Marric,

I do my hostas in March. As you can see from the tags on the first photo, I did these on March 26, but I think I did 2004/2005 (second photo) a bit earlier.

This year's babies are all Francis Williams seeds and they are showing the nice round thick leaf already. The yearlings in the second photo were from various variegated plants in public gardens which I took seeds from. Most looked like they were Patriot Hostas, but no variegation has shown on the winter sown plants.

The 'yearlings' were just placed in a holding area of the gardens and are doing well.

2005/2006 Hostas
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2004/2005 Hostas
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Have fun! They are so cute when litttle!

Thanks for the advice Tiffy. I'm looking forward to first winter sowing projects. Come to think of it, there are some other seed I would like to try, especially my dianthus. Thanks again. Marg

Wow, what success tiffy! Thanks for sharing the pics. Do you think the seedlings are "true" to the parent? The varigation may come later or maybe they are slight variations ......
Your pics have inspired me to gather hosta seeds. I have a couple of hosta plants that visitors keep asking me to share so seedlings would be a great way to share with several people while the plants are still too small for multiple divisions.

Some folks say that they come true from seed, but that hasn't been my experience - especially in terms of variegation. One I did last year was Hosta Patriot, but none of the leaves have shown any white in their two years.

They do follow the parent in terms of leaf character. The Patriot babies have nice long leaves and the Frances Williams have the wide leaves and show a thick texture.

I will be trying more seeds from variegated hostas this winter. I want to see a green and white baby! LOL!!

I started a hosta from a parent plant which had a gold edged leaf on it 4 years ago. This year the plant finally had a leaf with a gold edge on it, I'm thrilled. The leaf opened all green and the edge came on very slowly over the summer. I just read that some gold hostas get more pronounced with exposure to the sun, this must be one of them.

Tiffy - yours are doing really nicely. Mine has grown much slower, I'm not sure if it is the variety or if it doesn't like where it is planted.

Can anyone tell me how to harvest the seeds from hostas or have a link to a web site that does. I have searched on google but haven't found anything.
Thanks Jeff

Jeff, check out the Seed Site on how mature Hosta seeds should look like.

As well, they have an excellent article on seed harvesting over there too.

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Images of Seedpods, Seeds

Thanks Sharon!

I have a few hostas that have seed pods. Do I have to wait till the seed pods are fairly dry before I collect them?

Claubill,

The seedpods of Hostas will actually dry and open on their own but I bring them in the house before they do because sometimes they will be so late in the season to pop open. Leave them outside as long as you can, then bring them in, place in a covered jar - not airtight - and let them open on their own and expose the seeds.

If you look at the photo on the website Sharon posted, the pod which is slightly open is an ideal one to pick.