I'd put a styrofoam rose hat over it for winter #1. The stem still looks fairly green.

Root is formed first, then after another period of dormancy-breaking temperatures the shoot emerges. Since different seeds of this tree vary in how soon they come up one method that I read being suggested some years ago was to put the fruits in a basket filled with leaf mold or similar, check it periodically after dormancy requirements were likely to have started being met - to pick out and pot up the ones that had sprouted roots - with the others being left in the container to sprout later.

As I remember it ones having been potted were then supposed to be put in a greenhouse to sprout the shoots.

This post was edited by bboy on Tue, Oct 22, 13 at 15:27

Cool! Congrats on your Davidia seedling. It is an exotic looking tree in bloom.

I started assorted tree seeds this past winter, and ended up with 3 Magnolia grandiflora, 2 Katsura, 1 Cornus alternifolia, 1 Liriodendron tulipifera. They are probably going to over winter in the garage though - surely the small Magnolias would not survive the winter outside. The seeds came from a tree growing in zone 6b, not sure they would be hardy here even once they're larger.

Smivies - good call, I've read that they are on the tender side for their first couple winters

bboy - I've read similar about the double dormancy of this species, which is why I wanted to share my success; this is my first successful attempt at germinating a species requiring a double dormancy like that

Terrene - Great to hear about your success too! I don't know if the M. grandiflora would make it even though you've found a hardy provenance. With the right micro-climate, you might get away with it. I have a M. grandiflora 'Spring Grove #19' that came through this past winter completely unscathed. As it was its first winter, I was pleasantly surprised - I was expecting some leaf burn if not a little die back. Let's hope it does equally well this winter. It even flowered for me this summer:
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Beautiful! I can't believe you got a bloom on such a small tree. I am pretty sure there there are M. grandiflora cultivar(s) that can grow in my area. I observed a large blooming tree at the home of a local daylily hybridizer. It was approx a 15 foot tree. He lives in the next town, and his lot might even be a bit colder. Here is a pic of his tree - he said it was M. grandiflora but the leaves look a bit different?

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It will probably be years, though, before my babies grow up. I sowed them in 2 LTR bottles and overwintered them in the garage (apparently even the seeds can freeze), then moved them outside once it warmed up. Got a total of 3 healthy seedlings.

Here's my little sprouts. The seedlings are only a bit bigger, but they have true leaves.

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Terrene, your suspicion is correct - that picture is definitely not M. grandiflora. To me it looks like M. macrophylla - bigleaf magnolia. It may also be M. tripetala - umbrella magnolia. I would be interested to see the tree your seed came from, were its leaves similar to my plant in the above flower picture? Your seedlings do look healthy though. I hope they continue to grow well!

My M. grandiflora 'spring grove #19' flowered while so small because it was grafted. Grafting tends to skip the juvinility stage allowing for flowering and fruiting earlier than a seedling.

Hi treeguy, that is odd that the daylily hybridizer got the species wrong - he is a pretty famous hybridizer (Door akian) and very knowledgeable about plants, with quite the collection of gorgeous trees and assorted other plants on his property. He does a little breeding aside from daylilies and had an amazing variegated Acer saccharum specimen he selected himself.

Anyway, I am sure my seed pod was M. grandiflora - had it id'd on this forum actually. The mother tree is growing at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. The Arnold is a zone warmer than where I live, because it's close to the coast. I do not have a pic of the tree, because the seeds came from a friend last fall. There is a pic of the seed pod somewhere up on my desktop.

@terrene. The Magnolia photo you posted is definitely not the evergreen M. grandiflora. I agree with treeguy_ny that it is one of the large leaf Magnolias.

LOL...the daylily guy may be mixing up grandiflora and macrophylla...both have BIG in their names.

This post was edited by smivies on Wed, Oct 23, 13 at 23:16

Terrene, I'm glad you were able to get a positive ID on your seed/seed cones. Hopefully you'll have luck with your seedlings - like you said, there are some cultivars of M. grandiflora that can survive in z5. If my 'spring grove #19' does equally well this winter as last, I would definitely recommend trying it in your zone!

I have a Dove tree that is about 25 years old. It finally started blooming a couple of years ago. Here it is with a tri-colored Beech about the same age.
I don't grow Magnolias. The deciduous ones have no Fall color and the evergreen ones have leaves that, once fallen, refuse to decompose in a timely manner. ;-)
Mike

Here's another pic of the Davidia involucrata. I did not start it from seed. It was purchased at a nursery. The Japanese maple was started from seed though.
Mike

Wow pretty color on that beech Botann! It must be a pleasure to live in a place where you can enjoy an assortment of such beautiful mature plantings.

Okay, here's the old pic of the Magnolia seedpod - the pod had some mold, but nevertheless a few of the seeds were still good.
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And here is a pic of one of its seedlings, took it today - this is the largest one. They are growing very slowly!
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Sorry if this thread got off track, I know it's about Davidia and not Magnolias! Hehe

Mike - beautiful tree, thanks for sharing. I especially like the color combo with the tricolor beech!

Terrene, i don't mind. Your seedling looks nice and healthy, and both do look like M. grandiflora as you said. Now the long wait for flowers!