Castilleja applegatei

Description

A beautiful Indian paintbrush with bright, red/orange showy inflorescences and lance-shaped leaves with distinctly wavy margins, covered with hairs.
It is a species found on mountain meadows at mid to high elevations. Like all other Castilleja spp. it is a hemi-parasitic and  survive by attaching to and absorbing water and minerals from the roots of nearby host plants.

Germination: Castilleja ssp. are not easy to grow from seeds. Good news is that the seedlings can germinate in the absence of a host plant. The small seeds require light for germination (which makes them susceptible to desiccation!) and in most cases they need a cold/moist period for germination.
For this species 6 weeks of cold/moist stratification are mentioned by other sources and indeed I obtained a few seedlings in the spring but they didn’t make it far enough in growth.

Poor emergence of newly germinated tiny seedlings usually results either from sowing them too deeply or from allowing the surface to dry out.
They can be sown in pots or directly in the garden, close to plants that can serve as hosts (many grasses are suitable hosts). Various studies found that best is to try to grow them close to grasses and/or perennials that usually grow in the same habitat.

I germinated Castillea coccinea by direct sowing in the garden, and there are still few seedlings alive; unfortunately they are easily destroyed by ‘digging critters’; nevertheless we should persevere in growing these beautiful plants. It is possible!