By Loosestrife2
United States
Many of my hosta have seed pods which have opened sprinkling their black seeds. Has anyone tried growing hosta from seed? I have always divided them but for some reason never considered this method until now.
- 20 Oct, 2019
Answers
I have done in the past. I just barely covered the seed with soil based compost and left then in the unheated greenhouse over winter. Germination was late March early April. Some looked very similar to the parent plant others just plain green. I did grow them on then sold them at one of my plants sales. Its fun and you may get a nice variegation. nothing to lose by trying.
20 Oct, 2019
Thank you both ever so much!!!
21 Oct, 2019
I know people have and they do more out of curiosity. The seeds need to be stratified before they could germinate - that means the cold treatment. The problem is that the hosta seedlings get choked out by the more aggressive weeds and normally get 'lost' among the bigger plants if some hungry robin doesn't gobble up the seeds first.
My suggestion: gather up the seeds, put them in a ziploc baggie and into the refrigerator for a couple months. This will vernalize the seeds (simulate winter). Come January, start them up indoors in cow pots and see what you get. They should be big enough to plant out by April.
You'll get a 'smorgasbord' of all different kinds of hosta plants due to cross pollination. Some may be really unique. That's the fun of it. I'm doing this with day lilies.
20 Oct, 2019