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Which perennials can you grow from seed?

Which perennials can you grow from seed?
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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Hundreds, if not thousands, can be grown from seed. Is there something in particular you want to grow?
    Many won't come true to the parent though, and that's when dividing or using cuttings is a better option.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    edited October 2023
    I've never been very successful at growing perennials from seed, apart from aquilegias and rudbeckias, but this article looks useful. https://dengarden.com/gardening/Top-10-Easy-Perennial-Plants-to-Grow-From-Seed  I find cuttings easier.
    Maybe, if she sees this, @Lyn would know, she's grown a lot from seed.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    @nutcutlet has grown virtually her whole garden of shrubs and perennials from seed. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • In my garden I only have lupins and aquilegia that are from Seed, with everything else from cuttings or division.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    @nutcutlet has grown virtually her whole garden of shrubs and perennials from seed. 
    yes, loads of them including trees. Species Paeonies, Nepetas, Salvia, Hellebores and many that I didn't start as seeds but have collected and sowed seeds from later. I have more success with fresh seed, from my plants or friends', than I do with purchased seed though Chiltern seeds have served me well over the years. All species plants will grow from seed with the right treatment as will many cultivars and hybrids though they may not come true


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Almost everything here is from seed and cuttings. I can’t remember buying anything.

    If you collect seed it sometimes doesn’t come true but most times it does and I accept whatever comes anyway,  Hellebores sometimes don’t and they will be a mucky pinky grey,  I just wait until they flower and pull them up if I don’t like them.
    With a big garden I couldn’t dream of buying plants,  I don’t want to either,  I love to look at them and say I’ve grown them,  not just planted what someone else has grown.

    I mostly use Seeds Direct,  cheap, no fussy envelopes just the seeds,  for flowers and vegetables. 

    You do have to look at a 3 year cycle plan to keep it all going though. 

    Dont make the mistake of sowing the whole packet,  find small containers and sow a few of several different flowers,  better than a hundred of one sort. 


     
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • I know a guy at work, an expert in his field, and he jokes (although its actually true) that his answer to every question is "it depends ..."

    It depends on the gardener, how much time you have & (sadly) what facilities you've got. E.g. having a propagator, cold frames, lots of light and the time for thinning, potting on, & general tlc will all make a difference.

    But it is also true that some perennials are fundamentally easier to grow than others. So with a large south facing window, a cold-frame on a south facing wall and tlc, i have easily grown Delphiniums, Penstemons, Wallflower, Rudbeckia, Echinacea (slowly) and I probably could have grown many others.

    As Fairygirl said, it might be better too start with what you would like to grow, then ask is it easier to get from cuttings, division or seed? 

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I'm growing an acer from seed year 1 about a foot high. Leaves just turning red.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    edited October 2023
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Be careful with a lottery mix. I once planted a nice clump of 3 Goat willow. It was a couple of years before I realised what I'd done😯
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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