First seedlings of 2019 – update on Ephedra

Short break from other more menial tasks to show the first seedlings of 2019!
To many more!

See: About Ephedra and cutting seeds

Ephedra distachya seedlings – seeds soaked for 5/6 days with radicles emerged, first shoots after 6/7 more days

Friday’s Seeds, and flowers – the bean family

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About Fabaceae (i.e. Leguminosae) this Friday: seeds and not only. This is a gigantic family with many species of agricultural and ornamental importance. But we can have a glimpse at various seeds/fruits, ponder at their diversity and remember some of the plants and their flowers.
The page is published and those interested can found it on the Seeds Library menu Here

Being such a cold winter day I will help with remembering few flowers :)
Hover with the mouse over images to see the names.

From the practical point of view I am sure many know that seeds from this family will germinate better/faster after scarification or treatment with hot water.

About Ephedra and cutting seeds

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I don’t always get the chance to talk more about various species offered in the seeds shop which are not that well known/cultivated for ornamental purpose. This opportunity came unexpectedly for Ephedra distachya.

Ephedra species, commonly known as Mormon tea, joint-fir (and few others) are better known for their medicinal properties.
But not many are aware that Ephedra species are Gymnosperms, a singular genus in Fam. Ephedraceae, which in its turn is the sole Fam. in the Order Ephedrales.

Almost all species are dioecious and growing in dry, rocky/sandy habitats. Considering their evergreen aspect and colorful cones, they also make for interesting garden plants, a quality which should be exploited more.
It is extremely rare to see Ephedra in someone’s garden in our northern temperate climate. And yet, there are hardy species; we just need to be more open to growing new species.

Ephedra distachya is a low-growing shrub from Southern and Central Europe to Central Asia, which prefers rocky places in full sun location. The seeds were collected in 2017 from the Dobrogea region, close to the Black Sea in Romania.

Ephedra distachya, sea grape – female plant with ripe cones

Because not too much info regarding the seeds/germination/viability was available, I recently took it out of the inventory in order to test the seeds. I do this regularly with seeds in their 2-3+ year of storage, but with Ephedra I had one more reason for testing: the seeds I sowed in early fall 2017 soon after collecting, did not germinate by fall 2018.

An easy and fast way to assess the seeds is the ‘cut method’:  slice transversally through the seeds and visually (magnifying glass) inspect the ‘insides’, which should be whitish/yellowish in color. This will show that the seeds are not empty (which happens sometimes) and the endosperm/embryo are viable (unless using a microscope is hard to say most of the time if you’ve cut through the endosperm or the embryo).
After this first phase, one can follow with further germination tests, if desired/necessary.
In the case of seeds with a very hard seed coat or slippery, it is easier to cut the soaked seeds. I will elaborate about this method some other time.

Long story short – the seeds soaking started on Jan.3; water was changed daily. Yesterday (Jan. 7) this was the situation: after 5 days of soaking at room temperature, the seeds are starting to germinate! No need for cutting, proceed to sowing :)

Ephedra distachya seeds starting to germinate (radicles emerging)

 So, why these seeds have not germinated in the pot?
One explanation would be that I missed the watering of the little pot at some point, which is possible.
It is very easy to leave the pots too dry during the critical point when the germination starts when you don’t actually see the above ground signs of the seedlings.
It wouldn’t be the first time when I missed to properly water pots with seedlings. A good reminder to keep a better eye on the sowings!

Now, who wants to grow something different for their garden?
Ephedra distachya seeds are back in stock and other rarely cultivated species suitable to grow in similar location are still available (like Hedysarum grandiflorum, Astragalus vesicarius,…).

First Fridays Seeds 2019

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Best wishes to all readers for successful plant growing and beautiful gardens in 2019!

For today, a germinating seed of Paeonia wendelboi – a bridge between the past year and the present one.

Paeonia wendelboi germinating seed (at warm); the root appeared in winter 2018 (it was very tiny but nothing escapes my magnifying glass, or so I like to think). The shoot will start to grow only after a cold period, the way it goes with most peonies.

And a message, seeds speaking generally:

Do not forget  that this is the perfect time for sowing species which require cold/moist stratification!
If done too late, especially in the case of a mild winter, the cold period won’t suffice and the seeds will need one more cold cycle to germinate.

I would like to draw your attention especially to a few moist packed seeds.
Beside the fact that for a very good price you can get seeds which will most likely germinate, by comparison with sowing them dry, some, like Aconitum spp. , may be an one time offer. Others, like Thalictrum thalictroides, which require more driving to the collection site, will be offered only on alternate years.

Even with the garden collected seeds, it can happen to miss the seeds of species like Saruma henryi.
Thus, it is always best to get these kind of seeds when available.

You can easily find them all by browsing the Moist packed Seeds and Corydalis Seeds categories.

Belated Fridays Seeds: Paeonia brownii

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I forgot about the Fridays Seeds :o
In my defense, I was trying to finish the first batch of winter sowings, before other/new seeds arrive. Being end of the month I also had to check all the remaining moist packed seeds, kept at cold or warm.

A leisurely Saturday is a good occasion to show the seeds of Paeonia brownii.
I didn’t show them before because all seeds that arrived were presold and none of them made it to the online shop inventory. With more requests left unsatisfied I didn’t want to aggravate the situation.

Paeonia brownii is one of the only two North American peony species and it has different seeds than the ones we are more used seeing. I would call it the Cinderella of the peonies (seeds wise) because they are nothing but attractive, especially when dry: brownish and large with an irregular shape.

In the rush of the moment I even missed to take pictures of the dry seeds; the ones shown here are already in moist packing since late October (kept at warm).

Paeonia brownii seeds: kept in moist storage since late October. Moist seeds should not be left to dry out at any moment, hence only a quick picture with the seeds on moist towel ;)

Those interested can read more and see pictures of this intriguing peony species HERE.

Sowing seeds = Exercising hope

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Like all respectable seeds/plant addict I already started sowing and will continue to do so well into the New Year.

Same like weeding, I feel sowing seeds will easily get you into meditation mood; quietly filling pots and laying out the little ‘beads’ on top, covering, watering; automated like motions….
A large part of the seeds will germinate but only some of the seedlings will get to ‘adulthood’ and even fewer will get to be planted in the garden. This is good. Otherwise, we won’t be able to continue the ‘exercise’.

Full tray with sowings almost ready to go outside: Aconitum spp., Penstemons, Zizia, Leptarrhena, Romanzoffia…to mention just a few

That’s what I came to believe this is all about: the hopeful expectation of seeing the tiny, green sprouts showing up one day; managing to grow the actual plants is secondary. If it happens, fine, but even if does not, we will gladly continue, year after year to repeat the process. It is like exercising hope.

By exercising, one always gets better. See what I’m getting at? :) Keep exercising hope!

Seeds of Aconitum moldavicum and Aconitum cf. kusnezoffii are available now for those interested: moist packed after a short period of dry keeping. To maximize the chances of germination this coming spring you can also treat them with GA3.

 

Starting notes on Aconitum germination – 2018

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Yesterday I sowed the first Aconitum seeds of the season! – a good occasion to also publish this post, drafted since late spring.

Aconitum is a large genus with many beautiful species, usually growing in mountainous regions of the Northern Hemisphere, popularly known as wolf’s banes or monkshoods. Many know that they are toxic/medicinal species, but more than that they are highly valued as garden plants.

Like many other species from fam. Ranunculaceae they can prove difficult to germinate from dry stored seeds. Most often it is not possible to moist pack the seeds right away; some collectors are not aware of the requirement or they are unwilling to do it because it is too tedious.

Experienced growers from all over the world will confirm the fact that dry kept seeds of various Aconitum species will generally germinate poorly/germinate in the second year after sowing, or in many cases will never germinate.

My intention is to compile a list for Aconitum species showing their germination pattern when using fresh, moist packed or dry seeds. Knowing which species retain good germination capacity even after their seeds are kept dry for a given amount of time would be very useful.

Generally speaking, we know for sure few facts about Aconitum seeds/germination:
– at the time of seed collecting the embryos are underdeveloped
– the germination can’t occur until the embryos reach a certain size, usually after a period of cold/moist stratification.
– GA3 treatment can promote embryo growth for some species, and thus can be useful in combination with the cold/moist period.

The list below was compiled from my own data and supplied by others on the Scottish Rock Garden Forum, where you can also find a thread open on this subject. Feel free to contribute.

 

And few pictures with various Aconitum species that germinated this spring (2018), in the second year after sowing (dry seeds, GA3 treatment), seedlings, new seeds and the new batch of Aconitum sowings!

Few Aconitum species  will be available late next week!

 

Friday’s Seeds – Callirhoe and the mericarps

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I always strive to make sure the quality of seeds at BotanyCa is top notch. When a few seeds remain available for a given species, it becomes even more an important issue. Such was the case for Callirhoe digitata (Fam. Malvaceae) yesterday.

What we usually call seeds are actually mericarps, parts of a dry fruit called schizocarp; they contain 1 seed each. However, some mericarps can be empty or contain a malformed seed; not too many were left, so a closer look was necessary.

I would like to emphasize that for the purpose of sowing it’s not necessary to extract the seeds from the mericarps.
Reason I did this: to make sure how many good seeds are still available and, to take & show pictures with the actual seeds.

Callirhoe digitata (Fringed poppy mallow, standing wine cup) – mericarps and seeds

Another similar species, seeds wise, is Iliamna rivularis – Streambank wild hollyhock.
In this case each mericarp contains 2-3(4) seeds, shown below.

Iliamna rivularis seeds

Iliamna rivularis flowers

 

The return to Bukiniczia

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With the help of a new magnifier lamp (a super dark November had something to do with this), I went slowly through all the Bukiniczia calyces (which are usually called ‘seeds’: read Next please – Bukiniczia cabulica).
I did not count precisely but I can tell that +/-20% of them presented seeds. This percentage may of course be different for other clones.

You can find the seeds in the shop now – Bukiniczia cabulica
This is how Bukiniczia SEEDS look like:

Bukiniczia cabulica seeds

*A reminder that products in The Seeds List can display out of stock temporarily until the inventory is replenished.

**When you receive whole calyces as ‘seeds’ for Bukiniczia, Armeria, Limonium, Acantholimon (and possibly others from Plumbaginaceae), check to see if there are actually any seeds before sowing.

Gift cards

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It is cold and, thanks to Canada Post union, slow going, so I use the occasion to announce the newly posted Gift Cards category – up and running on the shop.

In short: they can be used any time, sent to the purchaser or to the gift recipient or as a pdf file to be downloaded.
The only condition is that the whole value has to be redeemed in one purchase.

Click on the card to read the whole info

Stay tuned for the Friday’s seeds; we will play a ‘seeds game’ to keep us entertained.
The winner’s prize – a 25$ Gift card!

Maybe a consolation prize too; I’m not done yet with the logistics…

 

Friday’s Seeds – the Turtleheads

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I am pleased to have seeds of two North American turtleheads this year: Chelone glabra and Chelone obliqua.

Both species grow best in moist locations in full sun to part shade and are valuable for their late flowering in August-September; bumblebees can’t have enough of their flowers.

The flowers shape reminds of a turtlehead, reason for their Latin and common name: Chelone = turtle in Greek. Tournefort described Chelone glabra as “Chelone Acadiense, flore albo” (Acadia being the name of Nova Scotia, Canada at the time, around 1700).

I remember reading somewhere that Rafinesque was indignant of the chosen name, arguing that the flowers are not reptiles :) He tried to change it to Chlonanthes but it didn’t work of course. Especially the flower buds do really look like a turtlehead!

But I diverge, here are the seeds. They are very similar, as expected; brown to light tan with a surrounding wing.

Chelone obliqua, Pink turtlehead (Fam. Plantaginaceae) capsule and seeds

and

Chelone glabra, White turtlehead seeds

Friday’s Seeds – Anemone caroliniana

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Magic mirror on the wall,
Who is the wooliest one of all?

Anemone caroliniana seeds

Like many other Anemone, this species is easy to grow from seeds and a nice addition for the rock garden/other relatively dry locations.
Those who don’t want/like to grow from seeds can try and visit next year Fuller Natives & Rare Plants in Belleville; many NA ‘native delights’ are awaiting every season for discerning gardeners.

Find it in the shop