Hepatica seeds

[maggiepie]

I was lucky enough to be given a lovely selection of hepatica seeds by one of the forumists ( thanks Michael)
I sowed them in pots and they have been sitting under a spruce tree since the beginning of April last year.
They have lost their snow cover and today I noticed that I have seeds sprouting. yayyyyy!!
We have had a fairly mild winter so far but I am sure we will get hammered before  winter is finished.
I can lift the tray of pots at the moment ( not frozen to the ground) and am wondering if I should move the tray of seedlings into the garage until spring or leave them alone.
Have never grown any, in fact I have never seen a plant/flower up close and personal.

[Carlo]

My vote is to leave them. If you must intervene, consider a blanket of Remay or a similar insulating fabric that allows light through it. Remove as early as you feel comfortable with...

[ranunculus]

Totally agree, Carlo ... hopefully any protracted spell of very low temperatures will be accompanied by more snow or will result in further germination at a later date.  Hepaticas survive across the Alps.

[gote]

Congratulations and Carlo and Ranunculus have alredy said my piece
Göte

[maggiepie]

Thanks Carlo, I will do as you suggest

Cliff, it was the thought of possible -28C temps that was my main concern. I would hate to kill them.

Thanks Göte, now I have to develop a lot of patience.

[Lori S.]

They survive here too in extreme low temps without snow cover.  (One of the nicer gardens in town has big drifts of them all along the paths in the front yard...)

[maggiepie]

Lori , I hope you take a walk with your digi when they are in flower.
Must be an amazing sight. I am surprised people don't steal them.

[cohan]

we know they are hardy, but are they not more vulnerable in surface pots? or are tiny seedlings less affected? certainly not much will survive here sitting in an exposed pot outside (though i have seen it with native opuntia polycantha)

[maggiepie]

Ackkk, Cohan, now I am 'really' worried again 

[Lori S.]

I'd leave them, but it's up to how comfortable you feel, of course.   
My reasons are because hardy plants do have hardy seedlings.   (People always think because seedlings are small, they are somehow less cold-hardy than the parent plants.  This thinking baffles me.)  I imagine the tiny seedling leaves will largely die off - as they do in cold climates - but I expect the root systems will survive.
I also expect this year's winter-sown seeds - which I set out in 1.5" and 4" pots in trays - to germinate and for the seedlings to survive early spring freezes and thaws, as they normally do. 

On the other hand, since it sounds as though you winter a lot of perenials indoors anyway (a notion that is absolute anathema to me, by contrast!), you could always bring some in and leave some out, and hedge your bets!   

[Ulla Hansson]

My experience of seedlings is that if there will be a milder period in January, so germinate some seeds, especially from the group ranunculace. Returns the weather to be cold again, so is the risk the seedlings will die. They have not had time to get big enough
I have lost a lot of seedlings in this way. I have not had Hepatica so early, they tend to germinate with me in March and early April.
Now I have learned to move the pots with seedlings, to a place with temperatures above freezing.
Ulla

[maggiepie]

Lori, I have a few clematis bought late in the season, wintering in the basement, plus a couple  erodiums I dug up that hadn't flowered.
That's it for indoor perennials apart from a couple of geranium nanum seedlings that I am pretty sure won't be hardy. One of the nanums is flowering now which is nice.
All the other plants are seedlings that have germinated since winter started ( mostly clematis).
I think I might hedge my bet though with the hepaticas, my garage is unheated so might move some there, or maybe into my unheated sunroom.


Ulla, we have been having the milder period you mention but it can't last for much longer.

[cohan]

actually, i wasn't suggesting that seedlings should be more tender than adults, i was asking whether small pots sitting on the surface would not be much more vulnerable than any plants in the ground? (or pots buried in the ground) since even hardy plants left out in pots here seem vulnerable (as i said)..
further, i was wondering whether seedlings are not susceptible to damage as adult plants in exposed pots would be?
of course helen is in a milder climate than here..


teal bits are edited for clarity

[gote]

i was asking whether small pots sitting on the surface would not be much more vulnerable than any plants in the ground? (or pots buried in the ground) since even hardy plants left out in pots here seem vulnerable (as i said).

I agree absolutely. However, Hepaticas are very hardy and survive well in small pots in my place unless they drown due to the impaired drainage caused by the soil freezing.

Göte

[cohan]

i was asking whether small pots sitting on the surface would not be much more vulnerable than any plants in the ground? (or pots buried in the ground) since even hardy plants left out in pots here seem vulnerable (as i said).

I agree absolutely. However, Hepaticas are very hardy and survive well in small pots in my place unless they drown due to the impaired drainage caused by the soil freezing.
Göte

that's good news for helen then --i'm sure she's probably no colder than you...