I've been reading a lot lately about how the 'dollar store' can be a good place to find crafting supplies. I'm not a big crafter, but I'd like to start making more things here for the house and garden, so when I was in town last week and had some time to kill before an appointment, I decided to stop into the dollar store and have a look around.
Now, I don't think I've been in a dollar store in about 15 years, but the first thing I noticed was that most things were a lot more than a dollar. Um, hello? Wasn't that the whole point of the dollar store? Oh well, I guess with inflation dollar store prices have gone up.
Surprise, surprise, I didn't really find anything worth buying (honestly, most everything there was complete crap!), except I did find some FLOWER SEEDS!
Did I just hear you gasp when you read that and now you're thinking that I'm off my rocker for buying seeds from the dollar store? Flower seeds at the dollar store? Really?
Well, maybe I'm crazy and maybe I just threw four dollars down the drain, but please know that I have pretty low expectations that these seeds will produce (although they are dated for 2014!). Also, I have never bought or grown "American Seed" brand seeds before so I have no idea about that company or it's seeds. BUT... I'm addicted to seeds and just couldn't help myself from buying 4 boxes of flower seeds because maybe, just maybe they will grow .... oh, and they actually only cost a dollar each!
Zinnia Seed: $2.00
I bought 2 boxes of zinnia seeds. You can never have too many zinnias, right? Each zinnia seed box contain 2 oz of seed and says it will cover 25 sq. feet. So, I'm thinking I'll plant one of the boxes in the cutting garden I plan to have this year and use the second box in the new wildflower garden I want to make.
Bird and Butterfly Wildflower Seed Blend: $1.00
I also bought a single box of 'Bird & Butterfly Wildflower Blend' seeds. This 2 oz box of flower seeds says it will cover 100 sq. feet and contains a mixture of annual and perennial seeds that are supposed to be especially attractive to birds and butterflies. I plan to put these in the new wildflower garden bed.
According the to box, it contains 5000 seeds including:
- Alyssum maritimum (sweet alyssum)
- Aquilegia vulgaris (columbine)
- Centaurea cyanus (bachelor's button)
- Cheiranthus allionii (siberian wallflower)
- Chrysanthemum maximum shasta (shasta daisy)
- Coreopsis tinctoria (plains coreopsis)
- Delphinium consolida (rocket larkspur)
- Dianthus barbatus (sweet william)
- Echinacea purpurea (coneflower)
- Eschscholzia californica (california poppy)
- Gilla tricolor (bird's eyes)
- Iberus umbellata (candytuft)
- Linaria marocanna (moroccan toadflax)
- Linum rubrum (flax)
- Linum perenne (perennial flax)
- Papaver rhoeas (corn poppy)
- Phlox drummondii (drummond phlox)
- Ratilbida columnifera (mexican hat)
- Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed susan)
- Saponaria vaccaria (soapwort)
- Silene armeria (sweet william catchfly)
Hummingbird Mix Wildflower Seed Blend: $1.00
Finally, I bought a single box of 'Hummingbird Wildflower Blend' seeds. This 2 oz box of flower seeds says it will cover 100 sq. feet and contains a mixture of annual and perennial seeds that are supposed to be especially attractive to hummingbirds. I plan to put these in the new wildflower garden bed.
According the to box, it contains 5000 seeds including:
- Adonis aestivalis (summer pheasant's eye)
- Centaurea cyanus (bachelor button)
- Cheiranthus allioni (siberian wallflower)
- Cheiranthus cheriri (wallflower)
- Coreopsis tinctoria (plains coreopsis)
- Cosmos bipinnarus (cosmos)
- Delphinium consolida (rocket larkspur)
- Dianthus barbatus (sweet william)
- Dracocephalum moldavica (dragon's head)
- Gypsophila elegans (annual baby's breath)
- Iberis umbellatum (candytuft)
- Lavatera trimestris (rose mallow)
- Linaria marocanna (moroccan toadflax)
- Linum grandiflorum (red flax)
- Malope trifida (annual malope)
- Papaver rhoeas (corn poppy)
- Phlox drummondii (drummond phlox)
- Saponaria vaccaria (soapwort)
- Silene armeria (sweet william catchfly)
So, what do you think? Do you think my dollar store flower seeds will grow or do you think I wasted my four dollars?
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April 6, 2014
bought some last year and some bulbs, $1 a package, seeds did better than the bulbs, about a 50% success rate with the seeds and about 15% with the bulbs. Which considering the price was not bad. Still have zinnia seeds from last year to plant, don't think you made a bad investment. $4 you'll do good.
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April 6, 2014
Thanks William! I'm thinking if I get a 50% germination with those seeds, I'll be super happy about it!!
April 6, 2014
Oh! Think of all the beautiful photos that will come of your new flowers!! :)
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April 6, 2014
Hopefully!! :-)
Horticultural Zone: 6
April 17, 2014
I have been buying these seeds for the past 10 years. I have success every year. People think I am a gardener. I just make sure they stay damp until they germinate. I also sit and sort the seeds so that I can arrange them in certain areas at times. If I wrote a book about gardening, it would be very short. Buy seeds, buy seeds. The End.
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April 23, 2016
Must go to Dollar Tree instead of going to one of those other "dollar" stores. I find Dollar tree items to be worth more value.. And the prices are only $1 for everything. Those other places arent really dollar stores they are value stores that do sell a lot of junk. Lol.. I bought my Zinnia mix at Menards for $1 this year though, same stuff. I have had quite the success with it. Like grass seed keep moist, and follow the directions on the box. Good luck
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May 20, 2016
I planted a box of the butterfly mix and they have came back for the last three years.
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