Re: Hardy geraniums
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: Hardy geraniums
- From: M*@aol.com
- Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 16:40:53 EST
Thank you Gene and Diane for your help with my Geranium seed collecting. I
will implement both techniques this year.
Last year while collecting seeds I almost got desperate enough to put down
some kind of drop cloth-but that was not too practical.
Snipping the beak sounds intriguing. For those that may not be familiar with
seed dispersal in geraniums.
Many of the Geraniums are called cranes bills because they have a long
protrusion that looks like a beak called the rostrum that sticks out of the
center of the old flower. Attached to that beak are four "arms," as the seed
ripens the plants stop sending water to the arms, and as they dry, the arms
shrink.
Do to the shrinking of the arms, they build up pressure and one day they
"snap" -( they really come unhinged but snap has more force to it and makes
for a better story) sending the seeds flying into the air. The seeds are
help in little cups at the end of the arms and like a small catapult are
flung out away from the plants.
Paul
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