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WS Heuchera seedlings growing nicely, how do I collect seeds?

11 years ago

A couple of years ago I received a lovely packet of seeds from someone on the Winter Sowing forum (I think "I love flowers" was the gardenweb name) that included Heuchera - which I WS'd (along with many others) and they grew very nicely. Those tiny seedlings are now maturing and I have a nice collection of different colors to enjoy in my shade garden (I really need to post some pictures!)

My question is - How and when do you collect seeds? I have some purchased Heuchera (Purple Palace, lime green, Georgia Peach, Silver Scrolls, etc.) in my shade garden that have never volunteered to grow babies - is there something special I need to know? Will my existing plants cross-pollinate with each other and give me still more varieties (pending me being able get viable seeds!)?

By the way - thanks to all on this forum for all you do - winter sowing ROCKS (or should I say - GROWS)!

BettyLu

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Comments (4)

docmom_gw
11 years ago
When Heuchera bloom, the blossoms are up high on tall stems. Just leave those blossoms and stems intact until they turn dry and crispy. There will be litle seeds inside little seed pods where the flowers used to be. Put these on a paper plate, or some safe, cool spot to dry out further, and then store in a cool dry place, or plant. Simple as that. I've only done this once with an Heuchera I was given as a gift. I don't know if there are sterile hybrids or whether they cross pollinate and so on, but I hope this helps somewhat.

Martha
clc70
11 years ago
Yes they will cross pollinate but you will get some really nice colors that way. I take a large flat platter out to the garden and cut the the seed heads and lay them on the platter. Allow them to dry further and then tap them against the platter. The seed are tiny and usually rust colored. Its difficult to tell the difference from the chaff. It's also difficult to tell just when to harvest the seed but they set alot of seed so even if you are a little late you will still get plenty of seed. I winter sow mine. In the spring I will transplant to 4 inch pots and keep them potted up all summer because they are so small. I plant them out in the fall and in the spring I have nice sized plants. Mine have never self sowed in the garden. Don't know why. They are easy winter sowers. Have fun.
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northforker
11 years ago
Ditto what everyone else has said. I just wanted to reassure you that this is EASY to do! I was nervous at first - - where ARE those seeds??? I dry the whole flower heads (as mentioned above) on a plate and then crumble up the entire head and put all the plant material into a ziplock baggy. I am too nervous about missing the tiny seeds.The next season I sow all the "crumble" (seeds and chaf - - - chaf never hurts germination..) and get tons of new babies. I also pot them up and grow on till fall, then plant. The ones I did this way last year are just beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! I am slowly edging many of my shadier gardens with lovely variations of coral bells.
bettylu_zone6a
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks so much, that sounds really easy! I hope someday I can have a lot of them in all my shady areas. They are so well-behaved and never look messy - always a plus!

I am hoping they will grow in the root zone of my fir trees where it is pretty dry, even though I water.

BettyLu

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