Something old and something new for 2024

Winter returned yesterday and the kettle was on for tea; the perfect day to start the warm sowings and to test the hot water treatment (HWT) on more species. A customer asked me more details about Lespedeza violacea, Violet bush-clover, seeds recently and I realized that I forgot to check it with the HWT, so it was the first on the list.

Then, something that I had and never got to grow again: Anthyllis vulneraria var. coccinea; nothing very special about the kidney vetch, just that I like it and is short lived. I acquired a few seeds from a seedex (and for good measure also Anthyllis montana).
Plus, the new Astragalus missouriensis, which was offered new on the fall Seeds List. I always try to test some of the new seeds additions, which I suspect by association with similar species, to be warm germinators.

For those unfamiliar, please read about the HWT on the Germination page, or use the Search tab looking for ‘hot water  treatment’. I first started to look at this method (in use a long time ago) for species in Fabaceae family, because I dislike the scarification with sandpaper.

Species in this family have only physical dormancy, ie. the embryo is ready to germinate in proper conditions (water imbibition, temperature) but cannot do so because of the hard, impermeable seedcoat. I found an image with a sectioned seed of Lespedeza japonica in an old book, which illustrates well the ‘situation’ inside the seed; those of other Lespedeza including L. violacea are similar.

For many species it is necessary to repeat the treatment because not all seeds will imbibe well after a first soak, and it seems based on the picture that Lespedeza seeds didn’t change much in size and will need a HWT repeat.
See pictures with the fruits (one seeded, indehiscent pods) and seeds and one taken today after the first hot water treatment.

Keep in mind that we cannot generalize that ALL Fabaceae species will react to HWT and germinate at room temperature, but it is definitely worth trying.
The other good alternative is to sow these species in late fall-winter outdoors and let the weather naturally wear down the hard seedcoats.

For the proper warm germinators, a whole batch of Campanula species was sowed (+ few others like Luetkea and Potentilla). I love the bellflowers and try to increase their diversity in my garden. There is one fitted to any location, from sun to shade and from moist to dry; the pollinators know where to find them :)
Something old: Anthyllis vulneraria var. coccinea in 2017 and something new: Campanula cochlearifolia first time flowering last summer in July.

*Reminder: if you try to germinate something at room temperature and nothing happens after 3-4 weeks, move the pot in a cold location for 1 (2) months and then bring it back to warmth. I never had good results and the patience to wait 3 months for something to germinate at room temperature (like some sources are suggesting).