Germinating now- - photos of seedlings

[Leucogenes]

Phoenicaulis cheiranthoides
Sedum valens
Eritrichium howardii 😍
Phlox hoodii
Armeria spec. Travenque

[Tristan_He]

Hey Tristan

Great seedlings. I see very nice species on your labels.

Yours aren't so bad either!  Look forward to seeing photos of the adult plants...

[Tristan_He]

Primula reidii, own collected seed. Some went to the SRGC seedex, hope it is germinating for others!



Viola calcarata, sown in the autumn and already quite well on...



Campanula persicifolia, also sown in autumn.



and finally a nice potful of 2nd year Erythronium revolutum plants (maybe stretching the definition of 'germinating now' a bit though!).

[hamparstum]

tristan

(Attachment Link)



and finally a nice potful of 2nd year Erythronium revolutum plants (maybe stretching the definition of 'germinating now' a bit though!).

     Actually, perhaps it might ease on our expectations that germination of some bulbs ( i.e Erythroniums) is a multiseason process!. My first year E. yes germinated, were hair thin fine seedlings and then withered ( as expected) and now belong to the status. So if the second year something of your aspect/character shows up it is a very successful event to be shared! I cross fingers that mine do the same by September. In spite of Ian Young's excellent explanation my E. adventure is still on the start. So your picture is an excellent indication of what ought be forthcoming. It boosts my hopes!
Arturo

[Tristan_He]

Hi Arturo,

I generally find Erythroniums are pretty trouble free unless a slug takes a liking to them (not all that common, fortunately).

If your seedlings are dormant it is fine to gently knock them out of their pot to check if they are ok. All being well you should see a bunch of miniature bulbs.

As you can probably see from the picture I have just repotted mine - perhaps a little late. I don't try to seperate them, just pot the whole lot into a big deep pot, and top dress with some compost so the bulbs are a little deeper down.

E. revolutum seems to do very well in our temperate Atlantic (i.e. wet) climate. Some of the other species are not so easy for me though, I think they may need a bit more cold in winter and drier summers?

Tristan

[hamparstum]

Tristan, here the mediterranean climate guarantees no water during the summer months. We are just now in the midst of the driest part. A large number of the N.American E's come from a very dry summer so I had expected that they ought to be fine here...and a wonderful addition to my dry woodland condition. Quercus kelloggii is a well growing planted oak; so is Libocedrus decurrens: both Californians that do very well. So I started out with basically the various N.American west species. Now I don't even know which pot had what so I wouldn't want to upset those of the successful batch from those that belong to the nothing batch. They will wait in a sand plunge all winter along and get. rain and snow there. I'm also trying out E.caucasicum which although of the arilate type still is from the eastern Mediterranean. No news for that one either...all in all 11 different E's. I do expect some news from at least some of them by next September! The same goes with another experiment: Calochortus also from the same region. Thanks for your tips!
Arturo

[Tristan_He]

Hah - yes I know that feeling Arturo. I reuse my compost if nothing comes up or I can't find anything in the pot - this year I have had several 'rogue' Fritillaria coming up among my seed pots (at least I think that's what they are). Still better than throwing them out!



Good luck with the Erythroniums - they are very beautiful. I also envy your climate for Fritillaria, much more suitable than here!

[hamparstum]

Yes Tristan, I've got a series of Northern hemisphere beauties awaiting on my wish list...that keeps expanding . Fritillarias already sown ( some and many more to search and find). Strangely enough, my rather unusual climate is very suitable for a lot of the new genera that are coming into cultivation these days, as more gardeners venture with wild ( or near wild) forms. The vastly expanding source of information ( like provided by this site and club) greatly speeds up the widening of the activity. Coming from a nature conservation profession, it will greatly enhance the understanding of ex situ conservation of biodiversity.
Arturo

[Rick R.]

Hah - ...I reuse my compost if nothing comes up or I can't find anything in the pot - this year I have had several 'rogue' Fritillaria coming up among my seed pots (at least I think that's what they are). Still better than throwing them out!

With bulbs that die back, as weeks and months go by, one inevitably wonders if there was anything growing in those pots.  I've taken to putting an extra label in such pots, so I know for sure.  That way, I know which pots can be thrown or reused when it's time to tidy my pot menagerie for the year.  In theory at least, you wouldn't have any unlabeled mystery plants, because you would know to keep the old labels.

[hamparstum]

Rick, thank you for your method! I'm copying it right away. Those small tips make up for a huge difference in keeping up with the pot menageries organization. At first one relies on one's own memory, but after 100 or so pots piling up...wondering what happened is the permanent state! . Most seeds take up a second year, so one has to keep a double set of pots before reaching the point of discarding and re-using compost. So easily the numbers of pots grow to hundreds!
With bulbs species, normally going below ground, part of the season, the problem persists, when they go dormant: which pot had what? , so the labelling ought to continue further. I honestly wish I can keep up with this good advice and get my pots adequately labelled....
Arturo

[Maggi Young]

Trillium and Erythronium seedlings grown by  Michael Campbell and  posted  by  him on Facebook - what an inspirational sight!

[Gabriela]

Trillium and Erythronium seedlings grown by  Michael Campbell and  posted  by  him on Facebook - what an inspirational sight!
(Attachment Link)

Inspirational to say the least Maggi!
For those who are not that experienced in growing from seeds, I need to add that most of these are 2-4+ years plants! So, don't think you've been doing something wrong if your one year old Erythronium and Trillium seedlings don't look like this

[Véronique Macrelle]

  that's wonderful !

and I who despair in front of my twenty empty jars sown with Trillium, 1 to 4 years old! it's the desert ...
 I imagine that it is absolutely necessary fresh seeds and in quantity to obtain a result.

[Tristan_He]

that's wonderful !

and I who despair in front of my twenty empty jars sown with Trillium, 1 to 4 years old! it's the desert ...
 I imagine that it is absolutely necessary fresh seeds and in quantity to obtain a result.

Trillium are not difficult if you sow the seed fresh - the trouble is getting hold of really fresh seed of the species you want. It might be worth seeing if you can exchange some seeds with other forumists when the seed is ripe in summer?

My problem is getting them to grow at all here, it's an exposed location with thin soil which doesn't seem to suit most of them. 

[WSGR]

Dahlia Variablilis Collarettes



Sweet corn



Read that a lot of people are buying up Toms seeds and compost because of the coronavirus. By the look of it, it's worse than war time.

Some tall grass





Verbena not doing very well. This year, even in East London, the temperature has been struggling. For the next few days, it's hovering around 1c and all my seedlings are struggling. Some even died. Thalictrum seedlings snapped in the middle. Heartbreaking. Need to turn on the radiator, which is breaking the bank and unheard of here. It's very windy and there is a chill to the bone here today.