A seed doesn’t need to be enchanted by a sorcerer to be magic. Every viable (fully developed and not damaged) seed is, to my mind, magical. That a Eucalyptus seed the size of a speck of dust provides the spark of life to create a tree hundreds of feet tall seems like the stuff of fairy tales. Plants have devised an astounding array of ingenious designs for their seeds, how they are housed, and methods for their dispersal in the right place and time and conditions.
I, in turn, am enchanted by seeds, and I am in good company. We are fortunate to have friends in high and seedy places. Many of the coolest seeds we obtain are shared with us by highly experienced gardeners, botanists, horticulturists and collectors associated with botanic gardens. And we collect seeds from our own gardens and from permitted areas in the wild. This year is no exception. Please do remember that many native wildflowers develop slowly, and may not be ready to sell in their first year.
Here are a few of the very special, mostly commercially unavailable native plants we are attempting to grow this year from seed, shared by our friend Mike Kintgen, curator of the fabulous Rock Alpine Gardens at DBG, from his personal collection:
Laramie Columbine (Laramie Columbine, pictured above) – Gorgeous cream-white nodding blooms, Laramie Mts endemic, shade, z3
Sugarbowls (Clematis hirsutissima) – Foothills woodland favorite – nodding purple blooms, feathery seedheads finely cut foliage emerges fuzzy, to 12-24”, long-lived. Pollinator fave.
Scott’s Sugarbowls (Clematis scottii) – Mounded lacy foliage, long-blooming nodding purple blooms, feathery seedheads, to 12”, long-lived. Pollinator fave.
Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) Brilliant red-orange flowers with dark-spotted throats,‘tiger’ lily of mountains, prairie. To 12-48”. Attracts hummingbirds.
Sword Townsend Daisy ( Townsendia spathulata) – Rocky Mt. native, white to pink daisies sit just above small mats of spoon-shaped foliage. Very cold-hardy, attracts pollinators.
Lilium philadelphicum, courtesy swcoloradowildflowers.com
Clematis hirsutissima, courtesy swcoloradowildflowers.com
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