Can I Winter Sow Hosta Seeds?
Hostas can be sown either indoors or outdoors. If the seeds are fresh they can be direct sown outdoors as soon as they're ripe and will germinate with the next prolonged warm spell. If the seeds are stored for more than a month after being collected they can need stratification to germinate.
When hostas are germinated via Winter Sowing there will be some early germination in the flats...and then NOTHING....for a few weeks more. Evidently, some of the seeds just take more time to germinate because they need longer daylength and/or warmer nights. Anyway, just when you've almost lost your patience and think the seeds have failed, you will have a flush of green from the late germinating hosta seeds.
I'm sowing seeds from hybrid hostas ~ what can I expect?
Open-pollinated hosta seedlings begin to show their parentage very early on. You can expect some variation in seedlings from the parent plant but it's rarely excessive if noticeable. Variegated hosta seedlings look variegated almost immediately, or certainly within their first few months. Hosta seeds saved, from a variegated sport of a plain hosta, have about a 50/50 chance of being variegated; either they will be or they won't be variegated. Hostas, grown with seeds from a variegated parent plant, are usually all variegated. Solid color hostas of blue, green, or gold will produce seedlings at germination that reflect the parent plant color within a few weeks of germination.
I trade my hosta seeds--how should I label them?
Many people love hostas and enjoy growing their own hostas from seeds. Using the term "open-pollinated" when you describe your seeds lets traders know the seeds can produce plants that have differences among them. You can expect many trade offers for your open-pollinated hosta seeds.
Tip suggests these links for further study.
Factsheet No. HYG-1239-02
by Gretchen Heinke, Master Gardener, Franklin County
Central Ohio Hosta Society, Member and Past President
and Jane Martin, Extension Agent, Horticulture
Horticulture and Crop Science
Ohio State University Extension
Factsheet No. 0734
Ornamental Plants plus Ver. 3.0
Michigan State University Extension
by Winston C. Dunwell
Department of Horticulture
Research and Education Center
University of Kentucky
