Georgia Gardening: toad lillies from seed, 1 by sterhill

sterhill wrote:
OK - here's one I know!
First - there are many varieties of toad lily but they basically fall into two groups: the kind where the plant puts up a stalk with many buds and the kind where the buds form all the way down the stem.

Both kinds will make seed pods. The first group will make a long slender pod and when the seeds are ready, you'll see the pod turn brown and actually be able to see the many tiny seeds in the pod through the light. These are ready to pull and you can scatter the seeds or you can put them into trays and grow them under lights through the winter.

Second group: bigger seed pods that will break open when ready. You can get a plastic bag, cut the stem and shake the seeds into the bag. There are a blue billion seeds on each stalk!

I took seeds from my first Tricyrtis Hirta (second group) in the fall and then in early spring/late winter I spread the seed heavily on "seed starter" soil - I spread it heavily as I thought since the plant was expensive, the seeds were probably difficult. Nothing happened. Other seeds were popping up but not these. So I covered the pyrex dish with plastic wrap and stuck it in the dining room and forgot about it. In another couple of weeks it looked like I had planted grass! I had hundreds of plants. I picked them out, put the seedlings into small pots under my shop lights and later I was hunting for places to plant and still had to give many away.

I love the toads and now have about 10 different kinds. Very pretty flowers.

Sterling