Re: hellebores

Thanks, Paul...

Frankly, I don't remember what I did to my first experiment in
growing Hellebores from seed, from which only H. foetidus 'Wester
Flisk' germinated out of a dozen or more packages of H. x hybridus in
assorted colors purchased from Chilterns.  But, having received
advice from Graham Rice, I now sow in warmth and either leave the
pots outside until they germinate or bring them into the cool
greenhouse, where they eventually germinate.  Since then, I've only
been sowing pretty fresh seed from exchanges and such or seed that
was moist packed...rather shy about buying dry stored seed again:-)

What Graham said was that one must, as you note, start with a warm
period.  Generally, if seed is sown by late summer and the pots are
left outside until a couple of nice hard frosts have happened - or
like mid Nov. in my area, they will then germinate during winter or
in spring in my cool greenhouse like mustard and cress.

The problem, as you point out, with dry stored seed is that drying
initiates germination inhibitors and it is often quite hard to break
that.  I kept pots of my initial seeding experiment for about 6 years
or so before I gave up on them...kept them outside all winter,
spring, summer, etc.  Those seeds were still firm, but just would not
germinate....grew marvelous moss, however.

If I were to try to store seed, I'd do what John Dudley did for the
Hellebore List exchange - he's a breeder in NZ, where their seasons
are directly opposite ours.  He stored the seed in moist medium in
plastic bags in warmth - to give it the warm period and then
distributed it to the exchange with instructions to put it in the
fridge for x weeks and then plant...which I did and some germinated
right away and some is doing so now....one of them actually put out
radicals in the fridge!

I would not want to try to dry store this seed for any long period
and then think it was going to germinate readily, myself.  Have you
actually followed your routine with Hellebore seed and had good
germination?

BTW, John is now offering seed from some of his lovely plants for
sale...has a new website and all..been meaning to write you and tell
you about this:-)

http://www.southcom.com.au/~hortus/

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
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> From: Paul Henjum <Meum71@AOL.COM>
> Marg nice article on Hellebores, I have a question about how you
have tried
> to germinate stored seed?
>
> Hellebores being a member of RANUNCULACEAE like many of the other
members of
> this family need cold temps to break any dormancy developed.  This
means
> below freezing for 8 weeks or so.
>
> but first they need a warm period for more than 6 weeks.   if i was
to
> collect seed for later sowing i would store it in the freezer and
sow it in
> pot with moist seed mix and cover with plastic and keep at 75F. for
6 weeks
> then move it to fridge for a week and then to the freezer for 8
weeks and see
> if this does the trick.   after taking it out of the freezer I
would put it
> in a warm freezer (39-42 F) were I would expect some germination to
start --
> slowly (If possible) raise the temps to F 50.
>
> Delphiniums are another member of this family that give people
problems --
> like Hellebores they germinate easily when fresh but do go into a
deep
> dormancy when dried.  A couple weeks in a baggy with moist seed mix
at F 28
> and I have had good germination even with seed that is four years
old.
>
> Paul
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