6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Your expectations of how long germination is going to take needs an adjustment - aconitum from dried commercial seed takes patience. And when some germination does take place, it can be erratic, meaning not all seedlings will appear at the same time - they may be days, or weeks apart.
Self sown by the plants, the seeds would be exposed to warm (relatively speaking) Fall rains, then a cold moist winter, to germinate close to Spring when temps begin to warm again.
As monkshood from commerical seed can be difficult, sometimes best to try copying mother nature.
You can do that by giving the seeds a warm moist period of 2-4 weeks, moving to 40F for 6 weeks, then bringing back to warm.
Morz8, thanks for the help, but I do know they have differing periods of germination. I had atleast 3 sets sitting in 30-40
F temperature for 3-4 weeks, and still waiting for germination. I do know they have different temp ranges.. so I guess keep on waiting..
Poppies also seriously resent any root disturbance; in my experience you can transplant but only when very tiny (cotyledon stage or so) and then you must be careful not to disturb roots.
My poppies have always done best via direct sowing in late winter/early spring.
In my experience, DO NOT EVER plant those "bio degradable"
peat pots or jiffy pots. Very nice starter pots, but they stunt the poor plants. Had some tomatoes like this. One was 2-3 feet bigger than its partner. I dug up the small one, and it was instantly apparent that the peat pot had stunted it.
My recommendation, (IF YOU CAN)cut the fabric off the peat moss, and leave the moss intact. find a place in the yard or a suitable pot, and repot. Dont disturb the seedlings roots.
Thank you nil13! My bank is about 8-10 feet tall, and the run of the hill is 15-20 feet. 100% slopes would be completely vertical - can't imagine that! Thanks for your suggestion, I'm wondering if the mulch is easy to maintain. Do I need to add mulch every year, and keep weeding? Since it is a large area, it will cost a lot of money and work to mulch and weed. That is why I was thinking about an "aggressive" ground cover to control weeds.
Also, do you have any idea how much the mulch and plugs will cost including labor? I'm totally new to gardening and have no idea...
A 100% slope is actually 1:1 or a 45deg slope, but I have donned my rappelling gear and planted on vertical faces.
Yes, the mulch will have to be replenished from time to time. I wish I could tell you how often but there are some variables. I also can't tell you costs because I don't know about either your plant or labor market. You can also get mulch for cheap or free from tree trimmers and some municipalities offer free composted mulch from green bins. You will also have to weed regardless, but the mulch makes it easier.
Aggressive groundcover can itself become a weed, especially if it self sows. Plus, weeds are by their nature aggressive and can compete with a lot of aggressive groundcovers, at least for a little while. When I say shrubs, they can be groundcovers as well. They are just low growing shrubs. You can also mulch heavily (8-12") and sow perennial shrub seed. That is a proven restoration technique, although weeds will still come up.
Since you are new to gardening, I will recommend this site, The Informed Gardener, especialy the bits about mulch.
I have been successful germinating the seed, but did not put in the time and effort needed to grow them to bloom to see what I might have achieved. Dirr's "Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation" does provide some seed starting information of roses. However it points out how erratic the various roses are, and tends to discourage most of us from the exercise. Al
BTW - you do know that any seedlings you get are unlikely to produce flowers that look like the parents, don't you?
If you really want to replicate the roses you have grown fond of exactly,you need to take cuttings or learn about grafting/budding.
A Z4 winter will give them more cold than they need but you could try winter sowing them. Approx 2-3 months at 35-40F before bringing back to about 70F should help in germination. But the fruit from any vines resulting could be variable and not have all the characteristics of the grapes the seeds were taken from.