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leslie6ri

Hellebore seeds --question

leslie6ri
12 years ago

Hello,

I'm in Zone 6, New England, and checked my hellebore seed pods to find that some had split open and dropped their seeds already while others were still green... So I pulled all the remaining pods off. Wish I had seen what Lois posted first because I would have gone hunting for nylons for hoodies. I know I'll have some seeds (a few were left in the split pods) but what about the still green ones? Do you have to wait until the pods split? Will any seeds be close enough to maturity to germinate and grow? Any opinions? All of mine are H. x hybridus.

At least I'll know what to do next year if all else fails. Thanks Lois!

--And while I'm here... the only H. niger I have is Helleborus HGC 'Joshua'. Is this cultivar sterile? And if not, does it need another H. niger to produce seeds? It never has produced any for me. Does 'Joshua' need a mate?

Thanks.

Comments (9)

  • morz8 - Washington Coast
    12 years ago

    Leslie, I know some will cut the spent flowers with their pods and put those intact in a paper bag when the pods are almost mature - and will get ripe seed from those. I'd rather not take the chance and bag or check daily, but you could leave yours to begin to dry and see what happens. Mature viable seeds are dark gray to black.

    You said some had opened and spilled their seed, did you look under the plant? They tend to 'dump' them straight down, almost in a pile - those could be picked up if you wanted them. There is always the option of lifting out the resulting self sown seedlings next Spring too.

    Sorry, but I don't know if your Joshua is sterile. Out of many plants, I have a nigercors hybrid and another with niger in the parentage that are both sterile, also one yellow flowered x. orientalis that has never produced seed from its many flowers, a long time established plant.
    The patent for Joshua reads 'Seed/fruit. �Seed and fruit development have not been observed.' I don't know if that means there is none to observe, or that there may be seed production but hasn't been documented.

  • leslie6ri
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Hi morz8,

    Thanks very much for replying, and for your patience. I can see the seed question has been asked many times before. --I just read your 'Ouch...' post and saw all the comments about whether to pull off the pods or not. I'll know what to do next year. I put this year's seed pods in labeled envelopes to dry, and am about to check to see what seeds I have. Think I'll put some disposable gloves on in case I need to squeeze any pods. Smile.

    'Joshua' may well be sterile. I'm trying to grow H. niger from seed. Not fresh seed, so germination will be slow if I get any at all. But if I do at least I'll be growing plants that will set more seed. It is exciting to think of raising my own.

    Leslie

  • morz8 - Washington Coast
    12 years ago

    Just so you know, it's addictive :) Nothing like the rush from that first flower emerging on a plant you've grown from seed....

  • leslie6ri
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Ooooh, and I've got quite a bit of seed! Some are tan colored, so maybe they're immature? But I'm planting every single one. I've read that fresh seed germinates very quickly so I'm hoping for almost instant gratification.

  • morz8 - Washington Coast
    12 years ago

    Lesli, instant and gratification don't quite go with hellebores.

    While it's true occasionally very fresh seed will germinate without the lengthy different temperature periods, chances are seeds sown now into July will germinate late Fall or in winter 2012. I don't think I've ever had seed germinate earlier than Dec when sown fresh from the plant in summer.

    Here is a link that might be useful: G Rice, propagation, seed

  • leslie6ri
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Hi morz8,

    Late fall is instant enough for me. Smile. In my zone they wouldn't germinate in Winter (would they?). I'll check out the Graham Rice link. I do have the two recent books on hellebores (Burrell's & Rice's) but the information isn't specific to the New England climate, so until I get some experience it's all a mystery to me. I'm tucking the seed away in beds and planters where they can remain undisturbed until they decide to germinate. I'll try to be patient (whether or not I'll succeed. I'll probably check them very day for a while at least).

  • loisthegardener_nc7b
    12 years ago

    Hi Leslie,

    I'm glad someone else can benefit from my experiments, LOL.

    One other thing that I did not mention was that since we had a cold spring and I didn't seen many bees around when the hellebores were blooming, I decided to help the hellebores in their seed producing efforts. To make sure the pollen from one flower got onto another flower, I rubbed the faces of two flowers against each other. (I also muttered "Kissee, kissee", but I'm not sure how much that contributed to the process.)

    So if you are still not sure whether your "Joshua" hellebore is sterile, you could manually transfer some pollen from one flower to another next spring and then you would have a better idea of whether the flower was really sterile or just not getting pollinated.

  • leslie6ri
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Ha, Lois!

    I will certainly try rubbing two 'Joshua' flowers together. Thanks for the tip. I don't think there were any bees when my plant was at its best. It was blooming around Christmas, then was covered in 4 feet of snow. The flowers looked pretty tattered soon after the snow melted.

    And I'm definitely going to mutter "Kissee, kissee" at it too! --Just because I loved that so! I just got into work and you gave me a great laugh.

  • Ament
    12 years ago

    Oy! Hello All!
    Talk about very very interesting! Wow I am interested now to say the least. Hellebore, Hm... now to find out if they will grow in my area. I will research it and be back. If they grow in SD, I will let you all know how I do. I won't be planting this season of course, being so late in the season. Maybe I will find some for sale and have them in the spring. We'll see... I will be doing the kissee, kissee too, if I can get them to grow here. :)

    ~Bright Blessings!
    Tina Marie

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