Lantana Seeds

Do I have to take the purple or black wraping off of the seed or can it be planted with it on? Do you have to let them dry so much that the cover falls off?

I leave them as they are, let them dry and they germinate fine for me. They will shrink up some when dried. They are very easy to grow if you can get the seeds before they fall off. I am going to collect some from my vining purple today, if there still there. Cathy

Gosh I hope you guys are still following this thread. I'd been collecting these seeds forever but not 1 ever germinated. Now you guys have given me new hope. Is there any difference in the seed collecting for vining vs. the common varieties?
Thanks so much for this thread!
JD

I've never tried lantana seeds - tell me what I'm looking for and what to do. They are still in full bloom but the frost is only days away here.

My red lantana last year made purple or black berry like seed.

I harvested some seed this year - I took cuttings just in case, but I plan on wintersowing them this coming year.

After I harvest my seeds, I let them dry on the counter then I store them in the fridge until I plant them in the spring. I just sow on top of the soil then gently push down so it makes good contact with the soil. Don't cover the seed completely. I think they need light to germinate. I also have winter sown some and they also grew great. The vinning seeds are the same as the regular lantana seeds. You can place your planted seeds in a clear ziplock type bag, it will hold in the moisture and you can also put them on a plant heating mat.

Shihtzumom, seeds will appear when the bloom cluster fades and falls off. It will form a cluster of round green things. These are your immature seeds. Leave them alone and they will turn black. That's when you cut them off. They will be soft and if you squish one it will be kind of juicy inside. You don't want to squish them, though, except just to check it out on a couple if you're interested. As they dry, the outer part will shrivel like a raisin. The small, hard seed is in the middle of this.

I've never sowed from seed, but I've grown them for a couple of years as store bought plants. You'll need to follow the instructions of others for sowing. And I'll be watching, too!

Gail

It sounds like the only thing I've done wrong is not using the fridge at all. We've collected them for a couple years but none ever germed so we decided they weren't viable. I sure hope the fridge makes all the difference.
How long from seedling to flowers on average? I just need to make sure I start them indoors early enough to have good sized plants in time for spring.
This year I have the biggest bed of them ever, I hope they haven't dropped all their seeds yet.
Thanks;)
JD

I usually start mine in January in the house, they make wonderful hanging baskets and start blooming by mothers day for me. Most seeds that reseed do well in the fridge for a time, better germination. You will have several that pop up in your gardens, but they are late in blooming. I might have more seeds left on my plants I'll check for you. We have had a few light frosts but there still blooming nicely.

I collected seeds last year but just dried them and they're in a paper envelope. Do you think if I put them in the fridge for a couple of weeks that they'd still be good and come up?
Gail

cbrand...That is amazing that yours self seed them selves. I don't know why that never happens here. We grow huge amounts and always have and it's never reseeded one plant. It's amazing how slight differences in weather can make such a huge differences. I think our winters must get too cold for too long for the seeds to survive, that's all that makes any sense to me anyhow.
I have a few blooms left and a few seeds that havent fallen yet, hopefully I have enough to make a difference. Oddly, I don't have any more mostly yellows. It's almost all red/orange and a few of the deeper red/maroon colors. This is the 1st year we haven't had the lighter/brighter colors out numbering the darker ones. It's been 1 weird season for sure;)
Thanks, JD