Last summer, I bought annual bedding plants that were called "Angelina," and were in pink, light purple, or dark purple. We won't see our last frost until May 14, but I was hoping to find seeds to start them myself. Has anyone seen these in seed packets?

If this is the flower you are looking for,
Park's Seed offers Angelonias this year:



http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Store...10&go.y=12&go=submit

Sunny Day, I think franeli's right. They're Angelonias, and I ordered the collection from Parks last year. They were quite easy to germinate and flowered well. It was very difficult to identify the actual seed when I tried collecting some at the end of the season, however, so I took off what looked like the seed. Going to try and germinate whatever the heck it is I have.

Definintely give them a try. Way cheaper than buying the plants at a nursery. (Been there/done that).

Thank you for the seed source.
Yes, Angelonia is correct. They really did well during last year's hot July weather, and also held up well as cut flowers.

Sunny,
You mentioned in your post that they were nice cut flowers. I would like to focus my growing efforts this year on good cut flowers. How long did they last after being cut and how tall is the usable flower stem after being cut? Thanks for any information you can pass along!
And welcome to OG....nice to see a new name on board, expecially one that is interested in flowers!!

I've heard them called Summer Snapdragons too. I bought some plants last year. I didn't know you could get seed!

Buffalo Gal One thing that worked well for me last year was African Blue Basil which is actually a hybrid cross between basil and camphor. You would never think of it for a vase but in fact it worked well. You can't grow it from seed though. The seed is sterile.

Ellen

Thanks for the suggestion, Ellen! Did you get your plant locally or did you order from a catalog? Is it an annual or perennial? Any info you can share would be great! Thanks again!

Purple Angelonias smell like 'grape' soda!
Fabulous color,those purple ones.
Such a nice plant-no demands-seems to just exist.
And they are quite the contrast to 'Moonbeam'coreopsis.

African Blue Basil

I was looking on the web for a picture that really captured both the leaves with the purple and green color and the pink flowers, but I couldn't find one that showed both aspects. It is classifed as an annual but it loves to grow inside in winter too, so it overwinters easily from a cutting. Right now I have rooted cuttings from my cutting. Those are not under lights but right on the window sill, and one is blooming already! I tried cutting the bloom off to help it root better but the bloom just grew right back again. The plants grow like weeds and over the summer when nothing else looked good they alway did. They ended up in a lot of arrangements and like coleus they sometimes root in the vase! I got mine at the local herb festival but they are available on line at several herb stores as plants. I would just buy one and root cuttings from that unless you are very impatient. There is a varigated form too but I have never seen that in person and I imagine it would be slightly weaker and the vigor of the plant is one of it's charms, especially since it can't seed itself where you don't want it! A lot of people use it in cooking but I don't like it that way personally.

Ellen