May-early June seedlings update

This post was prepared for late May, it is June already :) so a change of title and we’ll have it today. A note about Hepatica seeds following tomorrow…

The Roscoea (hardy gingers) seedlings (sown indoors in the first week of February) are getting close to their end of the season – which is always very short!
So, I took a ‘not very nice picture’ to reassure all those who have also sown Roscoea seeds that it is perfectly normal for the seedlings to look this way.

I emphasized before that in the first year the seedlings of hardy gingers will only grow for about 3 months and then become dormant: Growing Roscoea from seeds.

The first sign is that the leaves gradually start to wither. In this phase the watering needs to be greatly reduced.
After all the leaves have vanished, stop the watering and keep the pots in a dry (preferably cool place, otherwise the pots will dry out excessively). In the fall, replant the small tubers in larger pots so they can have yet another short and hopefully successful growing season!

Second item – we are following the germination and growth of Diphylleia cymosa (American Umbrella plant), a new species added to our Shop last year thanks to friendly seeds donations.

At the end of May, the seedlings are looking the same as they were in April – at the cotyledon leaves stage, as expected.

Once again, the majority of rhizomatous species will develop only cotyledon leaves in the first season, directing all the energy towards the root system.

These cotyledon leaves will most probably wither and the seedlings become dormant at some point, just like in the case of Podophyllum, Glaucidium and Roscoea. When that happens, stop watering and keep the sowing pot from drying out completely.

Small pots with dormant seedlings (and ungerminated pots) can be stored over the summer-fall in boxes, as described in: Cold stratification: part 4, springtime.

Also, from the category of species that require a cold/moist stratification in order to germinate well:

Taenidia integerrima (Yellow pimpernel) seedlings sown ‘in situ’ in the fall are looking very well and of course not-like the mother plant. In most cases, the true leaves of seedlings from the Apiaceae family (carrot) do not look similar to those of the species in the first season. Do not worry, your label is correct. By next year, the foliage will show the true to species characters (the same applies for Zizia aurea seedlings).

Last fall I also sowed a few older seeds of the native Dioscorea villosa (Wild yam). They started to germinate last week.
Dioscorea species are always late germinators; from my experience among the last ones to germinate in our climate (in SW Ontario) usually towards late May. Keep an eye on your pots but, most likely no other species sown in the fall/winter will germinate from now on if they haven’t already.

 There will always be ungerminated pots of various species by late spring, for various reasons (one of them being sowing species that require cold/moist stratification too late in the winter instead of sowing in late fall). It is a good idea to keep your sowing pots for at least another year.  
Another reason why purchasing a couple of plastic boxes is a good investment, seeds and sowing wise 😊

Last but not least, in the featured image: a close-up of very small Castilleja seedlings (Indian paintbrush).

In late fall I threw in a larger container all left-overs/older  Castilleja seeds I had. The container remained outdoors all winter long, most time under a thick layer of snow. From this point of view, the very cold and snowy past winter has been a blessing for all species requiring a cold stratification.

As previously discussed, usually germination is not a problem for Castilleja species when sown outdoors; what’s happening with the seedlings afterwards – it is another story. I just planted out some of the seedlings (in chunks) close to Sisyrinchium mucronatum and Symphyotrichum laeve. Fingers crossed…