Seed Exchanges in 2010...what are you ordering?

With the NARGS seed list up in the last couple of days, I am getting excited about what I will grow in 2010. Actually, I received my AGS seed order today! It was far less fuss for me to send seeds to their exchange than to the NARGS (although I sent seed to NARGS as well). USDA makes it difficult for Americans to get seed from overseas but it is still easy to get them in Canada.

As an overseas member, I get their seeds for free...what a deal! I got all my first choices:

Adonis brevistyla
Allium beesiana
Allium macranthum
Allium wallichii
Androsace bulleyana
Androsace rotundifolia
Androsace X pedemontana
Anemone obtusiloba blue
Anemone palmata lutea
Aquilegia jonesii (will it be the real thing?)
Campanula anomala
Campanula arvatica
Campanula choruhensis
Campanula petrophila
Cyclamen libanoticum
Cyclamen purpurascens silver leaf
Erigeron leiomerus
Gentiana gelida
Geum reptanas
Lewisia cotyledon Alba
Lewisia nevadensis Rosea
Petrocallis pyrenaica
Primula flaccida
Primula forrestii
Primula macrophylla
Primula kisoana
Primula reidii
Saponaria lutea
Saxifraga media
Silene dinarica

Our Botanical garden is also a member so I just ordered seems for them..different from the above as I share any seedlings between them and myself anyway...a nice perk to working at a botanical garden where I sow all the new stuff!

Beautiful list, Todd - must be heaven to have the facilities of your Botanical garden in which to sow those seeds. I'll post mine later.

There is one on my NARGS list that reallyreally interests me - Shortia uniflora v orbicularis pink 15cm Japan: Ooyama Toyama Pref 500m 140 - a relative was first *discovered* by one of the Bartrams in the 1800s, then not seen again until botanists thought they had found it in Japan later in the mid-20th century - but! 'twarnt the real thang. More time passed and the Bartram's specie was finally *rediscovered* (North Carolina?). Subsequently to that, developers destroyed part of the original, limited habitat - don't know what's left by now.

This is all from hazy memory, and I'm too pooped right now to look things up and verify. Will come back tomorrow. But I too will be in heaven if I can get this one to grow on my shady hillside - a very pretty plant with fascinating, heart-lurching history.

I didn't even notice that listing! Probably just a s well as Shortia are not easy to grow or germinate. I have enough toughies among the ones above! The two I most want to grow for me are Androsace bulleyana and Primula macrophylla...both are bright red!

This year, there is a lot of interesting trees and shrubs on the list (along with uninteresting ones). I'll take a crack at more of them in the second round, if they're still available.

Corydalis anthriscifolia
Echinocereus reichenbachii v perbellus
Euonymus cornutus v quinquecornutus
Gladiolus cunonius
Hieracium lanatum
Hieracium villosum
Iberis saxatilis 'Pygmaea'
Iris koreana
Lilium lijiangense
Lilium medeoloides
Lilium nanum
Lilium nanum v flavidum
Lilium pyrenaicum
Lilium taliense
Petrophytum caespitosum
Phyteuma humile
Polygonatum kingianum
Pulsatilla georgica
Pulsatilla jarmilae
Pulsatilla kostyczewii
Silene nigrescens
Anemone parviflora v grandiflora
Erythronium sibiricum
Iris albertii
Iris gracilipes
Iris rosenbachiana
Lilium monadelphum
Notholirion bulbuliferum
Pulsatilla campanella
Vitaliana primuliflora
Lilium kesselringianum
Primula algida
Staphylea colchica

BTW,we helped package seed last week, for the phase 2 of the exchange. I happened to pick up a package from donor #71 (Alta). The T. rubens. Just thought I'd let you know that even though it seemed like a lot of seed that you sent, the other donor didn't send much at all, and making the required number of packages for the lot, it came out just right.

Phase 3 (distribution) won't begin until the latter half of January.
RIck

Your list is much more interesting than mine...I don't recall even seeing some of those listed! Oh well, in the second round I will try some of the lily and iris...I might as well get my feet wet with trying those. Meanwhile, my NARGS list is at work...I'll post them tomorrow.

Oh, that's neat, Rick! I'm deliberating over my NARGS choices right now - must finish and get a money order tomorrow and send it in. I managed to get through my SRGC order in November, and here I am again... these things are exhausting. Beyond a few things that I recognize immediately and check off, I always get to the point of almost random selections later on, LOL!

Forgot to say Alta, thanks for sending in the S. nigrescens.

When I am research seed lists, I've given up trying to find actual cold hardiness ratings for the weird stuff. Way too time consuming, and so often only the Europeans have grown it, and pretty much never use temperature ratings. So I usually just extrapolate from various informations for possible survival. As we all know, zone ratings can be bogus anyway! The only real downfall for me is when I sell excess plants at our plants sales: I can't really say how cold hardy they are.

The first Dicentra macrocapnos us up in 3 weeks. From dried seed, I guess it didn't need any warm-cold-warm, or even cold-warm treatment.

Rick

You're welcome, Rick - hope you get them!

Here's what I ordered from SRGC... I look at some of them now and wonder what I was thinking, LOL!
460 Arenaria purpurascens
667 Callianthemum anemonoides
884 Codonopsis grey
1016 Cyananthus microphyllus
1206 Dianthus glacialis
1941 Hepatica japonica
2175 Ixiolirion tataricum
2380 Lindelofia longiflora
2413 Lupinus lepidus utahensis
2888 Peucedanum rablense
3001 Potentilla nepalensis 'Ron McBeath' (??? I must have hit the wrong button on this one!)
3362 Satureja montana illyrica
3366 Saussurea graminifolia
3495 Scutellaria zhongdianensis
3497 Sedum pilosum
3499 Selinum wallichianum
3652 Teucrium hircanicum
4052 Castilleja unalaschcensis
4186 Limonium perplexum
4293 Saxifraga callosa
4344 Townsendia minima
4347 Trifolium alpinum
4358 Vella lucentina
4359 Verbascum fontqueri
4360 Verbascum rotundifolium haenseleri

SRGC has a really excellent electronic seed ordering system. It would be wonderful if NARGS could adopt something similar some day.

Nice choices there Alta. I assume the Codonopsis is grey-wilsonii...I grew that but it ended up being a plain clematidea. I have grown Trifolium alpinum (didn't survive the winter for me), Saxifraga callosa (perfect), Satureja montana illyrica (great fragrant foliage but flowers were so-so), Lindelofia (great plant), Arenaria purpurascens (perfect) and Dianthus glacialis (perfect)....I have to look up Vella...that's a new one for me!

Here is my NARGS order:

Achillea ageratifolia (I loved yours Alta)
Aster soulei
Carlina acaulis (another Alta inspired)
Clematis columbiana tenuiloba (I killed mine and need to try again)
Convolvulus compactus
Delosperma alpinum
Delosperma karooicum
Dianthus haematocalyx pindicola
Draba lasiocarpa
Draba oligosperma
Erigeron nematophyllus
Gazania linearis (had this one for years but it suddenly died last winter)
Globularia incanescens
Iris missouriensis
Iris setosa (pale pink!)
Lychnis yunnanensis
Mertensia pterocarpa
Morina longifolia (another one that upped and died last winter)
Onosma nana
Osteosperma barrerae (another Alta inspired)
Penstemon euglaucus
Penstemon gormanii
Penstemon lyallii (yet another that suddenly died...lived 12 years!)
Penstemon Six Hills
Penstemon speciosus kennedyi
Penstemon uintahensis
Potentilla divina
Primula ioessa
Primula kisoana alba
Primula secundiflora (lost it to root weevils..have to try again)
Rhododendron molle japonicum
Silene keiskei
Silene nigrescens (hope there are seeds left Alta!)
Synthyris missurica
Townsendia exscapa

I expect many of these will have to be grown in our alpine house at work, especially the dry-land penstemon.

We filled just over 200 of the NARGS seed orders today. And we had one foreign mail form leftover. Phew! LOL

As always, we had a lot of fun, and made this "kick off" a potluck event too. Bonnie made the yummiest cooked carrots with an orange and ginger sauce . . . .

Rick

Does this mean we should expect seeds in the next couple of weeks?

Well, there were about 600 orders pending when we started today. I am not sure if I am going to get to help with the other order filling parties. Last year I had work scheduled when most happened. If you were in the first 200, yours should be going out Monday.

I received my SIGNA order today:

Gladiolus kotchyanus caucasicus ex Armenia
Gladiolus miniatus
Gladiolus papilio ex 'Ruby"
Iris bicapitata
Iris chrysographes black
Iris cristata ex "Sam's Mini'
Iris cristata with underground runners
Iris gracilipes alba ex "Bucko"
iris gracilipes mix
Iris koreana #6
Iris koreana ex Byeonsanbando,S.Korea
Iris lacustris
Iris lazica
Iris odaesanensis ex Chuwang-san,S.Korea
Iris prismatica maroon
iris stolonifera
Irls verna col. KY

Not so good of a pic, but don't we all need something about now?

Corydalis wilsonii

I placed my SIGNA order just after Christmas so I guess it will be a few weeks yet until I get mine. I ordered only versicolor-siberica crosses and hookeri-setosa forms...that's my breeding focus group but thinking back, i should have tried some of the more unusual species like you did Rick.

It was just after Christmas when I placed my NARGS order so I might have to wait a while yet....I am anxious as most will need strat first so I expect it will be April before the seeds actually germinate. I checked on my startifying AGS seeds in the root cellar and three Allium, 2 campanula and 2 Sorbus germinated in the dark at 3 C! The Allium amd Sorbus look fine now that they have been moved into the light but the Campanula were so spindly that they were lost. I certainly did not expect Campanula to germinate under such cold conditions.

I'd be interested to know which species those were (of each genus) that germinated at 3C. I would suspect the Alliums would be winter growers in their native haunts? Or perhaps not since they are bulbous. Deno lists a few that germinate at 40F, but didn't test beesianum, macranthum or wallichii.

BTW, do we all know that Tom Clothier (on his site) has a consolidated listing of Deno tested species from all three books on one excel spreadsheet? It's quite handy.

I'm in calgary at the moments but when I get to work later in the week I'll let you know the species.

BTW, I had a great visit with Altagardener yesterday...a meeting for a coffee became a fast 3 hours of chatting! I will be giving my Pyrenees talk to the CRAGS this evening.

It was great meeting with you too, Todd, and a very nice presentation you did at CRAGS tonight! Your plant knowledge astounds me (although I did expect it)! By the way, I grow Hutchinsia alpina (which you mentioned wanting seeds for) and can try to collect some for you.

Yeah, I hope "Codonopsis grey" is correctly C. grey-wilsonii; the species name was incomplete in the SRGC list for some reason. I got all of my requested seeds from SRGC the other day, with the exception of #4052 Castilleja unalaschcensis. I got #4062 Chelone glabra instead - not anything I was interested in! Oh well, just a little boo-boo on someone's part. (Germinating the Castilleja probably would have taken far more fussing than I could stand anyway!)

From NARGS, I ordered:
Achillea ageratifolia ssp. aizoon (lost my species after a couple years... dang.)
Allium insubricum
Androsace vandellii
Arisaema sikokianum
Callianthemum anemonoides or kernerianum
Campanula argyrotricha
Codonopsis bhutanica
Corydalis ophiocarpa
Cyclamen alpinum and hederifolium (OK, I'll try again with the latter...)
C. purpurascens (trying to get some more leaf variety)
Delosperma alpinum
Dianthus petraeus ssp noeanus
Fritillaria fleischeriana
Globularia spinosa
Hepatica americana & maxima
Incarvillea younghusbandii
Lysimachia lichiangensis
Pelargonium endlerichianum (I have not given up on this one yet, assuming I can germinate it.)
Pulsatilla chinensis, jarmilae, kostyczewii (following your lead, Rick!)
Roscoea alpina
Soldanella alpina or any other soldanella
Synthris missurica
Teucrium pyrenaicum
Allium siskiyouense
Anemone pseudoaltaica
Gentiana hexaphylla
Iris zenaidae
Leontice ewersmanii
Ononis spinosa
Potentilla frigida
Telesonix heucheriformis


Rick, glad to see you posted your Pulsatilla turcz... on NARGS - I was hoping you would! Looking forward to more photos from you!

The P. turczaninovii was a test in preparation. Gosh, I only did it a couple days ago and already you found it. I've been enjoying yours and Todds contributions very much. Yes, more to come, eventually, and to add to your how many hundreds (and Todd's-guessing 1000s)?

BTW, I had no idea 72 ppi was max for screens. The "about photos for the WIKI" was helpful.


A nice and varied selection, Alta. I still have Achillea ageratifolia in a trough, since 2004. A. sikokianum grew very easily from seed for me, but in their fourth winter, every one of them (of at least five) died.

I just downloaded Jānis Rukšāns' catalog for giggles, or . . . maybe not . . .

Whatever you do, don't download the Holubek list. The conversion of Euros to Cdn $ makes me wince...

Another 70 nargs seed orders filled this afternoon. More order filling scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but I won't be able to participate in them.

Rick

After sitting the year out last year, thinking I might move,
I did get my order in this year. I did some nice selections
from leftover seed from last years' NARGS that I'm trying
now. I'm such an amateur compared to you folks. Here's
what I have started (I know the cyclamen probably isn't
viable after a year but I'll give it a go anyway).

Androsace Carnea ssp brigantiaca (white)
Cyclamen Hederifolium albiflorum
Saxifraga Oppositifolia (pyrenees)
Androsace halleri (pink)
Saxifraga Cochleariaefolia
Erigeron nematophyllus
Eriogonum jamesii
Veronica spicata ssp incana 'nana'

Tam

I have heard so many stories of how a seed was supposed to be dead after such and such time span, yet some germination still seems to happen!

You have the seed already.
Wise move!

RIck

Sorry for the delay Rick but here are the seeds that germinated while undergoing start in the root cellar (dark and 4 C)

Sorbus forrestii
Sorbus reducta
Primula brevicula
Campanula hondoensis
Campanula makaschvelii
Allium pyrenaicum
Allium subhirsutum
Allium platycaule
Lychnis flos-jovis 'Nana'

I checked the seeds a couple of days ago and nothing else has germinated in the last 2 weeks. A rat or squirrel got at the seeds however so I may not have anything else to germinate!

As I added your results to my master list (mostly Deno), I noticed he listed L. flos-jovis as a 70D germinator (70F in the dark). I guess only time will tell if yours is what it is, or there have been cases when cultivars or varieties of the same species germinate differently.

Mine is the real Lychnis flos-jovis Nana as they are seeds collected from my own plant. They are relatively short-lived so I re-start them every 3-4 years.

I have one germination to report - Eriogonum jamesii
(the androsace & sax are in the refrigerator still)

Tam

I got my seeds from NARGS today! Here's what I got:

Adonis Vernalis
Androsace Carnea alba
Anemone Nemorsa
Anemonella thalictroides (white)
Aster alpinus
Aubretia libantotica
Campanula alpina blue
Campanula betulifolia white/pink
Cyclamen coum
Cyclamen hederifolia
Dianthus Alpinus (pink)
Dianthus Deltoides pink
Dianthus deltoides 'Vampir' deep red
Dianthus pavonius
Dodecatheon Meadia
Dodecatheon pulchellum magenta-lavender 10-45cm
Edraianthus pumilio blue w/silver lvs
Edrainanthus graminifolius
Geranium Sanguineum 'Little Bead'
Penstemon eriantherus
Penstemon Humilis (blue 6")
Primula denticulata (purple)
Saxifraga paniculata white/cream
Saxifraga Silver mix (pink/white/spotted red)


Tam

Nice catch, Tammy.
I have Dianthus pavonius seed as well.

kRick

Nice selection Tammy.....I'm still awaiting mine. I can't even recall what I ordered now.

You're right alta, I've noticed that too, and I didn't go back to look at the particulars of his trial on flos-jovis.

Indeed within a species germination variation does occur, and not always just according subspecies or variety. Of course I did not mean to infer that Todd's flos-jovis seed were not genuine, only that the seemingly odd germination variation raised the question. I stand by it as a valid query, at least at the time.

I too have experienced results contrary to Deno's findings. As I have always said:
There only unbroken rule in the natural plant world is that there are no unbroken rules.

Rick

Interesting with the Lychnis.....I sowed lots of seed and only perhaps 5% germinated in the dark and cold. They have been moved to the warm now so we''' see if suddenly the rest germinate.

Todd - I got seed from you for those lychnis in 2006. I have in my notes
that I put them in cold (refriderator) and that they germinated in 1 wk

Tam

If that is the case, there should be plenty sprouting at work tomorrow...its been a week since I moved them to the heat.

NARGS seeds arrived...I forgot what I ordered! Here is the list.

To be direct sown:
Draba lasiocarpa
Draba oligosperma
Primula secundiflora
Morina longifolia
Mertensia pterocarpa
Osteosperma barberae
Dianthus pindicola
Erigeron nematophyllus
Gazania linearis
Aster souliei
Achillea ageratifolia
Townsendia montana
Delosperma karrooicum

To be stratified:
Iris setosa (pale pink)
Iris clarkei (hope for the real thing this time)
Penstemon euglaucus
Penstemon gormanii
Penstemon lyallii
Penstemon 'Six Hills'
Penstemon speciosus
Penstemon uintahensis
Penstemon caryi
Penstemon aridus
Primula ioessa (I assume strat is needed...could find no info)
Globularia incancanescens
Onosma nana
Potentilla divina

Off to do some sowing!

A few packets fell on the floor that I missed:

Delosperma alpinum
Synthyris missurica
Lychnis yunnanensis
Silene keiskei
Silene nigrescens
Carlina acaulis
Rhododendron japonicum

Lots of sowing ahead for me.

You do have a lot to sow there Todd! Enjoy.
Tam

It's started! Germination!
After a week:
Trifolium alpinum (after scarification)
Vella lucentina

After 4 days at room temp:
Ononis spinosa (after scarification)
Dianthus pinifolius ssp. serbicus

I took many of my stratifying seeds out of the root cellar on Monday...maybe something will appear next week.

I see the first evidence of germination of Dianthus pavonius.

Tam

Sprouting has started for me too. Seen today:

Campanula anomala
Eremurus robustus
E. himalaicus
E. stenophyllus
Penstemon albertinus
Erigeron leiomerus

These are one week out of the root cellar.