Re: Spurias and seed collecting

At 03:48 AM 8/9/96 -0600, you wrote:
>In a message dated 96-08-08 17:01:41 EDT, you write:
>
>>
>>>  I just stuck them in the ground and they grew.<<
>
>Wellll, I just stuck 3 of them in the ground, and they all died.  

I killed many of my first spuria seedlings by overwatering them in the
summer. They will rot in warm, or now (whew! we are having a nineties heat
wave here!) should I say *hot* conditions.  High humidity and heavy summer
rain may make them more difficult to grow.  They are native to areas with
dry summers and wet winters.  Enhanced drainage might help.  The ones that
stood up to my overwatering were the larger potbound ones.  This was sad
because I was trying to get a collection of smaller ones and lost my best
rock garden candidates.

To save and collect seeds it is best to wait until the pods dry out
naturally and begin to split open at the top.  The pods can then be placed
in a paper bag until completely dry.  At that time the seeds are easily
shelled from the pods and can be stored in envelopes.  If you are like me
and not watchful, you can put an old nylon stocking or lightweight sock
(tied gently at the stem) over the pod to catch the seeds if the pod splits
open.  Forgetful that I am though, I even forgot the stocking bit and just a
few days ago "relinquished" a nice batch of hand pollinated dwarf I.
douglasiana seeds to nature!  Frustration!  Perhaps some will self sow.
Gardeners are always optimistic.

With this heat, I decided not to plant out the beardless order I got the
other day.  Instead, all are in generous pots and out of the strong
afternoon sun and protected from the desiccating winds that we get here.  In
a few weeks the weather will cool down, but they will still have ample time
to make good growth before frost. 

Louise H. Parsons  <parsont@peak.org>
listowner, Alpine-L,the Electronic Rock Garden Society
Corvallis, OR  USA USDA zone 7 , Emerald NARGS, AIS, SIGNA, SPCNI,
transplanted Oregrowian 
http://www.peak.org/~parsont/rockgard/

********************************************************************
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index