NARGS Emerald Chapter

For the spring NARGS Speaker Tour, Alan Bradshaw is touring chapters on the West Coast, with Eugene as one of his first stops on April 5. Alan has operated his seed business, Alplains, in Colorado for over 20 years. He shared his considerable skills and knowledge with us, explaining how to germinate different species, showing us his propagation set up, and giving us valuable tips such as planting flat seeds like those of milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) sideways, so the radical will have an easier time reaching down into the soil mix.

He discussed in detail the three main categories of seeds:

1) Those that germinate with no special treatment. These include members of Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Crassulaceae, Onagraceae, and most Caryophyllaceae.

2) Those that require stratification (temperature changes).These include members of Apiaceae, Campanulaceae, Liliaceae, Ranunculaceae, Polemoniaceae, Asclepiadaceae (now part of Apocynaceae), Polygonaceae, and Primulaceae.

Castilleja seeds have an unusual mesh-like covering. To get them to germinate, you first need to rub the seeds to remove this.

3) Those that require scarification (scratching of the seed coat). These include members of Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Geraniaceae, and many genera that used to be in Scrophulariaceae including Castilleja and Penstemon.

There is much more detailed information about seed germination on Alan’s website at www.alplains.com/germination.html. He also mentioned one of the seminal (pun intended!) volumes on seed germination written by Norman Deno. I found it on the web and downloaded it. Click here for a copy of Seed Germination Theory and Practice (11.5MB).

Alplains was started in 1989, partly out of Alan’s frustration in trying to find certain rare plant seeds. Originally employed as a software engineer, he found himself devoting more and more time to the collection of seeds, first grown in his gardens on the eastern Plains of Colorado and then from wild flora of the western United States. His 2011 catalog contains seed of over 1000 different rare and unusual plant species, including a large selection of cactus seed from the collection of Jeff Thompson. He also traveled to the Chilean Andes in 2001 and brought back seeds of several rosulate violet species and many other Andean gems. For more about Alan or to see his catalog, visit www.alplains.com. Thanks to Alan for sharing his knowledge with us, and to NARGS for organizing these speaker tours.