My Bit of Heaven - by Kristl Walek

[ashley]

... some that produce seeds that are largely (but deceivingly) empty (griseum and maximowiczianum for example) ...

As the seed fully ripens and becomes dry, the (often double) seed coat hardens to a point that it is difficult for moisture to reach the embryo. In the natural course of things, a dried, fully ripe seed is certainly germiable; but will often take a full two seasons to sprout.

... without considering species such as griseum (whose seed almost always looks plump and well developed to the naked eye--but is usually in fact, empty).

Thanks very much Kristl.  A. griseum puzzles me because seed gathered still greenish & gently dried for just a few days looks uniformly dead to me when cut open.  Nevertheless some (maybe 20%) germinates

From what you say it seems I'm overlooking the embryos, which remain viable when dried but are slower to wake than freshly-sown or damp-packed seed.

[TheOnionMan]

My Acer griseum tree always produces a huge quantity of seed, but rarely any self-sown seedlings, maybe the low viability seed is the reason. 

This year squirrels found insatiable delight in sitting in the tree and plucking the seed; they bite the hard end off to retrieve any tender kernel inside... in doing this activity they end up breaking lots of the terminal shoots, the last 6" or so too weak to support the weight of fat greedy squirrels, most annoying.  Both squirrels and chipmunks would also sit on my deck and the stairs close by, and sample seed there, leaving a mess load of chomped apart samaras on my deck.  Maybe their fondness for harvesting the seed contributes to the effect of low self-sown germination, although this is the first year I've seen such overt attacks on the seed.

[Onion]

Marc I think the low viability of A. griseum seed is the reason that we often grow only one tree. I have never seen in a garden (Private or botanical) two, three or more trees of A. griseum.
I think the viability will increase by more than one tree in the garden.

[Kristl Walek]

The genus has wildly varied germination habits, species that have ephemeral seed (rubra); some that produce seeds that are largely (but deceivingly) empty (griseum and maximowiczianum for example)---these are "parthenocarpic" --- producing seed that "appears" full and well formed, but is usually empty (sometimes called "virgin fruit")

Perhaps deceiving to use the term "viability" for A. griseum---when it normally has no seed to be "viable." Ashley---the normal percentages, in fact, of seed in most griseum lots is about 20% at best---so your average is right on the nose!!!!

[Kristl Walek]

To have a day of brilliant sunshine and 15C in mid November is a gift which must not be squandered. So Alisha and I headed off early today to eastern Nova Scotia on the Atlantic shore to collect the few last species on my list--Rhododendron canadense and groenlandicum and Ilex glabra. The latter only grows in that area of the province.

Even though it is a relatively short jaunt across the province to the Atlantic side (just over an hour), it was quite astounding to see the difference in the landscape. With all the deciduous trees defoliated, the landscape was quite bare for most of the trip, with the only colour coming from the green on conifers---and the occasional yellow Larix decidua. But as soon as we approached Liverpool, at the ocean end, a known climactic hotspot, colours again appeared on streets and in wild spaces.

On the way we also passed the perch of the famous feathered pair, Ethel and Oscar (and new offspring Skylar). These ospreys have a huge nest on top of a power pole, which has been heavily reinforced. You can read about the interesting tale here (and see pictures).

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/osprey/index.html

[Kristl Walek]

Arriving at our collection site, we were again met with a sea of mostly bare, woody branches and the occasional conifer. Kalmia angustifolia and Rhododendron groenlandicum were still to be found, green or colouring as well. All else, except a few evergreen groundcovers, such as Epigaea repens, had disappeared for winter.

But it was a perfect time of the year for locating the evergreen Ilex glabra. As I said to Alisha as we started out "just look for something green that isn't a conifer." And in fact, once we were in the right spot, all the green dotting the landscape was the Ilex. Most plants in this exposed habitat here were quite small--mostly under 60cm. The clean dark green foliage is wonderful, although the flowers are insignificant and the smallish dark berries are rather hidden in the foliage.

I have heard of a cultivar with white berries; which I think must be wonderful against the beautiful leaves. Particularly because the plant holds its berries throughout winter.

The berries were tedious to collect, but the ease of collecting the Rhododendrons made up for the time.

[Kristl Walek]

In fact we had made such good time that we grabbed coffee in Liverpool, visited a local nursery and decided to drive out to a nearby beach for a stroll on pure white sands, entirely undisturbed by anyone.

I can't express adequately what having this moment in time with my daughter has meant to me. Our shadows in the sand.

[Kristl Walek]

Returning to my earlier discussion of testing seed; and in particular a batch of wild collected seed that Cohan sent me from Alberta, all of which has tested to my satisfaction and will be listed this season.

And the specifics:

Potentilla palustris, Corydalis aurea, Delphinium glaucum and Castilleja miniata are all cold germinators, so I was not looking for germination in these initial tests. What I was watching for after the seed had been subjected to moisture for some time was rot, fungal attack or smell---which would indicate a problematic embryo. All the seed remained firm and healthy.

You will note that I tested the Castilleja with some remnant chaff (the darker bits). The presence of the chaff does not affect the sound seed (the lighter colored bits). These I pressed with my finger and they are firm.

By the way, the white that you see next to some of the seed is a reflection, not a sprout.

A few representative Shepherdia canadensis seeds were smashed and confirmed to contain embryos before they went into the petri dishes. I do this with all hard-coated woody species, as a threshold test.

Now on to the warm germinators, where results/rates can readily be seen in the petri dishes.

Dodecatheons have variable germination habits---with D. pulchellum being one of the easy warm species. In fact, with Dodecatheon mix-ups quite common in seed exchanges/in the trade---one can sometimes work backwards from the seed to narrow down what you have (pulchellum, alpinum and clevelandii being the easy warms; media, redolens, dentatum and conjugens being the colds).

Zigadenus elegans and Lilium philadelphicum are both easy warms, and the results here were consistent.

Parnassia too is an easy warm, but much slower to germinate as a general rule. So the meager 40% rate on the P. palustris today does not concern me. It is just beginning, and will be left and checked in another 10 days before I list it for certain.

[cohan]

Returning to my earlier discussion of testing seed; and in particular a batch of wild collected seed that Condor sent me from Alberta, all of which has tested to my satisfaction and will be listed this season.

note should say 'Cohan' sent me, above

very interesting to see these, thanks!
i didn't know that about the dodecatheons, and esp interesting since my two choices were pulchellum or conjugens, and the differential characters seem small and variable (efloras suggested some populations show past intergrading)

[TheOnionMan]

Cohan, I thought perhaps you had an alter ego as a soaring Condor

[cohan]

Cohan, I thought perhaps you had an alter ego as a soaring Condor

might be easier than cycling the gravel roads 
actually, its an easy slip--i live near the hamlet of Condor, so depending where the seed was collected, most of those seed packets will say Condor, Alberta or if a few miles one way or another, may say Alhambra, Alberta, or Evergreen, Alberta etc

[Kristl Walek]

note should say 'Cohan' sent me

Cohan,
Ah...my apologies. and let me assure you it was nothing personal.
The slip is a small example of ongoing difficulty I am having with "mental function" since the lightning strike. Some days I cannot write at all as words are transposed into others or automatically written backwards....it takes forever to proof-read every sentence, and even then I often don't see the errors.

We usually don't air our dirty linen in public, but to a woman with a love of the written word and a book to finish; this is a very difficult struggle. Made worse by the fact that I now live in a province where finding a doctor when you live in a remote area is like winning the lottery. Without this family physician, a referral to a neurologist has been impossible.

[cohan]

note should say 'Cohan' sent me

Cohan,
Ah...my apologies. and let me assure you it was nothing personal.
The slip is a small example of ongoing difficulty I am having with "mental function" since the lightning strike. Some days I cannot write at all as words are transposed into others or automatically written backwards....it takes forever to proof-read every sentence, and even then I often don't see the errors.

We usually don't air our dirty linen in public, but to a woman with a love of the written word and a book to finish; this is a very difficult struggle. Made worse by the fact that I now live in a province where finding a doctor when you live in a remote area is like winning the lottery. Without this family physician, a referral to a neurologist has been impossible.

i was not remotely bothered, don't even think about it! i make such slips all the time--especially online where one is trying to respond to a great many messages, mails, etc, without spending all day, and i have no better excuse than natural scatter brainedness!
sorry to hear you are having problems finding medical help, i know there is a shortage of primary care doctors in many parts of canada; around here, there seem to be many doctors who have moved here from south africa (including my mother's doctor)...

[Ragged Robin]

Kristi, I'm so sorry to hear you are still suffering from the after effects of the lightening strike. It must be so frustrating and worrying however I want to assure you that I love reading your posts that are so full of interest, knowledge and humanity and inspiring to read.


     

[Kristl Walek]

anne,

i know you were hoping for a visual on germination results of the *beautiful* seed you sent me
(what i mean by this, by the way), is that not all gardeners are seed people---and you are---but this is another story).

the crataegus and orobanche i am not showing, as there is nothing to see except healthy (ungerminated) seed.

but look at your arisaema consanguineum (huge pod)---i will be potting those up for myself straight from the petri dishes. 100% germination.

and the black form of allium walichii, which i did not realize was a warm germinator. these are nearly jumping out of the petri dishes with health.