🌱 SEED HAUL from Swallowtail Garden Seeds | New Varieties & SPRING Plans!

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Who doesn’t love a good SEED HAUL?! 🌸 Today I’m sharing all of the amazing seeds I just ordered from Swallowtail Garden Seeds. I’ll walk you through each variety, why I picked it, where it will go in the garden, and the exciting plans I have for next spring. If you love dreaming and planning ahead for blooms and harvests, you’ll enjoy this detailed chat about what’s coming to my garden next year!

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Planting Zone 8a Wylie, Texas

She’s a Mad Gardener is a YouTube channel exploring projects in the home including but not limited to home gardening, DIY decorating, holiday decor, easy recipes, and so much more.

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Hey y’all, it’s Amanda and this is my Texas zone 8 garden. And before we dive in, be sure to like this video, subscribe to the channel, and share this with a fellow gardening friend. Okay, so I actually took a couple of days off because if you remember my last video when I was sitting in the backyard on those mulch paths pulling grass, I ended up hurting my back real bad. I felt fine afterwards. The whole rest of the day, I felt fine. And I went to bed and the next morning I woke up and I could barely walk. It was so bad. I ended up going to my chiropractor because I’ve always had back issues that um stem from I was a varsity basketball player and I was in the marching band. If you do Texas marching band, it’s some hardcore stuff. Um anyway, I definitely you abused my body when I was younger. So, I was going to chiropractor. So, I did a chiropractor. I did therapy. I did ibuprofen. I did Epsom salt baths. I did um massage. I did stretching. Anything and everything I could It took a two full days of being into pain to finally relent and starting to feel like normal, but not normal enough to go outside and actually garden. And if I will say, I think that’s by far the most pain that I’ve ever experienced with my back ever. It was a lot. So, bless all of y’all with uh back issues and trying to get that figured out. It was rough. But I am feeling well enough to be able to sit in a soul for a little bit and talk about my latest order of seeds from Swallowtail Garden Seeds. Now, a few years ago, one of you all, one of my subscribers put me on to Swallowel Garden Seeds, and I have loved it. I have never looked back since going to Swallow Garden Seeds. They are great company, good prices, good quality product. I do want to point out that I do not receive any kind of discount. I do not receive any kind of compensation. I don’t get anything for free from them at all. So, my opinion is completely and utterly my opinion. It’s not biased in any way because I’m getting paid. I’m just like you all. My money is just the same as you all when I go on there to order seeds. So, I’ve been very, very happy with their selection. I really like um their descriptions on each of their seeds. It talks to you about what to do with each of the seeds, how to start all the seeds, and I really really like it. I think it’s a great company. I’ve really enjoyed them over the years. The other company that I ordered from is seed therapy and I will be talking about that company during my um live with my patrons next week. I think it’s the 24th I don’t know have to look I will be talking that about that with my patrons and going all the over all the seeds that I got from seed therapy. So today we’ll focus on swallowtail garden seeds. This is a good time of year to begin planning for seed starting. This is a time of year where I like to start buying up my seeds. Most people buy their seeds in December. Okay, so Buffy got stuck somewhere. So most people wait to buy a lot of their seeds in December and January. That’s a hard time of year for me. I have three kids. Christmas is very expensive time of the year for us and we’re usually going out of town or having people in town and we eating out and presents and just an expensive time of year. So I prefer to spread out my seed buying so it’s not overlapping with the holidays. And I find this a great way to spread out my budget and way less stressful than trying to buy and plan during the holidays. I want to put my complete focus on my family at that time of the year. So planning ahead allows me to do that. So with that being said, I am going to do a seed by seed breakdown on the seeds that I ordered from Swallowtail Garden Seeds. Now I do not order as many seeds as I used to. I used to order everything that interests me. Now, I’ve grown enough seeds that I’m starting to learn to plan for color schemes, what seeds work best for me, things along those lines. I don’t buy a lot of seeds that I’ve never done anything with anymore. I might be one or two brand new seeds to me, but most of the time I’m working within varieties that I have grown in the past and that I’ve had success with in the past. Okay, so we’re going to talk about um each variety of seed, specifically the appearance, the size of the plant, sun and water needs, how to start them, and a tip for each of them. So, let’s get started. All right, first one on my list is Tethonia torch Mexican sunflower. And this is one I’ve have grown in the past. It is big, bold, in your face, and I’ve got some big plans for it on a particular area. I would love to almost have a forest of teonia. I think it would be super cool. Its appearance is a bold fiery orange daisy like blooms and they attract so many butterflies. Um, this is definitely like a branching sunflower and not a single sunflower. Its size is about four to six feet tall. Mine have gotten way bigger. Like mine have gotten to the 8 to 9 foot range in the past. So, I think it really just depends on where you have it planted. Because they get so tall, they do need staking, and a little plastic or a little bamboo steak is not going to cut it. I use a big metal stake to hold them in place. Next, for sun and water, they do require full sun and they are drought tolerant once established. Um, starting them from seed, you want to sew indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost or direct sew after danger of frost. And in the past, I have direct sewn. They work better for me if I direct sew during the spring during April and May. If I wait too long into the summer, they do not do as well for me on the direct sew. And I think that’s just because we get so dry. Um so if I’m going to direct sew them, I’ll plant them in April and May or I’ll start them um seeds indoors and then I’ll transplant them outside. Now, one tip about tethonia is you want to pinch back the seedlings when they are about 6 to 8 in tall to encourage bushier plants and more blooms. And I think that in the past when I’ve grown them, I have not pinched them back. And that’s why mine get 8 to 9 ft tall, which I’m not against. I love that they they’re like crazy tall like that. I think that’s super cool. But if I want to get them to be bushier and produce more blooms, I will need to pinch them back. Okay. Next on my list is Scabiosa Black Knight. And this is one that I have grown in the past. This is one of the first um plants that I started growing from seed and I used a lot of scabiosa when I was a florist. I used them quite frequently and I specifically love this black knight variety. Its appearance is a rich deep maroon almost black pin cushion blooms. They are glorious. Very very dark um almost blackberry petals and then they have white um um accents on it which are just lovely. Its size is about 24 to 36 inches tall. For sun and water needs, um it requires full sun. And for starting it from seed, you’re going to start indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost. And I have had them overwinter as well, where I’ve planted them in the fall and utilize them like as a hearty annual and had them go all the way through the winter and then the spring. I’m not going to do that this year. I’m just going to start a few um so I can have um some in my garden. These, if you pinch them early enough, they will produce a ton of blooms, like 30, 40 blooms, especially if you keep deadheading them along the way. They also produce nice long stems. I do think that even though they’re only 24 to 36 in tall, they can get very topheavy, so staking is very important. One tip for them is to dead head consistently for continuous blooms. Like I just said, they are perfect for cut flowers and they’re just almost this like little jewel of a flower in your arrangements. Absolutely beautiful, long lasting and they do dry well as well. Okay, next on my list is Impatience Beacon Formula Mix. And I think this is my first Yes, this is my first time growing standard impatience from seed. I’ve tried New Guinea impatients with not a lot of luck in the past, but I do want to do a standard impatience and I want to be able to tuck them within my shade garden and on my front porch shaded containers. So, Impatients Beacon Formula Mix appearance is a mix of pinks, reds, corals, and whites. And they are vibrant shade color for all your shady areas. I absolutely love them. Their size is about 10 to 12 in tall. their sun and water needs. They need partial uh partial to full shade and they need evenly moist soil. I do think they do pretty well in ground in containers in my opinions. How to start them from seed. You’re going to start them indoors 8 to 10 weeks prior to your last frost and then once you get past your last frost, you can start transplanting them outside. One tip for impatients. This particular series, this beacon formula mix has a high resistance to downing mildew and is a gamecher for impatient grows. And I do struggle with um mildew, downing mildew on my impatients. It’s something they struggle with. I end up cutting them back and they’ll reflush. I had to do that not long ago. And so I really am hoping that this mix will help me avoid that um during the hotter times of the year. And that’s typically when my impatients get the downey mildew is during the hotter times of the summer. I’m super excited to grow that from seed because in the past I’ve purchased my impatients. So this is once again another opportunity to for me to save on costs. Typically I p purchase about two flats of impatience every year. Flats are getting to about $35 a flat at this point now which is a lot. And so typically that’ll be $70 worth of impatience just with the two flats. I don’t want to spend $70. So, here I am spending about $6 for all of the seeds and then of course some soil. I think when I’m all said and done, I’ll spend about $15 total. Um, which will be a massive savings compared to the $70 that I would be spending for two flats. Okay, next on my list is Geranium Maverick Violet Pikati. And I started growing deraniums from seed last year. I had a lot of fun with it. I wanted to switch up my variety um this year. So, this is a new um color that I haven’t tried before. Its appearance is a striking violet blooms edged with white. They’re absolutely lovely. Their size is only about 12 to 16 in tall. They’re more of a compact variety of deranium. Last year, I grew a lot of the taller geraniums and they ended up flopping and they didn’t really fit in my containers the way I was hoping they would. So, I wanted to grow a little smaller variety of um deranium. So, I’m really happy with the 12 to 16 in. For sun and water needs, they need full sun. However, I do have some that grow in part sun and they do fine. They don’t flower as much, but they still do fine. Starting them from seed, you can start them indoors 12 to 16 weeks before the last frost. They are very slow to germinate. This is one of the varieties that I will be starting in December. So, we’ll start them in December. They’ll grow through December, January, February, March, and then once we get through our last um frost, which is mid to late March, they will get planted outside. So, this is definitely one of the earlier ones for that. And a tip for them is to make sure you bottom water um in your seed trays um or anytime you have deraniums if you can bottom water is the best because it keeps the foliage dry and prevents rot because they are very susceptible if you have a lot of heavy rains and they constantly have rain or water on their leaves. Okay, moving on. Next on my list is dianthis jolt purple. And I love growing denths. I love growing it for just my borders or just my garden, but it’s also makes for a great cut flower. This particular one, its appearance is large clusters of vivid magenta purple blooms. You probably notice I have a lot of vivid magenta purple colors um in my design for next year. The size is 16 to 20 in tall. For sun and water needs, it requires full sun and moderate water needs. Starting it um from seed, you want to start indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost. And one big tip for this particular variety, it is heat tolerant denths and keeps blooming through the hot Texas summers, which is one of the main reasons I chose it um because I’m hoping that it will last as long as possible. Really excited about that. Some dianths can act as a perennial in my area or a biionial in my area. Um they don’t typically last year and year year after year after year, but they typically last two to three years um if possible. And I’ve grown a lot of denths from seed and I’ve always had really good germination and really good luck with it. Okay, next on my list is Cleomi Sparkler 2.0 mix. And this is a mix that I have grown before in the past and I’m very excited to grow this exact mix again. Uh Cleomi is one of my new passions. I love the look. It’s very oldfashioned cottage flower look and I grew a big swoop of it on my front um garden this year and I was obsessed with it. loved it. Its appearance is pink, lavender, and white spiderlike blooms with tall airy texture. Its size is about 3 to four feet tall. They do require some staking, so that’s important to remember as well. Um, sun and water needs, they require full sun and moderate water. And when starting them from seeds, you want to start them indoors 6 to 8 weeks prior to when you want to transplant them outside. I find that when you’re transplanting them, you want to transplant them very quickly. um after you’ve got that 6 to 8 weeks in, soon as you can get them in the ground, get them in the ground because they do not like to have their roots um disturbed. So, you don’t want them to grow these massive root systems before transplanting them out. And then one tip for them is this particular variety, this sparkler 2.0 variety is improved mix has reduced thorniness compared to older Cleams. And um the Cleam’s thorns are very subtle and hard to see and they are rough. So it’s something to be really up um pay attention to. A lot of people ask me how do I use them for cut flowers if they have thorns. I have gloves that are basically rose gloves. They’re for pruning roses. So I’ll harvest it with that, cut it, and then I’ll strip the stem of its um uh thorns and then I’m able to utilize it in arrangements. Cleomies has been a a gamecher wow factor in my garden. So if you are wanting to add some wow factor to your garden, that is definitely a flower I suggest you invest in. All right, next on my list, and you’re going to laugh because I haven’t grown this any of this in a while, is Salosia Crystal Beauty. Here’s the deal with Salosia. If you decide to grow Salosia into your garden, you’re going to have it forever and ever and ever because it spreads hundreds and hundreds of seeds. So, make sure you want solosia in your garden for a long time before you do that. I actually haven’t planted solosia in quite a while, and it keeps coming back like crazy every year, so be aware. This particular one’s appearance is peachy coral blush with hints of copper and pink champagne looks to it. Absolutely stunning. The blooms are a fan shape and it’s dramatic and longlasting. Salosia is also great for drying. Its size is about 3 to four feet tall and it is a branching variety of salosia. So, we want to pinch it earlier on and it will create lots of stems off of one plant. For starting it um from seed, you want to start indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost. And one major tip for this variety, salosia blooms are excellent for drying and they retain their color and arrangements for quite a while. Salosia is a great cut flower to especially for beginners to begin working with. I just want you to meet make sure you’re aware that these seeds do spread quite a bit. So you can plant in one place and the next year 30 feet away you’ll have solosia in another place. It is very easy to identify and pull up. So if that does happen, it’s not the worst thing to ever happen. All right, next on my list is one that I grew this last year and really enjoyed. It’s aatum aloha bloom. Um I do know with the azeratum I need to start it earlier and get it transplanted out earlier. It does love a little bit more of the cooler temps and does not do as well in my hotter um in my hotter summers. Its appearance is a soft purple blue fluffy bloom and soft neat mounding um one. It’s not one this variety is not one you use for cut flowers. This is more of like a border kind of look. Its size is 6 to 10 in tall. Neat mounting clean look which is really nice for its sun and water needs. It requires full sun to partial shade and it needs consistent watering. For starting from seeds, you want to start indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost. And this one was a really easy one to germinate. And one important tip is to pinch um earlier on in its growth and it will promote fuller mounding like growth. It’s perfect for edging containers and edging borders. Absolutely lovely. A very nice clear crisp purple blue color which is great. Okay, now we’re moving on to patunias. These are the last three seeds that I got from Swallowtail Garden Seeds. The first one is tickled pink patunia, and I did grow it last year. It grew well, but I planted it in the wrong place. I grew it in containers thinking that it would drape down because it is a kind of vining um trailing patunia. It did not. It tried kept trying to grow straight up. So, I want to try it again, but I’m going to plant it in locations where it can grab onto something to grow up. So, its appearance is vibrant bubblegum pink flowers with a trailing habit. And it smells amazing. These are the most beautifully sweet smelling patunias that I’ve ever had. It’s unlike any other patunia that I’ve ever planted in my garden. These are just the scent just goes through your whole garden. It’s lovely. Its size is up to six feet. It will trail up to six feet. So, that’s why I did try it in hanging baskets and I did try it in containers and I couldn’t really get it. it wanted to go up. It didn’t want to drape. So now this year I want to put it in some areas where it can climb up um some um trellis or such. Its sun and water needs are full sun and it needs consistent watering in the heat. It does struggle um in the heat and you can give it a little trim back. Make sure it’s well watered and fertilized. One major tip is the seeds need light to germinate. So do not cover them with soil. And of course, I will do very detailed se uh seed starting videos where I will go through each of these varieties and show you exactly how I start them. Okay, I did want to point out for patunias, patunias don’t do great in my heat here. And in the past, in the way past, I would buy a whole bunch of them, especially like super tunias and stuff. Love super tunas. And I’d buy them and I’d spend a lot of money on them and they all fizzle out by mid to late June. And it’s soul crushing to see that amount of money fizzle out. So, I a few years ago I switched to growing all my own patunias myself. I’ve grown like these fancy varieties. I’ve also just grown straight from the Dollar Tree, seeds from the Dollar Tree, which probably were some of the best seeds I’ve ever grown for patunias. And so, I did want to point out one of my big reasons for growing patunias from seed is they don’t last very long. So, I don’t want to spend a lot of money on them. I don’t mind starting these during the winter, spending the money on the seeds, and spending the time on them because I don’t really have much going on in the garden anyway during the winter. So, it kind of feeds my gardening needs during the winter. So, I love that. And then I can get them planted out and I can enjoy them for, you know, eight weeks and when it’s over, I don’t feel guilty, you know, because I didn’t spend $35 per flat on patunias. And I didn’t spend $14.99 for, you know, a gallon of super tunias. So, this is my way of getting patunias, enjoying them, and not feeling guilty about the cost that I spent on them. So, the next variety is Patunia Easywave Plum Pudding Mix. And I’ve never grown this particular variety before. I’m excited. Its appearance is a mix of purples, lavenders, and rose tones with a wavelike habit. Its size is that it trails up to three feet wide, which is really exciting. And I am hoping that I can put this particular variety in some containers and it will trail over the side. I’m really looking forward to that. its sun and water needs. It requires full sun and frequent watering. It cannot dry out. It does not recover if it dries out. And starting these from seeds, you want to start indoors 10 to 12 weeks before the last frost. So, we will be starting these right around Christmas time or in the beginning of January. I typically like to grow my patunos on a little more full um before planting them out because they have such a short growing season for me in my garden. So, most likely I will start these in December. I’ve started these as early as November and that being ended up being too early. And I believe last year I started these the second or third week in December and that was also cutting it pretty close. So we’ll I’ll try to look back at my past calendars and figure out what I want to do for these. And these are um one tip for this is these are great for large containers or ground cover and they spread widely and I did prot um choose these easy way varieties so for their particular spreading habit. Okay. And then the last seed on my list is Patunia EasyWave Rose Fusion, which I have not grown before either. This um its appearance is a soft pink with a rose purple tones. And it also has the trailing habit um of the Easyway plug pudding mix. Its size is about 6 to 12 in tall and a 2 to 3 foot spread. So nice big space. I’d love to tuck some of these into my borders and containers. Its sun and water needs is it requires full sun and consistent water in feeding. um feeding, fertilizing, and when um starting these from seed, you want to start indoors 10 to 12 weeks before your last frost. One big tip for patunias is to regularly utilize liquid feeding and it helps keep these patunias blooming non-stop. I do also think if you have really hot summers like me and you want to limp these along, you can um cut them halfway back once we get to the hot summer. you can fertilize them and provide them with um ample water and you can limp them through until we get cooler temps and then they will start reluming at that time. Okay, I’m really excited that we are doing a lot of planning for next year. I am focused on lots of purples um all the way from deep purple to lavender. I’m also focused on lots of pinks all the way from deep pinks to pale blush. Um and those are my main focus. I will have a little bit of coral and peach tucked into a few places, but these are definitely going to be my main color focus for my spring annuals. All right, if you haven’t, I hope you go check out Swallowel Garden Seeds. Let me know what your thoughts are. The website is not super like wow wow. Um it’s a little old school, but I like it. Um the customer service, I haven’t really had to deal with customer service because I haven’t had a lot of struggles with garden um seeds, but they do deliver. They do ship my um seeds very quickly, which is really lovely. Um and it’s not fancy. Their packaging is not fancy. You’re not going to get all these pretty pictures and all this stuff on it. It’s very simple, but that’s, you know, I don’t want to pay for the fancy. I’m okay just getting good quality seeds, so I’m happy with that. If you have a seed company you would like to recommend to everybody else that you love to order from, be sure to drop that name down below. And if you have started selecting your spring annuals to start from seed, let us know what annuals you’re planning on starting. I’m very excited. If you want, you can go pick up um these seeds at Swallowtail Garden Seeds. And you can also grow these seeds right along with me. A lot of these videos will start in December. Um for several of y’all, that’s a little too far ahead for you, but it gives you planning purposes so you can see how the whole process goes and then be ready to start it when the timing works for your particular zone. All right, you all. I’m gonna keep healing this back. I would really love to get outside because I want to work on some fall containers, but I need to get through another day of healing and then I need to be very careful in ginger going out there. Um, make sure I stretch really good before going out there. But hopefully I’ll see you in the garden very soon. As always, make sure you like and comment on the video. Every time you like and comment, it helps grow the video and my channel so much. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving a comment, just drop me an emoji below letting me know that you made it to the end of the video and you say hi. And if you’re interested, check me out in my Patreon community. We’ve had a lot of growth as of late, which is great. And I got to say, everybody’s kind of coming into their own on the Patreon community. Everybody’s communicating, sharing photos. We recently did our first live, which was great. That was for all my Bloom Buddy and Sprouqu members. We had a great time. I had a smile on my face for the all the rest of the evening and into the next day because it was just so wonderful being, you know, with a bunch of people that u hanging out, chatting, asking questions, showing them what I was doing on my garden journal. That’s what we’re doing. And we did plan for our next live, which is going to be September 24th for um Bloom Buddy and Sprout Squad patrons. And I am going to be showing them my seed haul from Seed Therapy, which is not going to be available on YouTube. It’s only going to be available through that live on Patreon. So, I’m really excited and they voted for that. Um, I gave them the option of what they wanted their live to be and they chose that. So, very, very exciting. All right, you all. If you’re interested in Patreon, the link is in the video description below. Go check it out. Hope you’ll come say hi to us. As always, she’s a mad gardener or a decorator or anything else that she wants to be. Thanks y’all.