Germinating seeds from bulbs

This is the second time I've posted this question, I'm a new to the computer thing n I'm struggling to use websites but I'll get there. Anyhoo,I have lots of seeds from Spring and Summer flowering bulbs. (tulips, grape hyacinth,allium, queen fabiola.)Can anyone tell me when and how to sow them.(I have a greenhouse) I also would be interested in advice about germinating clematis from seed. I have Montana and a yellow Summer flowering clematis which I dont have the name of.Look forward to hearing from Uall. Lou

 

Hi, Lou S, and welcome to GC.

Even we who have been on the site for some time still post things twice ... or not at all! :D So, don't worry, we're all in the same boat.

I've never done bulbs from seeds so I'm afraid I can't answer you there but I'm sure someone will tell you shortly.

I think the yellow Clematis you have is a C tanutica. It has a very pretty bell-shaped flower. I have one years ago (in Bucks) and am now trying to grow them from seed here courtesy of denrobium, another member.

Enjoy the site!

 

Quite a few of the bulbs need sowing now. I have just germinated 3 pots of seed i collected from my Allium cernuum. Also have an unusual fritillary that has germinated. Today have sown 3 types of allium that came in this morning's post. Am trying to get more - I just wish the firm would answer their E-mail!!!
A lot of the bulbs come from Mediterranean lands so basically they grow during our winter and then die down in summer.
Mine are being kept in a cold greenhouse.
Autumn is a main sowing time for me. I sow bulb seed then and Meconopsis and Campanulas. Ideally, if I can get the seed, I would have sown hardy cyclamen, Hellebores, Fritillaries and Pulsatillas before that in late summer
If you can get the seeds to germinate and grow' next time I would not bother germinating stuff that is easy and cheap to buy as bulbs. Use the skills you develop and search out some of the unusual types, that are virtually impossible to buy as bulbs or cost an arm and a leg to buy.

 

Clematis seeds need to be sown straight from the plant. Like all members of that genus, the seeds have a very short life span. The live seeds are plump, non viable ones are thin like paper. Sow in ordinary compost just below the surface and put outside somewhere safe. They germinate (if they will) in spring.

 

Thanx to everyone for great advice and so prompt! Will rush outside and get sowing.c.u. soon. lou

 

Only problem I have is what to do with 100 Clematis viticella seedlings while I wait to see what the flowers look like, before keeping or more likely composting the plants.

 

or possibly packaging up and sending to loads of fellow GC members... :rolleyes:

 

Not if the flowers on them are as rubbish as the few which have already flowered.

 

I am trying to get seed from Clematis rehderiana. I have a huge plant of it covered in seed heads but not yet ripe. When i collected it before it would not germinate, but I have found one self sown plant, which is now safely potted up. I grew the original from seed and the seed parent at the Botanic Gardens is a pathetic little specimum growing on a warm wall. My plant grows in a warm spot but has delusions on a Napoleonic scale - I came back from holiday once and found we had lost half the patio furniture to it!. When in full flower it is superb - it fills the air with its honey fragrance on warm autumn days.
Hey I have just found that my Cyclamen coums have germinated. Oh I do love seed sowing.

 

Geoff - you mentioned sowing Allium seed. Is now the time to sow Allium hollondicum and christophii? I tried both, from my own seed, in spring a couple of years ago and nothing germinated - any tips?

 

Am not Geoff, but both of these need to be sown fresh rather than dried over winter. A. christophii I sowed a few weeks back and germination is not that good, but A. hollandicum is usually fairly easy. Both do not need heat and may well germinate in spring after cold.

 

Well Norm Deno says that Allium christophii germinates at 40 degrees F. and I have germinated that one in the fridge. According to the book the ideal is to sow fresh in the summer and they then germinate in the autumn. The seed dies slowly in storage,less so if kept refrigerated. I am going to try and get some fresh seed through an exchange soon.
Don't know about A. hollandicum but suspect it is similar.

 

Thanks Geoff and Palustris - it sounds as if they are slow to germinate - but I will have another go. If you want some A. christophii seed just let me know. I had one drying, but have just collected the remaining seed heads since starting to write this. One reason I like A. christophii so much is that the seed heads last so long. I am afraid A. hollandicum seed heads have long since gone.

Presumably what I have as A. christophii is a species and the seeds will come true. I have A. hollandicum Purple Sensation, but I saw these at Newby Hall earlier in the year, where I was told that they had self sowed over a period of time and turned from purple to dirty blue.

 

I don't know whether the seed is slow to germinate. In several plants changes take place within the seed that might not be visible on the surface. In some plants they require a period of warmth before they germinate as temperatures get cooler but during that period of warmth physiological changes will be occurring within the seed.And it can vary greatly between different specie within the same genus.
I have just obtained some double hellebore seed and the suppliers would much rather have sold the seed to me in July - I used the excuse that i had been very ill, which was true. They thought it would still be OK because of the warm autumn but threw in twice as much seed to improve my chances.
The more I get into growing perennials from seed the more I learn of how little I know about how to grow them. I still have to crack how to germinate gentians.

 

Have noticed that a couple of you advise putting clematis seeds in the pot, just below the soil. I had someone tellme that the best way to do it,is to take a complete flower head when a fluffy seed head, and plunge into a post of compost and leave. Loads will germinate, but the informant wasn't sure if the pot ought to be hung up, leaving the seeds attached to the parent. Anyone heard of this method?