Kirengeshoma Seed Question

[Kristl Walek]

the last of the Anemonopsis macrophylla seed was collected yesterday.
this has been an on-going process.
but an activity that has made me very happy because, while the plants were certainly hardy back in -35C Ontario, i was never able to ripen the seed there as frosts arrived too early.

the longer, mild falls of Nova Scotia are a boon in that regard, although generally speaking the earlier seed does not ripen as well here than in Ontario (not enough heat or sunshine).

however, i am still staring and staring at the Kirengeshoma pods (at least the ones the deer have not eaten yet) and they seem nowhere near close. opening a still hard greenish pod yesterday, the seed was not as chubby as i would have liked; although with below freezing temperatures overnight, i am not sure they will progress much further. a friend in BC noted that he collected his the end of last week, slightly yellowish-green pods.

can anyone confirm whether the pods ever do ripen for them beyond that point?

[TheOnionMan]

I rarely get self-sown seedlings on Kirengoshoma palmata, in fact, my first ever seedling appeared this spring. The seed pods are as you say, very late to mature, but they also seem particularly susceptible to wet weather, and with some recent rains, I checked the pods and most had turned mushy.  Just checked this morning on this bright mild sunny day, and there were three pods with yellowish seed that appears viable, the pods themselves brown and already opened to spill seed, some other pods had already spilled their load.  I scratched this seed into the garden around the mother plant.  We started getting hard freezes at night starting about 3 weeks ago, and it appears the seed was able to move forward and ripen regardless, although admittedly, this fall has been long, mild, and quite wonderful overall.

So far as Anemonopsis seed, I harvested lots of seed about 3 weeks ago and sowed a couple flats, and about a week ago I took the remaining pods and scratched in seed around the parent plant.  The seed ripens over a period of time, some pods ripening sooner than others.

[Diane Whitehead]

As Kristl noted, Kirengoshoma is a deer favourite, but I remembered
that once I had managed to collect seed, so I checked my database.

It was in 1997, and I sowed it in mid-November.  I would have made
a note if there was anything unusual about the seeds, so they must
have looked like mature seeds to me.

Maybe I should move the plant into the fenced area where I grow lilies
and tulips.

[Kristl Walek]

thank you, mark and diane for your comments....i especially appreciated hearing, mark that seed continued to ripen after frost----and seeing the picture of the dark pods---this gives me hope--i'll put bird netting on the plants (for the deer) and wait it out.