On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 22:27:45 GMT, (Terry Horton) wrote:


Just be ready to wait a decade or two. :-) Bluebonnet seed may lay in
the ground years before germinating. An established patch of
bluebonnets has a large bank of seeds in the soil put down over many
years and generations.

If you want to speed things up a bit, Wildseed Farms sells scarified
(faster germinating) bluebonnet seed. If planted these as late as
early November with good result.

I don't know about a decade, but I will say I planted about three 48 cell flats
of plants and the seeds have already germinated from this years' burst. I do
know that Indian paintbrush is a parasitic plant and needs certain types of
prairie grasses to be available in order to flourish. In my case, they
bluebonnets fix nitrogen and store it in the root nodes. The paintbrush plants
take a while.

On the scarification of bluebonnet seeds; the reason I plant them out now is to
benefit them and put them in the way of the scarification process. The heat,
drought, and that ongoing cycle in this region serves as the scarification
process. I suppose I also have to stress that while my soil is native and not
subsoil, I have added plenty of compost. In particular, I've added Revitilizer
which is sold at The Natural Gardener. It has both fungal and bacterial
properties and organisms which help the soil which helps plants and seeds to
germinate.

In the fall, they sell bluebonnets by the flat and I strongly recommend anyone
who has trouble getting them going, en masse, should start out with plants and
nature will take its course.

Victoria