Castilleja coccinea

Description

A very beautiful wildflower with orange-red, bright flowers in the summer – as a matter of fact, the colorful parts are leafy bracts disposed in dense terminal inflorescences, and so the flowering seems to be going on and on during summer time. Considered a biennial species; in most cases after flowering/setting seeds the plant will die and populations are maintained by the newly germinated seeds.

Germination: Castilleja ssp. are not the easiest plants to grow from seeds, being hemiparasitic species. Good news is that the seedlings can germinate in the absence of a host plant. The small size seeds require light for germination (which makes them susceptible to desiccation!) and they need a cold/moist period for germination.

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 even better 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 (in this case Symphyotrichum laeve, Sisyrinchium, Parnassia…).

I managed to have Castillea coccinea flowering in the garden by direct sowing (featured photo); true that I used a lot of seeds, just like it happens in nature. There are also seedlings of Castilleja miniata germinated in a Jiffy pot, which is also a good method for sowing, allowing for easy planting of the Jiffy pot later in the garden close to a host.