Garden

Summer Seeds Update

Sunil41.2K views

A couple of weeks ago I sowed six cell trays with six different types of plant seeds. I put them in the greenhouse and waited for the magic to happen. Fast forward to now and we’ve had some progress:

  1. Pansy x Wittrockiana: 14-21 days – none have germinated, not one, not impressed
  2. Digitalis Camelot Cream: 14-30 days – a small handful of seedlings, not a stunning germination rate though
  3. Agastache Anisata: 1-4 months – perhaps months should have read weeks as there are several seedlings
  4. Dierama (Slieve Donard hybrids): 1-6 months – a couple have germinated, the rest may take some time
  5. Physostegia Virginiana: “very slow and irregular germination” – a couple have germinated, going to have to be patient with the others
  6. Gaura Lindheimeri: 21-60 days – got lots of these, they germinated quickly and easily

Out of this batch I’m looking forward to the Dierama and Gaura. I’m going to have to go shopping again for more seed trays for the Autumn seeds that will be sown in about two month’s time. I’m also going to need many small pots to pot on all the above.

I do get a thrill out of sowing seeds and seeing them germinate and grow. The hardest part is going to finding room to put all these plants. We really are running out of space!

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4 comments

gardeninacity 10/08/2012 - 3:45 am
Maybe you should try Agastache foeniculum, in addition to anisata, in my experience it germinates like crazy.
Sunil 14/08/2012 - 3:58 pm
Hi Jason, thanks for the tip, I've managed a pretty good germination rate with the Agastache Anisata, I have several seedlings now and the seed packet predictions were much more pessimistic than what I have managed. The same goes for the Dierama too, I've got several seeds germinating and am going to end up with quite a lot of Dierama plants. I've certainly got many more than I expected. The 1-6 months germination time didn't apply here, they got going very quickly in comparison.
Stacy 24/08/2012 - 3:47 am
Sunil, is your Gaura lindheimeri one of the cultivars like "Whirling Butterflies" or the "plain" G.l.? Just wondering whether my own Gaura (which is Whirling B) will self-seed. (A purely selfish comment -- sorry! It really is inspiring to see what dedicated seed-starters can do!)
Sunil 25/08/2012 - 8:45 pm
Hi Stacy, the seed packet just said "Gaura Lindheimeri" but the picture on the website where I got it from shows the flower colour as being white so I think it is "Whirling Butterflies" (that's white, isn't it?). I should know by this time next year though, definitely.
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