I meant to ask you @Liriodendron - when you sowed your seed, did you cover them? I decided to throw caution to the winds, and sowed some from the macropetala which is covered in seedheads. I don't know if it's the right time of year, but the seeds are only forming/ripening now. I've got them in a makeshift propagator, but I don't know if that's suitable. It's not terribly warm here, but I haven't looked at info to see if they need heat or cool conditions.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I've been looking for the site I used on line, @Fairygirl, where a dedicated (mad?) American was doing years of research to find the best way to germinate clematis seeds, but I can't find it. I "sowed" my seeds in early spring, according to his advice, spreadind the seeds out on a wet piece of kitchen paper inside a plastic zippy bag. I then stuck the bags (4 varieties) on a shelf in the shed, which got very warm in April, which is when I had a look at them and found the montanas had started producing little roots. I didn't really know what I was doing, but took out a dozen of the most promising ones with tweezers and put them on/in seed compost in the plastic growhouse, until they produced seed leaves. Then I put them outside in the cold frame & potted them on as they grew... absolutely beginner's luck. Two of the other varieties didn't do anything so I transferred the seeds to pots of seed compost, barely covering the seeds, and they're still sitting in the cold frame doing not a lot.
I would guess saving the seeds until spring might be the way to go, but perhaps you could sow some now and save some?
Cheers for that @Liriodendron. I suppose there might be some fresh seed early next year, as there's some flowers just now. I don't usually get much of a second flush of flowers on these earlier clems though, so it might be tricky getting seed from them. These ones will all be gone by the end of the year, so I suppose it's timing.
I'll keep the ones I've sown warm, in the kitchen, and see what happens, and I'll have a read of Richard's thread too. I know I found a site a while ago, which is the clem growers' society or similar, and I might even have kept that, so I'll see what they say too
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@Fairygirl - I'm not sure how important it is to use very fresh seed. Mine were collected last September and sown in March or April - and I see on the Chilterns Seeds website that they stock quite a variety of clematis, so they must remain viable for a while.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
That's interesting @Liriodendron. I've done some with your method, as well as the ones in a more conventional method, but I did wonder how it would work at this time of year etc. I wasn't sure if it would just be a case of being similar to sowing annual seeds in autumn, and overwintering, or if it needed to be a spring sowing.
I'll collect some seed and keep till spring too. I might get one plant out of them all!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
I decided to throw caution to the winds, and sowed some from the macropetala which is covered in seedheads.
I don't know if it's the right time of year, but the seeds are only forming/ripening now. I've got them in a makeshift propagator, but I don't know if that's suitable. It's not terribly warm here, but I haven't looked at info to see if they need heat or cool conditions.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I would guess saving the seeds until spring might be the way to go, but perhaps you could sow some now and save some?
Ooh, I've just found this:
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/933427/growing-clematis-from-seed/p1
which is from 2016 but is @Richard Hodson's thread so it might help...
I'll keep the ones I've sown warm, in the kitchen, and see what happens, and I'll have a read of Richard's thread too. I know I found a site a while ago, which is the clem growers' society or similar, and I might even have kept that, so I'll see what they say too
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'll collect some seed and keep till spring too. I might get one plant out of them all!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...