Hi, I am looking for Persicaria speciosa 'Firetail' and Gentian Clausa (Bottle Gentian). Thanks, Barbie

Hi Laurette, I, too, have gentiana andrewsii seeds...would you be interested in doing a kind for kind swap? in the interest of genetic diversity? I have lots of other natives, if you'd be interested in doing a trade. I have native stuff that's not listed, also...I have a hard time keeping track of my seedbox, LOL! Please check my trade list. April

All my winter sowing was stunted this year and I wasn't able to use hardly any of it. I don't know what the trouble was and it wasn't late start b/c I put mine out the first of February. The beebalm and other perennials I started by wintersowing are still only 1 and a half inches in height. I'm going to just put them in a protected area for over the fall and winter and see if any return next spring. This was my final year for winter sowing. I've never had a good return and this year I did both winter sowing and then also did seed-starts inside the house and the indoor seed-starts were 5x+ larger than the winter sown stuff after only a month. I sowed Bottle Gentian right into the ground but that was this spring so most of the seed will likely lay dormant until next spring because it hasn't been cold stratified yet. I would take a spatula and put your little seedlings right into the ground now and see how much they can get established before winter sets in. Using a spatula and taking up large pieces of your flat of gentian will be the least stressful to the already stressed plants. Really loosen up the soil where you are going to lay the plants and then give the soil a good watering before you lay down the spatulas of seedlings/soil. Wait a day and then water them lightly as needed.

I have been doing prairie plating for over 30 years and experiment with many so called difficult native seed. This is what I know about all the gentians in zone five area. Collect bottle gentian pods just after they have faded and have turned brown but before the pod opens all the way. The pod is ripe when the top opens slightly. Gentian seed should never dry out. This is the key to all the gentians. I put them in a plastic ziplock bag so they stay moist. I take them home open the pods and then add moist ( not wet) sand to the seed and put them in the fridge until its time to sow. You will find a lot of the pods of seed contain small worms that eat the seed just discard them as you open the pods. The seed can be kept in the fridge but after about three months they can start to germinate in the bag so I usually sow them before the snow flys. I have grown the stratified gentian after two months in the fridge but they are very slow growing and it is just easier to sow where you want them. I have grown thousands on restorations this way. This also works for all the gentians. Never let the seed dry out. Good luck.