8/14/2019 Gathering seed: a step-by-step guide with Abbie and Mark Jury

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nakidailynews.co.nz Friday, January 22, 2010 T ARANAKI D AILY N EWS 11

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G ARDENING www.taranakidailynews.co.nzGathering seed: a step-by-step

guide with Abbie and Mark Jury

Photos: ROBERT CHARLES

here are two main types of seed: wet and dry seed.Most of the perennials and grasses are dry seed, and

ot surprisingly, these seeds need to be kept dry.n here is meconopsis and aquilegia.

2 Wet seed comes encased in fleshy coating andneeds to be kept moist. Allowing wet seed to dryout totally is disastrous. Shown are clivia andscadoxus seed, but most of the broad-leafed plants andnative plants are wet seed.

3 To be an organised seed collector, keenobservation is helpful to get the timing right. Thatis especially true for dry seed heads like poppies,verbascum and even vegetables, which will split openand spill out their seeds. You want the seed to be

mature and ripe, but to catch them before the seed headdisperses. Collect the seed by cutting the pod straightinto a bucket, paper bag or similar.

4 Some plants, like this cyclamen, have a fleshy seedpod that holds on for a long time, so timing ofcollection is not critical. The fleshy coating needsto be dried so that it flakes away, allowing the seeds tobe separated. But these are wet seeds, so they need to

be sown as soon as possible for best germination. Thelonger they are stored dry, the lower the germinationrate will be.

Some plants, likemagnolias and manyconifers, wrap their seeds inwoody cones and onlyup when the seed is ripe.ng pines are like this,

h is why pine nuts are sonsive to buy and homests are tedious at best forcrop yield. The magnoliashown here has a fleshyng that needs to be

off to find the viablebeneath. It is anothereed that does not wantstored dry for verythough most conifersdry seed and more

y stored.

6Clean the seed carefully. We store dry seed in usedpaper envelopes with the name and date written onit. Wet seed can be kept in plastic bags to slow

dehydration. 7As a general rule, follow natures lead and sowseed as soon as possible after collection. If you arestoring the seed for some months, find a position

completely protected from autumn mice, which canwreak havoc. Here we use an old fridge that is notplugged in but provides a rodent-proof cupboard in theshed. Home gardeners can put their seed envelopes inan ice-cream container in the fridge. To find ourprevious Outdoor Classroom on how to sow seedsuccessfully, go to our website, www.jury.co.nz andclick on the Outdoor Classroom link, or seewww.dailynews.co.nz.

probably a flavidus hybridAnigozanthos,I have never been up close andpersonal with Kanga andcertainly not so near that I canexamine her feet, so the reasonwhy members of theanigozanthos family arewidely referred to askanagaroo paws eludes me.While the flowers are slightlyfurry, that doesnt seemsufficient reason to liken thetwo. But these interestingclumping, evergreenperennials from southwestAustralia are worthwhileadditions to the sunny garden,

if for no other reason than theyflower most of the year.

The critical issue withanigozanthos is perfectdrainage. Apparently, flavidusis more tolerant of damperconditions than the otherspecies (which may be whythis yellow one thrives wherewe have lost others over time),but we are only talkingtolerance of Australian damp,which is not at all the samething as Taranaki damp.Perfect drainage, a raised bed

and very open conditions arestill recommended.

Modern breeding has led tothe commercial release of arange of jewel-like colourcombinations going wellbeyond the common red andyellow toughies more into therosella parrot colourings. Wehave tried a number of theseover the years and graduallylost the lot you should havemore success if you garden insandy, coastal conditions. Butthe reliable yellows and redsgive consistent and curiousflowers in our rockery and arealso good as a cut flower. Thisyellow plant puts up flowerspikes to around 150cm and,bless, they hold themselves upwithout staking. Many othersare a great deal more compactand have flower spikes closerto 20 or 30cm.

Anigozanthos are frequentlyavailable in garden centres.

Abbie Jury

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