Jeffersonia

[McDonough]

Tim, I'm envious of your beautiful white Jeffersonia dubia.  Seeing this I ran outside to check the spot where I planted the single seedling last summer, nothing showing yet.  Not sure if I kept it moist enough after planting it out under the canopy of hemlock trees, the hemlocks tend to block rain from reaching the ground.

[cohan]

All the colours are great
Interesting nursery too! Wondering about timing- Jeffersonia and Dicentra are warm/cold/warm germination, right? So the time to buy/sow would summer?

[Tony Willis]

All the colours are great
Interesting nursery too! Wondering about timing- Jeffersonia and Dicentra are warm/cold/warm germination, right? So the time to buy/sow would summer?

I find jeffersonia seeds are very short lived and always sow straight from the pod the day it ripens. It then germinates the next spring.

As to dividing plants the only one I tried by cutting in two died at once,on the other hand I have a plant of the white form which was propagated by division for me, so it could just be my lack of skill.

[McDonough]

I find jeffersonia seeds are very short lived and always sow straight from the pod the day it ripens. It then germinates the next spring.

When I collect seed of Jeffersonia, Epimedium, and woodland Iris species, I collect directly into plastic baggies.  They can stay in the seed for up to 2-3 weeks without problem, and then sown, to germinate next spring; just gives a bit of leeway as to when the seed is sown.

[Tim Ingram]

Over the years people have toyed with the idea of a short viability seed exchange because there are so many woodland plants in particular like this: seed could be kept in slightly damp vermiculite for a long time if necessary. A few growers do supply seed like this in the UK, and occasionally Society seed exchanges institute the idea, but there are probably not enough knowledgeable gardeners to really make it viable (excuse the pun). Similar, but different, is supplying seed that has been pretreated (eg: by cold stratification) to improve germination, and the German seedsmen Jelitto must be pre-eminent in this. Years ago I remember getting some rosulate viola seed that had been stored moist in the cold and it gave very good germination - growing them on was another problem!

[cohan]

If I read correctly, the Japanese nursery noted above is selling seed of this sort moist packed, as Kristl does, which seems to preserve them for some time- until sown if the same season, or if it's a bit later, the moist packing seems to take the place of the  warm period in warm/cold/warm, so they can go straight to cold.
Just curious about how well these (and Dicentras I was especially looking at on that list  ) respond to moist packing..

[McDonough]

I'm not too familiar with how long you can moist pack seed before they'll start germinating on their own, or rotting... Kristl Walek would know.

I neglected to post this season's best photos of Jeffersonia dubia Korean Form, so here they are.  Still in bloom now, after 9 days, but the photo shown on the left was taken on about day 4 (in the sun) and the photo on the right taken on day 6 (cloudy).

[RickR]

Yes, best photos indeed, Mark!

I get almost as much enjoyment with my failures as with successes, especially when it comes to seeds.  When you said,
I'm not too familiar with how long you can moist pack [Jeffersonia dubia] seed before they'll start germinating on their own, or rotting
I may be able to provide some tangential experience.  Through more happenstance than planned and methodical regiment, this is my unofficial, non-scientific,  and inconclusive experience so far with a particulaar batch of dubia seeds.  Take from it what you will.

June 2011: collected J. dubia seeds from my own plant. 
Immediately placed between moist paper towels at 65-80F.  (I don't have air conditioning).
They plumped even more into very dark, round balls.

August: the moist towels dried somewhat, to the point that a visible shrinking could be seen with the seeds.
After re-wetting, they returned to there previous size.

October: still no germination. Placed in fridge.

February 2012: Brought 65f.

May: Still no germination.  Placed back in fridge.

September: After forgetting about them, I took half the seed and planted them.  These are now spending the winter (and spring, if it ever comes) outside.  The other half is still in the fridge.  They look unchanged, still plump and still very firm.  This is a photo of them now:

April 2013

     
 

[Hoy]

It's like Schrödinger's cat - they are either dead or alive; and you can't know before something happens

[Tim Ingram]

Rick, I'm really surprised those didn't germinate in the spring. I've always sown Jeffersonia seed (the few times I've got much) in pots as soon as I collect it, but with other such plants I have put moist-packed seed in an airing cupboard and then sown outside for the normal winter cold. It could be they really need constant percolation of moisture throughout the winter to allow germination to proceed. I think the ideal must be to sow fresh in pots in a cool place so they experience as close to natural conditions as possible. I like Mark's idea of sowing directly in the garden, except this isn't so effective for the nurseryman.

[McDonough]

Tim, I'm not sure why you didn't get germination.  On Jeffersonia, this is one that typically don't do my scratch-and-sow-in-place technique (although one year I experimented with that too), I typically collect the seed and then within a week or two, all gets sown in peat flats and covered with wire to keep chipmunks from eating the seed (they love em).  The flats sit on the ground in contact with the earth, and get sprinkled regularly. In  spring, they germinate with such vigor that they tend to left the crust of soil up as a layer.  I've done this with both species the last three years, and have gotten consistently strong germination, and always with diphylla being the slightly slower germinator.

One year as a test, I prepped an area approximately 4' x 5', and sowed the seed in place (immediately after seed was ready).  Also had tremendous germination, but after 4 years, with animal trampling (an occassional deer passing through), mole tunneling, and other invading plants, it's not a sheet of Jeffersonia.  But the area still has LOTS of Jeffersonia seedling plants there, growing in clusters or small colonies, this year small plants flowering in significant number.

[RickR]

Oh the HORROR !!!!!

My most excellent J.dubia has been eaten.  Eaten alive!

Dang varmints!  This part of the garden is the last to thaw, and when I did my initial garden cleaning, all the old petioles had been severed, just as mice do with lawn grass over winter, and all the buds gone.
             27 April 2013
    
You can see a few buds left at the outer edges, where they would have been a little under and hidden.

Thankfully, a few more have emerged also, and all is not lost.
              8 May 2013
    

               PHEW !

[McDonough]

OMG Rick, that's terrible!    I shed Jeffersonian tears for this sad development.

It seems that when there's just one of something, that's when something happens to it.  At least there's new shoots coming up at the periphery, and hopefully it'll rejuvenate to some level.  Depending on it's level of renewed growth, maybe it would be prudent to attempt a division, just so that you have more than one plant in the garden.

Dang varmints!!!

[cohan]

Sorry to hear, Rick, hopefully there is enough left underground to regenerate..