Trillium 2014

[Leena]

Thank you John.

[brianw]

They will also turn pink when pollinated. I crossed 2 forms this year, both still white, and the next day they were a good strong clear pink, and not streaky as natural ageing seems to produce.

[Arum]

      I have been watching over a nice seedling of Trillium grandiflorum "Jenny Rhodes" that I have grown from seed sent by a kind & generous formist in 2009. Up till now I had hoped for & looked forward to the result being the beautiful six petaled Trillium I have admired on the various galleries on the 'net'. Now I am not so sure - I have read it is not possible to raise this beauty from seed - please tell me all. The foliage [nothing at the moment of course as we are in the early stages of a winter] most definitely looks the same as photographs I have seen of this plant.

[Arum]

Correction to photo attachment
Edna

[Leena]

They will also turn pink when pollinated. I crossed 2 forms this year, both still white, and the next day they were a good strong clear pink, and not streaky as natural ageing seems to produce.

So maybe there is hope that mine were pollinated by bees and I will get seeds from them.
How easily do different Trilliums hybridize naturally? I have T.parviflorum growing near T.grandiflorum, is it possible that they hybridize?

[Anthony Darby]

Very few Trillium hybridise naturally or otherwise, except the group that includes erectum. Edna, your "Jenny Rhodes" seedling is looking good. Perhaps it will flower next year?

[Leena]

Trillium luteum is still flowering, the picture was taken yesterday. I love this plant, I hope it will increase in the future years.

[Jupiter]

Question for Trillium aficionados. I've just received seed of four species of Trillium from John Lonsdale. Obviously they are coming out of Summer/Autumn in the USA straight into Winter/Spring here in Australia. Part of me feels that it's probably best to refrigerate them and hold off sowing for 6 months, but on the other hand a lot of reading I'm doing warns against delay when sowing Trilliums to prevent extending their dormancy. I have a fridge which could accommodate seedling trays so the other option is to sown them, cover them with grit and fridge them until the worst of summer is over. Our autumn should give them a warm cycle and then natural winter conditions outdoors would be the second cold cycle, with germinations possible the following spring? Anyone have any comments?

My species are;

underwoodii
maculatum
sulcatum
vaseyi

[Tim Ingram]

I would take the latter course because you won't only extend their dormancy by not sowing them straightaway but possibly also lose their viability. In the Case's book they mention only T. rivale tolerating dry storage (actually not even in a fridge, so maybe some other species from seasonally dry localities would be more tolerant? Just storing in slightly damp perlite or vermiculite in the fridge until a suitable sowing time might be the best answer). This must be a common problem with woodland seed (eg: jeffersonia, hellebores, epimediums etc.) travelling south from the N. Hemisphere, so presumably quite a few gardeners have experience of it?

[Matt T]

I agree with Tim, holding back sowing may send the seeds into a deep dormancy (if it doesn't kill them) unless they are kept moist. I don't think any of the species you list would enjoy dry storage.

I think I read that they need 84 days of cold to germinate?? So maybe aim to keep them in the fridge for that long. However, I would prefer to sow them into pots/trays, as this will avoid disturbing them if/when they germinate whilst kept in the fridge (if stored in a damp medium it might then be tricky sowing germinated seeds with a tiny fragile root without damaging them). Then, in theory, your warm autumn and following winter should give them their second chilling and cotyledons above the surface within a year, hopefully.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[Matt T]

I think I read that they need 84 days of cold to germinate??

OK, have dug out my copy of Case, it was research at University of Vermont carried out by Stephie Solt that found that T. grandiflorum required a minimum of 83 days of cold (41oF/5oC) for 75% germination.

...the other option is to sow them, cover them with grit ...

Forgot to say, rather than surface sow and cover with grit, I would also sow them deep, i.e. halfway down the pot, where they will be protected from changes in moisture etc.

In summary, Trillium germination is:

summer/autumn 1: seed experiences mild temperatures
winter/spring 1: cold followed by warming breaks dormancy, radicle emerges and forms rhizome/root and immature cotyledon (which remains underground).
summer/autumn 2: seedling exists on stored energy
winter/spring 2: falling/cold temperatures followed by warming instigate growth with cotyledon expanding to emerge above ground.

It is reported that as well as T. rivale, T. nivale may also tolerate (brief) periods of dry storage.

[Maggi Young]

Ian sows trillium quite deep. He would sow now, Jamus  and keep as cold as you can. It's the safest way- and probably faster way for you to get them established.

 Good luck!

[Jupiter]

Thank you everyone for your rapid response! I know just what to do with them now and I'll get right onto it tomorrow.

[Lesley Cox]

I have this feeling that Trillium seed will do what it darned well pleases and will germinate if and when ready, regardless of what one does or doesn't do. Having said that, I'd always sow as fresh as possible so sow now, having maybe stratified by soaking for a day or two first. Two years ago (i.e. seed from the flowering of two years ago) I sowed T. maculatum (in a pot) within 10 minutes of picking the two berries and washing off the seed. It is beginning to germinate yesterday and today! No sign at all of the same plant's seed sown last season, again within minutes of harvest, but in the ground around the parent plant. But T. angustipetalum germinated after 5 years in a dried up pot where I'd thrown it under a hedge, where it became covered in dead foliage and had water sitting on it probably for a couple of years at least. T. grandiflorum from the NH germinated after 7 and 8 years in my vegetable garden, among the lettuce seedlings. It must have been dug and turned in several times, limed, composted, drenched and dried out repeatedly, lived with potatoes, cabbage and carrots over that time but still came eventually. In my own experience, only T. rivale germinates with anything like a "normal" pattern such as with, e.g. narcissus, erythronium, crocus etc. Good luck!

[Jupiter]

Very interesting Lesley! What adventures you've had with Trilliums. I sowed mine this morning in large flats, two species per tray divided down the middle. There are about a hundred seed of each species so plenty of scope here for luck. I used a very nice potting media, rich in well composted organics and pH adjusted and sterile. It's the very best stuff I have available to me which is saying something. I work in a plant research facility which makes specialised potting media on site to very strict parameters.
I half filled the trays, tamped down, spread the seed carefully one by one, misted them with a spray bottle to wet and then buried under an equal layer of the same mix on top. Both trays are now in a little bar fridge (skillfully negotiated with wife to obtain the use of said fridge). I will pop a thermometer in there tonight and I may slip each tray into a large plastic bag to reduce evaporation. Now we wait! I will set up a reminder to myself to check on them once a month and possibly pull them out on the first of March or something like that, and transfer them to the summer nursery (shady one).