This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
How long do perennial flower seeds last?
Blue Onion
Posts: 2,995
in Plants
So a friend of a friend has given me a huge box of expired seeds lost-then-found at the back of his hardware store. Every thing from sweet corn to corn flowers. There is plenty of data out there as to how long certain veg seeds last, and I'll do some germination tests on those likely candidates.
My question is; how long do perennial flower seeds last? Most data I find says two years as a general rule of thumb.. and these are stamped 2010, so five years old. I have a huge mix, and don't have time/energy to test them all.. are there some varieties that might have survived?
Seeds were stored in coolish conditions in a dry climate.. not perfect, but fairly good chance somethings will still grow.
Utah, USA.
0
Posts
Lots of people bin them when they are out of date, i just think even if a few seeds germinate, its better than wasting them
This is true, maybe I'll just sprinkle lines on a flat (well labeled!) and see what grows. It would easier than individual germination tests.
Now just to find somewhere out of the reach of my 10 month old house wrecker. I have a four year old assistant gardener, and an almost toddler that is great at making compost (from donating food off his highchair to tearing a loo roll/newspapers/magazines into tiny pieces while I'm in the shower). What a blessing children are.
Im sure you love the chaos really, you will miss it when they are grown