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donna1952_gw

Hydrangea Seeds

donna1952
17 years ago

I am curious so would like to hear from any of you on the subject Hydrangea Seeds. I cannot recall seeing any seeds on my hydrangeas and would like to learn more about where they are, when to harvest them, and how to propagate them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Comments (5)

  • gerryblackthumb
    17 years ago

    Hi,
    I am totally new to gardening and not very computer savvy but I do have a question about my newly planted hydrangea and I have no idea how to post the question. Can someone please help?

  • mrgpag SW OH Z5/6
    17 years ago

    gerryblackthumb - go to the main Hydrangea Forum page and up at the top, click on the "post a message" link and start typing.

    Donna1952 - the best way to collect hydrangea seed is to take a bloom that has completely dried - in the fall is the best time - put in a zip-lok bag and shake it for all your worth. The fine dust you'll see in the bottom of the bag is your seed. Get rid of as much chaff and debris that you can, lightly scatter the seed on to a prepared seed flat of moistened soil, mist a bit to get good soil/seed contact, place the flat in a warm sunny place and germination usually occurs within two weeks. Make sure the soil mix doesn't dry out during the waiting period. But be advised that the eventual plants you get from seed may, but probably won't resemble the plant and blooms from which you gathered the seeds. But it's fun to see what turns up in a couple years. I do this with h. paniculata and h. quercifolia annually and have acquired some very nice specimens. Should work with all the other species as well.

  • hayseedman
    17 years ago

    I've never collected them or started seeds, but I've seen them. Keep in mind that Hydrangea, the name, translates as "water vessel" in reference to the shape of the seed pod. It's the shape of a Greek urn and on the lacecaps that I was checking out, the seeds themselves are about the size of a grain of salt and were a light brown/tan color. From my very limited experience they may not be so willing to give up their seeds until late in the Fall. I know I've seen them pouring out of a dried up flower in late Oct, early Nov.

    Hay

  • donna1952
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thank you Gerry and Hay. Very interesting. Guess I will have to wait until Fall of this year 2007 to find the seeds. I dry some every year, but have never seen the dusty seed. Hay, your pictures that you send to us are GORGEOUS.
    Please keep sending them when you can. I love Hydrangeas!
    Donna

  • hayseedman
    17 years ago

    I'm glad you like them.

    {{gwi:995647}}

    You can click the picture for a 170K version. I think it's a pink Hamburg. Whatever it is, it's maybe the nicest pink of the ones I have. The blue version of whatever-it-is is a very nice blue, too.

    The red leaved plant to the left is a Euphorbia that looks like a red-leaved smoke bush.

    You might try getting some seeds from the ones you dried. Depending on how they were handled, I can imagine that there could maybe still be some seeds in there. You could at least get an idea what the little urn shaped seed pod looks like. The pods I've seen are about the size of the lead point on a sharpened pencil.

    Good luck.

    Hay

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