Perennial flowers make good company when grown together

CONSIDER TRYING your hand at raising perennial flowers from seeds. This is an economical way to have enough plants of a single type to make a bold statement in the flower garden. A single delphinium or a single hosta plant flounders as if abandoned. Any perennial needs the company of at least three, preferably a half-dozen or more, like neighbors.

Also, many more types of perennials are available as seed than as plants. Seeds of common perennials like daisies and delphiniums turn up on local seed racks, but mail order is the place to go for more obscure types, anything from Acaena novae zealandiae (an ornamental going under the common name Bidgee-widgee) to Zauschneria californica (also known as hummingbird flower).

Generally, sow perennial seeds just as you do annuals. Fill a seed flat with firmed, barely moist potting soil, then drop the seeds into furrows deeply enough to cover seeds to one or two times their thickness. Set the flat in a pan of water until the soil is moistened, then remove the flat and keep it moist by covering it with plastic or a pane of glass. Not all perennial flower seeds germinate at the same rate — coreopsis requires only a few days but columbine may take a couple of months — so use small flats or pots, with one kind of seed per container. As soon as the seedlings poke up through the soil surface, remove the plastic and move the flat to bright light.

There are a few special wrinkles to germinating perennial flower seeds.

Seeds of the following perennial flowers prefer warm soil and water (70 degrees Fahrenheit): alyssum, columbine, aster, coreopsis, coral bells, oriental and Icelandic poppies, and scabiosa.

Candytuft, chrysanthemum, delphinium, baby’s breath, lupine, and phlox germinate best with cool conditions (55 degrees Fahrenheit). Germination of yarrow, columbine, candytuft and coral bells is improved by exposing the seed flat to light.

Seeds of aconite, evening primrose, globe-flower, liatris, bleeding heart, hosta, Christmas rose, and phlox won’t sprout until they have been stratified, that is, kept cool and moist for a period of time. Stratification occurs naturally when seeds are sown outdoors in the fall.

Seeds can be artificially stratified by planting and watering seed flats, then putting the flats in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for a few weeks. Or just plant in a flat, and leave the covered flat outdoors.

Recommendations for growing delphinium caution that the seed must be very fresh, to the extent of sowing the seed right after it is harvested in late summer. Delphinium seeds also reputedly germinate better if they are chilled, before sowing, for a week in the refrigerator.

assured that many gardeners sow the seeds just like annuals, without any special attention to light or cold. The seeds eventually germinate and grow, special temperatures and light notwithstanding.

The sooner perennial flower seeds are sown, the greater the chance that the plants will bloom this summer. Whether or not they actually do bloom depends on how big they grow, and whether they get exposed to some late spring cold. First-year bloom is especially easy with rock cress, snow-in-summer, coreopsis, forget-me-not, potentilla, and campion.

It is said that the first year in the ground perennials sleep, in their second year they creep, and in their third year they leap. Any bloom this first season will give just a hint of the mass of color to expect in future years.

Garden Notes

AGAWAM Garden club scholarship

If growing perennials from seed is beginning to sound a bit too complicated, rest

Any gardening questions? Email them to me at garden@ leereich.com and I’ll try answering them directly or in this column. Come visit my garden at leereich.com/blog.

The Agawam Garden Club is offering its annual scholarship to a graduating senior of Agawam High School or a college student who graduated from Agawam High School. Students must be majoring in or planning to major in botany, environmental engineering, environmental science, earth systems, forest management, natural resources, plant soil & insect science, sustainable agriculture, sustainable horticulture or food & farming, turf grass science and management, landscape design and management technology, clean energy, technology studies: wastewater, or other environmental studies not mentioned above.

Interested applicants must submit a copy of high school transcript and copy

SEE NOTES, PAGE F10