Would like to try the hellebore - could I send you my list? Doreen.

I have pink seeds if you want. I also have the white plant, but it never gives seeds. I will warn you in advance I have tried every method to get the seeds to germinate w/o luck.

Man I wish you would stop calling me a lady Deb. LOL. Some people swear by stratifying the seeds(placing them in a cold environment for a period of time) and others say it makes no difference. I have tried to research this and what I have found from some agriculture univerisities is that stratification seems to increase the temperature range for germination. So if you do stratify, the seeds will germinate over a wider temperature range thus giving you a better chance of getting them to germinate. Does that make any sense? Charlie

Seeds are often divided up into orthodox and recalcitrant categories. Many vegetable and annual flower seeds, for instance, are orthodox. This means that the seeds can be dried out pretty well and stored, usually for quite some time. Many perennial and woody plant seeds are recalcitrant. That means they should not be allowed to dry out. Recalcitrant seeds will often die fairly quickly if allowed to dry out very much. An often ignored category is the many seeds that are somewhere in between. Intermediate seeds show characteristics of both orthodox and recalcitrant properties. These seeds may, for instance, remain viable when dried but enter into a deeply dormant state, requiring various methods to "wake them up". A deeply dormant seed might, for instance, require a period of warm-moist stratification followed by a period of cold-moist stratification. In some cases, starting out with fresh (never dried out) seeds and putting them into cold-moist stratification can allow one to skip the warm-moist stratification period. There are many seed germination guides, and I would recommend using them to determine what treatment is appropriate for any particular type of seed. A few include: Ontario Rock Garden & Hardy Plant Society Seed Germination Guide Tom Clothier's Germination Database Gardener's Supply Seed Germination Database Backyard Gardener Seed Germination Database KL Stuart's Seed Germination Database Trade Winds Fruit Seed Germination Tips Thyme Will Tell Seed Germination Database