Re: Platycodon seeds/helleborus

Claire asked:

>Paul, perhaps you'd say a few words on germination of Platycodon.  My 
>plants,
>tall ones and a few dwarfs set seed.  The seed never germinates outdoors on
>it's own.
________________________

Not Paul, but I have some thoughts about this...I have two platycodons that 
have been in place for several years.  I have no idea what variety they are, 
other than being blue, but one is planted in a mostly shady bed, and one in 
a mostly sunny one.  I have never seen a seedling in the sunny bed, and the 
plant, though it shows up every year, generally only has one blooming stalk 
(Just kind of survives, you know).  The plant in the shady bed (with lots of 
fallen pine needles and leaves) has reseeded itself almost to the point of 
becomming a nuisance.  I try now to make it a point to deadhead them before 
they go to seed. Some of the seedlings are blue, but most are white.  My 
thoughts are:
in my climate, at least, they don't like full sun,
the seeds do well when planted as soon as they are ripe,
they like lots of organic matter to germinate in,
or, it's one of those gardening puzzles that just doesn't make sense!

My question is about a helleborus niger.  I planted one about 2 years ago 
(incidently in the bed favored by the platycodon).  The first year it looked 
pretty good.  The second year, it grew, bloomed and looked lovely all 
summer.  Then, suddenly, in October, the leaves started dying.  The plant 
went from healthy looking to dead in the space of about 2 weeks.  I'd hoped 
it was going dormant or something (no experience with these) but it hasn't 
returned.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?  I was really disappointed, and 
would like to try again, but figure I need to know what went wrong the first 
time...

Thanks,
Nancy Lowe, Arkansas, zone 7, where we're finally having winter weather, 
even though the crocuses are in bloom, the daffodils are in bud, and I had a 
forsythia blossom last week.

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