Questions about seeds from hot and dry summer areas
Rodger Whitlock (Sat, 21 Jun 2003 01:41:41 PDT)

On 18 Jun 03 at 11:20, John Lonsdale wrote:

You may be forgetting that seeds do not necessarily sit on the
surface of the soil, but often fall into cracks in the soil where
there is shade and slighly higher humidity.

Also, compared with seeds in a pot, seeds in the ground experience
much more stability in their environment. The unstable environment in
your usual plastic pot is one of the strongest arguments for terra
cotta pots plunged in a sand bed.

Pay attention to their ecology. The most common erythroniums on
Vancouver Island are E. revolutum and E. oregonum. Even though I can
show you where these species grow within a hundred feet or so of each
other, they have quite distinct ecological preferences.

E. revolutum enjoys conditions where the soil is moist year round.
Along Sutton Creek, many stands are probably flooded during the
winter.

E. oregonum otoh (on the other hand) enjoys conditions where the soil
goes bone dry in summer. It doesn't need baking and will do fine in
conditions of fairly deep shade, but it has to have that summer
desiccation.

In my garden, where summer water is the exception, E. oregonum does
better than E. revolutum, but the latter survives and flowers in a
reasonable way.

Two other species of erythronium grow on southern Vancouver Island:
E. montanum and E. grandiflorum. However, both grow at some altitude
and the local population of E. grandiflorum is restricted to a steep
north face on one low mountain. Neither of these is a success in the
garden; the most likely reason for the failure is lack of adequate
winter chilling.

Not necessarily. Seed sown in a pot gives a much higher germination
rate than the same seed scattered in the bushes. Fewer critters to
eat it, more fertile soil, generally more congenial conditions.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate

on beautiful Vancouver Island