Pimelea from seed

[Diane Whitehead]

The seedlist offers wild-collected seeds of many Pimelea species.
I saw many in bloom in Western Australia last spring, all beautiful,
so I requested all of the ones on offer.

I've just looked in Wrigley and Fagg's book Australian Native Plants so
I'll be prepared to sow them come January.  Well, the book was not
helpful at all.  For each species, it says to take cuttings.

Does anyone have any advice for germinating these seeds?

[Giles]

Diane,
I sowed mine in the Summer  2/3rds peat based compost / 1/3rd seed grade perlite. (I use that for everything).

[Diane Whitehead]

Amazing!

I couldn't read the labels - which species is that?

[Lesley Cox]

Since they're quite closely related to Daphne, it's probably best to use any techniques you would for that genus. (That will be why Giles' are doing so well ). For me, that means sow 'em, cover 'em with grit, water and put outside and hope for the best. Fresher the seed the better.

[Darren]

I was lucky enough to get most of those listed in the exchange. I guess I should keep them in the fridge then sow them in spring?

[Giles]

I think it's a case of make-it-up-as-you-go-along, I'm afraid Darren.
I stuck them in in the Summer simply because that's when I got them.
Not all of them came up then, whether the remainder come up after the Winter remains to be seen.
I'm not convinced they're all going to be hardy.
I've some NZ and Tasmanian ones (well, somewhere south of the I.O.W.  )which are quite happy outside in the snow right now (drupacea/ferruginea/prostrata) but the Australian ones are in one of the greenhouses which I keep more or less frost free (it's a one kilowatt heater and it does its best  ).
If nothing happens in the Spring, it will be 70F > Fridge > 70F .............compost heap.

A joke for Maggi, heard on the radio today: 'Aerospace' : room for more chocolate 

I saw on another thread a reference to the 'interweb' 
..and found this definition in an online dictionary:
'The place you go when you click the big blue E on your screen; sometimes when you're on there naked pictures come up, or baloons telling you that you are a winner, other times you get a strange error and you computer turns off.......

[Maggi Young]

A joke for Maggi, heard on the radio today: 'Aerospace' : room for more chocolate

That's a joke? I thought it was a dictionary definition 

[Lesley Cox]

And back to Pimelea seed. I'd not expect Australian species to need or maybe even like, a cold period, so maybe not the fridge, especially if they're from West Australia, but maybe Fermi and Paul could give an opinion. Ours are well used to a chilly winter all being alpine plants.

[Darren]

Umm. Thanks everyone. I'd guessed from their wild habitat that they would not need a cold spell for germination, the fridge was an idea simply to help maintain viability until the weather gets warmer. Though looking outside it doesn't look like this is going to be anytime soon!  I was able to bring home enough paperwork yesterday to be able to work from home today, but Susan has been stuck on a snowy station platform for over an hour now waiting for a train apparently stranded between preston and lancaster.... goodness knows when she will get to work, let alone get home again.