.

   This shirt and silk skeins are from one dip in the fresh leaf fructose vat.  One of the skeins has been dipped twice.

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I am also experimenting with drying this indigo species leaves to see how it work for indigo leaf storage and fructose pot production.  That will show up on my blog also when I have a few more results to add.

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Freeze dried Indigo Suffruticosa leaves waiting for experimentation. 

Indigofera Suffruticosa seeds for sale in my Etsy Shop, ColorsOfMy Valley, which is located here.  SOLD OUT FOR 2018! One packet should be plenty to get you started with questions and leaves for you to experiment with!

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