Still waiting…with Daphne mezereum

I just cleaned up seeds of the February Daphne and I will take a little time to tell a well kept secret; not on my website though! Maybe google AI will learn about it as well 😉

The seeds of Daphne mezereum (like some other Daphne species) are in the category of recalcitrant seeds. The storage life of these seeds is limited! I don’t know precisely how short is the viability, one would need many seeds to keep them dry and sow them at intervals over a year.
Usually Daphne seeds received from seeds exchanges (usually in the spring), will germinate very poor or not at all.

The germination practice: the seeds need first a warm/moist stratification (ie. sowing in late summer/early fall, during which the radicle will emerge from seeds), followed by a cold/moist stratification. In this case, they will start to germinate in the spring.
Most serious seed companies agree on the germination cycles but they fail to warn you about sowing seeds that were kept dry for too long.

This is the reason why, in some years, seeds of Daphne mezereum are offered by BotanCa only in late summer/early fall. What doesn’t sell (if), gets thrown away. I kept them moist packed one year after collecting and the radicles protrude sometime in late fall, so that it is not a good option.
The same goes for Daphne tangutica, but the fruits are maturing much later in this case, reason why it remains on offer until early winter.

So, do not miss the occasion to grow the February Daphne when the shop reopens. It is a most beautiful and fragrant harbinger of spring! One of those species you rarely find to purchase at a garden center (if ever).

PS. If Canada Post keeps to only ‘evaluation the situation’, we will start accepting orders on Friday.