03 April 2007

Patience again

So much of learning to garden consists of learning patience. For various reasons, I had a certain level of anxiety about the return of two winter-dormant plants: the "oriental" lilies and the stream orchid, Epipactis gigantea. This weekend the latter finally poked up through the camellia flower carpet-bombing campaign, as seen to the right, and the first lily was spotted as well (not as picturesque as this L. regale).

Just as last year, though, seeds generate the most anxiety. So for (my own, I know you couldn't care less) future reference, the germination update:

(All seeds stratified in ziplocs of moist peat in the vegetable crisper the penultimate weekend of January, except the Alliums, which went in a week later. Bulb seeds in 4" plastic, everything else in flats. Timing info came mostly from Alplains.)

Aquilegia eximiaTwo seedlings in the same cell immediately after germination, 3rd just appeared (in same cell).
Allium amplectensSown after one month, without sign of germination, back into fridge after about a month to try to get something started.
Allium bisceptrum var. bisceptrumSown after c. 2 months, without sign of germination, no action yet.
Calochortus catalinaegerminated quickly and thoroughly, looking good.
Calochortus kennedyi var. kennedyiSame as above, a week or two later.
Erythronium helenaeSame as Allium amplectens.
Erythronium tuolumnenseRecommended stratification not finished.
Fritillaria recurva (4 populations)All germinated, planted out 10 days ago, sending up cotyledons now.
Lilium bolanderiNothing yet.
Lilium pardalinum ssp. pardalinumGerminated after c. two months, planted out, presumably getting hypogeal.
Penstemon eatonii var. eatoniiGerminated, sending up cotyledons now.
Penstemon grahamiiNothing yet.
Silene californica Secondary leaves going up now.
Triteleia hyacinthaA single cotyledon appeared after planting out, up to 5 now (maybe I let it dry out too much?)

Overall, I'm pretty happy about these results, assuming that the Alliums and Erythroniums will work out eventually.


Labels: , , , ,

3 Comments:

Blogger chuck b. said...

Looks like you had a lot of success--congratulations. You posted or sent me a link about hypogeal germination, but I can't find it now. Please re-post?

4/05/2007 12:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wish I could remember! Maybe this? Which, of course, doesn't correspond exactly to what I thought I remembered.

Since I wrote this post, the L. pardalinum has started sending up visible shoots, and L. bolanderi has still done nothing, but I'm thinking of taking it out of the fridge anyway.

4/05/2007 1:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This sounds like good advice too.

(I also got bored and brought the A. amplectens and E. helenae back outside this morning. If nothing happens I'll just leave them out until the fall. Hope we get more rain next year!)

4/05/2007 1:45 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

© 2006