Seed starting chronicles 2013

I love every aspect of growing.  Even when things aren't successful, lessons learned are so valuable!

Mark, I didn't find any germination references specific to Alium sacculiferum, and I had so much of the seed from you that I planted an equal amount for two different germinating regimes:
1) Sow directly at room temperature.
2) Sow at 40F for 2.5 months, then room temperature.

Both were planted at the same time, and now it's time to bring trial #2 out of the fridge....

Aquilegia canadensis Little Lanterns is a dwarf strain.  It grows about a foot tall, and is dwarf in all respects.  I am a bit curious about the dark leaves of the seedlings.  The seed was collected from my own plant in 2012 that came from a commercial nursery in 2011.  I have never noticed that the mother plant had darkish leaves, and even though I was careful to collect seeds from only flowers that bloomed when no other aquilegia were blooming, I don't have any that have dark leaves anyway. 
   

RickR wrote:

Aquilegia canadensis Little Lanterns is a dwarf strain.  It grows about a foot tall, and is dwarf in all respects. 

Thanks Rick, 'Little Lanterns' is exceedingly cute.  I've seen the all yellow variant named 'Corbett', didn't impress me seeing small plant in nursery centers, but now when I look via Google images, it can make a nice clump.

Nomocharis aperta - planted 25Mar2013 at 60-65F.  Emerged in 31 days.
   

Allium carinatum ssp. pulchellum - planted 7Feb2013 outside temps. Emerged 29Apr2013.
   

Allium tricoccum - planted 19Mar2011 (dried seed),outside temps. Emerged 23April2013.
   

Other seeds up:
Allium narcissiflorum - planted 7Feb2013 outside temps. Emerged after two 70F days on 30Apr2013.
Allium ovalifolium - planted 3Feb2012 outside temps. Emerged after three 70F days on 1May2013.
Fritillaria meleagris alba - planted 3Feb2012 outside temps. Emerged after three 70F days on 1May2013, as expected.
Mertensia ciliata (Thanks Lori!) - planted 3Feb2012 outside temps. Emerged after three 70F days on 1May2013.
Oxytropis nana - planted 3Feb2012 outside temps, not scarified.  One seed germinated last season.  More emerged after three 70F days on 1May2013.

Hedysarum boreale ssp. boreale, I think.  As I was planting various species, I neglected to mark this one right away, so its identity is through a process of elimination.  Initially, I thought I might have it mixed up with Moltkia petraea, but I grew that seed last year and had taken and posted a photo for it in Seed Chronicles 2012.  (Everyone's additions here are very helpful!)  So it's not Moltkia.
So what do you think?  The seed would have come from Lori (Thanks!).

Emerged in 29 days at 60-65F.
   

A curious happening with this batch: all of the cotyledons grew in a somewhat "abnormal" fashion.  Most grew to "one side" as the seedling on the right.  But none emerged perfectly shaped, as one might expect.  Is this normal, or could it be due to some climatic factor?
   

Rick, I think the cotyledons of Fabaceae species often are warped or asymmetric. Some don't even surface.

Well done, Gene!

Dave, have you tested other seeds on pumice?

Several seedpots have germinated the last week and now I hope for higher temperatures!
Trientalis borealis germinated after 2 winters outside. Seed from Kristl Walek. I am not quite sure of the difference between this and the European T. europaea though!

Forgot to say that the big plant in the previous replay is a weed! But surely you did understand that!

Here are something new that has germinated: Mistletoe (Viscum album). Got berries from a forumist on SRGC this spring and squeezed the seed onto several rowan and linden stems. A lot of them have germinated but climbing snails have found them irresistible! Hope some survive.

Wow, mistletoe!

I think you win the prize for most unusual angiosperm seedling, Trond.  8)

Thanks Dave, please keep me (us) updated on your pumice experiment!

Rick, I hope I get some to reach more than the seedling stage!

Allium carinatum ssp. pulchellum planted 7 Feb inside for 2 weeks, then placed outside where they emerged on 30 April.
      30 April 2013                     22 May 13
   

Draba polytricha planted in Late May 2012, one seed emerged in 10 days and eventually withered.  These emerged 6 May 2013.
         

Iris lutescens planted 30 Jan 2012, emerged 17 May 2013.
         

Lilium nanum ex Sikkim and Lilium nanum var. flavum both emerged on the same day after 3 weeks at 60-65F under lights, then 2 weeks outside in varying temps of 40-80F and lots of rain.
   

Penstemon nitidus planted fall 2011 emerged 14 May 2013.  I planted two lots from the same batch: one with seeds that were planted as received, the other I rubbed between my fingers to remove the superficial covering and reveal the true seed before planting.  So far, only the rubbed seed has come up.
    P. cobaea seed,
  natural and rubbed.             P. nitidus
   

Penstemon speciosus wild collected in Nevada.  Planted 3 Feb 2012, emerged 13 May 2013.  A few more had germinated, but only one left...
         

Veronica fruticans (thanks Trond!) from Myking, Norway.  Planted 3 Feb 2012, emerged 17 May 2013.  Our 2012 spring started a month early so they only had a month of cold conditioning in 2012.  Apparently that wasn't enough.
         

Cardiocrinum cathayanum.  I was given a copious amount of seed as the percentage of viable seed is said to be very poor.  So I had literally covered the soil surface with seed as I planted in spring 2011.  The first seeds germinated in our very unseasonably warm March 2012.  But didn't last long.  Knowing they wouldn't be winter hardy here, the pot went into the fridge the following fall and another germinated in the fridge (by 9 April 2013) when I got around to placing them outside. What was interesting was that the soil was (accidentally) bone dry!  Amazing!  The rest came up in eight days and warmer temps (and watering!).  No sign of the original seedlings.
         

Colchicum hungaricum.  Planted 15 March 2011, these went through two natural warm and two natural cold cycles to emerge 15 May 2013.
         

Crocus speciosus planted 5 Feb 2012, and again only a month of cold conditioning, emerged 8 May 13.
         

Mertensia ciliata (Thanks Lori!). Planted 3 Feb - outside temps, emerged 1 May.
         

Silene hookeri planted 7 Feb at 60-65F, then in fridge 17 March, then outside 4 May.  Emerged 15 May.
         

I really like this topic, fascinating to see how people have sown their seed and see the results.  I take the lazy man's approach, sowing seed out in the garden for some items, and for others (equally as lazy) sowing in flats and letting mother nature do the work over winter and spring.  Here's some things germinating recently, the non-stop pouring rain for the entire last week certainly helps germination along, suddenly many Arisaema are showing.

I've had Carex appalachica for almost 10 years, one of the best species, with thread-fine foliage and tiny yellowish flowers that create a haze of tiny "points of light", I have yet to capture an adequate photo of it.  No seedlings have ever appeared, so I sowed seed collected from my plants last summer, they're coming up.  It's very slow growing (and expensive to buy), so I'm glad for the increase.

http://www.newenglandwild.org/images/plantcatalog/carex-appalachica-1.jp...

Iris lactea and an Arisaema sp., both collected in the Himalaya by Chris Chadwell.  Pleased to get such good germination on the Iris.  On Arisaema, I had about 5 species all show germination just this week, they are typically late-emerging seedlings.

Lindelofia stylosa Cc7161 (Chris Chadwell seed from the Himalaya), needs transplanting soon.

Iris cristata - seed from mixed named forms 2012, these were planted out yesterday (in the rain), about 30 seedlings.

Epimedium grandiflorum f. flavescens 'Nanum' - my seed 2012, all will be hybrids. Last year I was traveling to Dallas TX for my work, for a little over a week, and missed much of the Epimedium seed ripening.  Even so, I have about a dozen and a half Epimedium varieties germinating.

Arisaema sikokianum, just starting to germinate, sown in a large plastic salad/lettuce container (I ran out of my preferred peat flats last autumn, resorted to re-using grocery containers such as this, and blue styrofoam mushroom "flats" seen in some of my other shots.  My Arisaema seed were sown "whole berry" rather than being cleaned; each berry has 2-5 seeds in it.  Many more seedling coming up since I took this photo last week.

Jeffersonia dubia (two flats front to back), and J. dubia "Korean Form" on the left (back), with 2nd year plants of Diphylleia grayi on the left.

Glaucidium palmatum white form, on the right, and one seedling so far of Clintonia andrewsiana on the left (hoping for more); thank you NARGS Forumists!

Paul wrote:

Hoy, I'm fascinated by the mistletoe. Would a piece of copper wire wrapped around the tree branch below the mistletoe seedling possibly keep the slugs away?  Not twisted tight, just round a few times like a spring?

Maybe it could work. I didn't realize it was a problem till the damage was done though, but the last seedlings on 3 different trunks are inspected every evening now!

Arisaema sikokianum germination from my own seed. I'm always surprised just how late these germinate, and surprised by the young trifoliate seedlings always showing such serrate leaf edges when mature plants don't. The experiment here, was sowing full berries (2-5 seeds per berry) without cleaning, and I'm convinced it works just as well as sowing cleaned seed. I'm taking the easy way sowing whole fruits, it works.

Clematis potaninii . First seedling emerged in 29 days at 68F.  Second in 52 days.

Clematis chisanensis did not sprout in 39 days of 68F.  Put in fridge for for 48 days, than outside at similar temps to sprout with natural spring warming.  Emerged in 38 days.

Castillea miniata (Thanks, Lori!).  38 days at 68F, than in fridge for a month, then outside at similar temps to sprout with natural spring warming.  Emerged in 12 days.

Silene hookeri did not emerge in 35 days at 68F.   Placed in fridge for 48 days, then outside in 55-75F temps.  Emerged in 11 days.

Lilium humboltii planted at 55F emerged in about a month and a half.  They were in a dark cellar type environment and unfortunately, I didn't catch them sprouting in a timely manner.  Now I wish I had take a photo of them in their purely etiolated state.  Very thick for etiolated petioles and there was no indication of of a lef blade at all.  With light, the end sections either widened to produce  leaves, or the ends grew more to produce the leaves.

Lilium parryi x unknown (second pic) planted at 55F in the same dark cellar conditions did not emerge after 3 months.  When brought outside with temps around 65 and light, they emerged in 7 days.

The first Iris rosenbachiana (seed collected in Tajikistan) has emerged after 4 years in outdoor conditions.  Woohoo!

(Taking over the pot is a Leibnitzia anandria volunteer.)

Some seedlings from the garden:

Corydalis cheilanthifolia, Angelica gigas, Helleborus purpurascens and Ruellia humilis.

This is my first experience with any Castillea.  I never expected all the seeds to germinate!

But I have a lot to play with now (as long as they continue to grow).

Ron, to get the names to show as you want when you hover over the pic and when you click to view, you need to enter the name in the "Title" box, rather than the "Alternate text" box.  But if you don't put the name in the text of the message, please also put it in the "Alternative text" box, too, so it can be searchable (when the search engine is fixed).

I changed it for you.  You can see what I did by clicking the "edit" button at the bottom of your post.

Forgot to comment on your really good results.....

I've almost no luck with Lilium lophophorum seed, with only one coming up in the second year.  And like Gene, I only get one to three mackliniae germinating per season.  I would have thought drying out the seed after it imbibed water would mean sure death.  Do you think the pots really got that dry?

That's really enlightening. 

Wonders never cease!

That's very useful information, Cohan.  I hope Trond can give some more insight to the true age of the seeds.

My only experience with willow seed is with my own seed of Salix repens.  I may have had another variety of S. repens (and a male) or else maybe it could have crossed with one of the other species I have.  At any rate, I planted the seed the same day the catkin dehisced.  Seed sprouted quickly, too, 4-6 days, I think.  But I didn't get them to continue for very long.

Good luck!