Grow Perennials from Seed--No Cold Stratification Needed!

I have been experimenting with growing perennial plants from seed for the last few years. Some of my experiments have grown into beautiful plants, and I gave up on some before they ever germinated. Why did I give up? Because sometimes, perennials take several months to germinate and demand more patience than I am willing to give them.

Many perennial seeds require a period of cold stratification in order to sprout. Basically, in nature, these seeds have to go through winter without rotting in moist conditions or sprouting prematurely and being zapped by frost. Therefore, the seeds have been engineered to undergo a period of cold/moist conditions, before they will germinate. To simulate cold stratification, there are a few things that can be done—namely, chilling seeds in a refrigerator, direct sowing in fall, and or winter sowing. I have done the back of the refrigerator for weeks at a time thing. I have also done the freezer-to-fridge-and-back seed shuffle (or “Speed Dial” method) to try and meet the cold requirements. But mostly, when it comes to starting perennials, I have found winter-sowing to be more my speed. With winter sowing, you sow seeds in mini milk jug greenhouses in like January, and stick them outside. Make sure they don’t dry out on those unseasonably warm early spring days, and normally, after a few months of undergoing the freeze-thaw cycle, the seeds will be sufficiently cold-stratified and sprout. If my milk jugs don’t sprout by May, I usually call it a loss and determine that those seeds were not meant to be. On occasion, I have moved them into the cushy atmosphere of my grow lights and given them just a bit longer. Overall, I don’t like having to cold stratify seeds, though. Aside from choosing to grow perennials from seed that do not require cold-stratification, I have recently discovered another way to avoid the whole process of subjecting seeds to some sort of cold treatment, and I’m all about it!

Today, I am going to share with you, how you can grow awesome perennial plants from seed—no cold stratification necessary!

The answer: Jelitto’s Gold Nugget Seed®

First, a bit about Jelitto Seeds…

There are so many reputable seed companies nowadays, each carrying a unique line-up of varieties. I am sure you are familiar with Burpee and Ferry-Morse, the go-to’s found in most big box stores. If you shop for seed online, there are also many incredible vendors, such as Renee’s Garden Seeds, Botanical Interests, Johnny’s, Pinetree Seeds, and Baker Creek, just to name a few! While almost all of these vendors sell a selection of perennials, it is usually somewhat limited. Enter Jelitto Seeds.

Jelitto Seeds is a wholesale perennial seed supplier. Often times, they are who provides the perennial seeds that these online vendors we are familiar with, turn around and sell to us. Have you ever noticed images on a particular seed shop with “Jelitto” watermarks? I remember when ‘Green Twister’ coneflowers came out a couple years ago, and practically every site that was carrying them in their “NEW for this Year” section, had the same photo of them, with a “Jelitto” watermark. I have also seen those familiar watermarks on many seeds sold on Swallowtail Garden Seeds and from independent sellers on Etsy.

So it was really a no brainer when I decided to Google “Jelitto seed”. I found out from others on DavesGarden Garden Watchdog list, that people have been ordering seed directly from Jelitto for years. And when I started scanning the catalog of varieties offered from Jelitto, I realized they had thousands of things I had never even heard of!

Here’s a few more things about Jelitto Seed:

• Jelitto Seeds is headquartered in Germany, but they have an office in Kentucky.

• The seeds ship from Germany to Kentucky, going through all the correct U.S. Customs processes along the way, before being sent to you. In other words, ordering from Jelitto is completely legal.

• Jelitto is a reputable supplier, with over 60 years experience in the horticultural industry.

• Jelitto specializes in perennials, but their catalog does have a few annual and herb offerings.

• Jelitto has introduced many seed cultivars to market as a result of their breeding efforts.

  • Those ‘Green Twister’ coneflowers I mentioned earlier—a Jelitto cultivar! Others that come to mind: ‘Bleeding Hearts’ Heliopsis, ‘Tango’ Agastache, ‘Magnus’ ‘Ruby Star’ & ‘Mellow Yellow’ Echinaceas, and ‘Little Goldstar’ Rudbeckia'.

  • Click HERE to see a complete compilation of Jelitto Introductions

• Jelitto is on the cutting edge of seed technology, and offers two line-ups of seed that has been pre-treated, for ease of sowing and optimal germination:

  • JET® seed

  • Gold Nugget Seed®
    

Some of the Gold Nugget Seed® is literally painted gold.

What is Gold Nugget Seed®?

I discovered Gold Nugget pre-treated seeds from Jelitto, and I’m not looking back! Jelitto uses proprietary processes to pre-treat these seeds, that would normally need to undergo cold treatment in order to sprout. In other words:

Gold Nugget Seed® does not need to be cold-stratified, and can be sown as is.

When you get Gold Nugget Seed®, you can sow them like you would sow any regular seed that doesn’t require cold treatment—it’s like starting a tomato seed! I still recommend paying close attention to whether a particular variety needs light or dark to germinate, but basically, you sow the Gold Nugget Seeds, and they sprout within just a couple weeks.

Gold Nugget Seed is definitely what wholesale perennial growers, who grow from seed rather than tissue cultures, are utilizing. In my most recent purchase, I ordered several varieties including a few natives from the Gold Nugget lineup—Violas, Iron Weed, Joe Pye Weed, Butterfly Weed, and Scarlet Lobelia.

The one downside to Gold Nugget Seed, is that it does not store as well as untreated seed. I would recommend waiting until you are close to starting seeds before ordering, and then ordering only what you need. For a home gardener like me, this often means ordering the smallest packet as possible from Jelitto. I forgot to mention earlier—you can order anywhere from just a packet of seed to a vast quantity.

Honestly, the Gold Nugget Seed® makes starting seeds that usually require cold treatment vastly easier! However, their catalog has so much more to offer than just Gold Nugget Seed®. I have bought and successfully started countless other perennial varieties from them, that have not been pre-treated in any way.

Ordering from Jelitto

Shipping Times Require Patience

When placing an order from Jelitto, it is important to note that, because they are headquartered in Germany, your seed will be shipping from Germany. Therefore, you must be especially patient when waiting for your seed to arrive. Expect to wait at least 4 weeks to get your shipment of seeds in. During busy times, it may take even longer. I think it just varies with the season, though, because I placed an order back in June and was pleasantly surprised to receive it in about 3 weeks.

All Currency is Shown in Euros

Once again, Jelitto is based out of Germany. They gladly ship to the United States, but when you order through the website, the prices shown are all in Euros rather than U.S. Dollars. It might be helpful to open up Google in a separate tab and type in 1 Euro to US Dollars. This will bring up the current exchange rates and give you a box that you can use to convert the total euros in your Jelitto shopping cart to dollars.

A Login is Necessary

In order to add items to your shopping cart or wish list, and place an order, you will need to create an account. There is no “Continue as a Guest” option.

Shipping is Not Very Expensive

Jelitto charges you separate fees for packing, insurance, and postage, but the shipping rates are really very reasonable—especially coming all the way from Europe. To give you an idea, my last order ended up being just shy of $60 worth of seed; the shipping cost (packing + insurance + postage) was less than $8. Totally reasonable in my humble opinion, especially given what many U.S. based vendors charge for seed shipping. This same amount of seed would have cost $12.95 to ship from Burpee, and truly, it would probably all fit in a medium First Class Mail envelope and be less than $5 in postage.

Jelitto Seed Packets Do Not Have Much Information—Refer, Instead, to their Website

Jelitto seed packets are not geared towards the typical home gardener. As such, they have hardly any information. Instead, you should refer to their website for information about the variety you are planting and how to cultivate it. Their website has a “Decription” and “Cultivation” tab for each variety. The Description tab will include information about hardiness zones, sizing, and place of origin. I like referring to the place of origin, as I’m curious about which plants are native to the U.S. and sometimes, more specifically, the Midwest. The Cultivation tab will include information about seed counts (per gram) and sowing.

One last thing—I am NOT Sponsored by Jelitto

I feel it is worth mentioning that I am NOT sponsored, in any way, by Jelitto Seed. They don’t even know who I am. I am just a happy customer! I did a poll on my Instagram Story recently, and only like one person had even heard of Jelitto. That’s why I wanted to share them with you! As you can tell from what I said earlier, I am also totally sold on their lineup of Gold Nugget Seed®, and can just imagine the time I would have saved by starting some plants from it.

So, out of curiosity—until today, had you ever heard of Jelitto Seed? Have you ever purchased seed directly from them? If so, have you ever tried any of their Gold Nugget Seed®? I’d love to hear about your experience with Jelitto, in the comment section below!

2020 Garden: A Year In Review

Right about this time, last year, I was making plans for how we would tackle the garden at our new house. (You can read our Garden Goals for 2020 by clicking HERE.) For Hunter’s work, we are required to live in government housing, and from time-to-time, he is transferred. Last October, we were transferred to a new station and assigned a new house—one that clearly had never been inhabited by a gardener! In terms of landscaping, we started with bare bones—not a single flower bed was in place—we just had lawn, lawn, and more lawn. And some feral, unkempt raspberries. So when we sat down to come up with our plan, there was lots of work to be done, to get the landscape headed in the right direction. Some of our top priorities included: establishing a fenced vegetable garden in the side yard; establishing flower beds around the house; planting some trees and wind breaks; and starting a mixed hedge in the front yard. Before we could do any of the above, however, we had to seek out approval from the lawn-loving superintendent.

Permission to Proceed

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you the new superintendent loves lawn. When we moved here, before doing the walk-through, we told him we were planning on doing some gardening. As I stumbled in a hole in the uneven yard, likely from a previous tenant’s dog, he said, “Yeah, I’m okay if you are wanting to plant a few things. I just don’t want you to remove any of the lawn; I’ve worked really hard on getting this lawn nice.”

It wasn’t until Hunter came home from work and told me about the tiny area that the superintendent had recommended for planting the vegetable garden, when I really started getting worried. It was across the driveway from our house, on top of a septic tank, in a weedy, dry, unkempt corner near the tree belt—an awful location for a vegetable garden. To make matters worse, Hunter had also asked for permission to plant a pair of crabapple trees in the backyard, and while he wasn’t outright denied, the superintendent complained about how much he hates crabapple trees.

So we started strategizing. I had a few fellow gardeners tell me they would be happy to help with recommendation letters or phone calls. I decided I could always pay our last superintendent a visit (with an armful of some sort of chocolatey dessert), and see if he would be willing to place a reassuring phone call, on my behalf, to the new superintendent. And then I told Hunter to invite the new superintendent and his family over for dinner. Before the scheduled dinner, I placed a digital picture frame within a clear line of sight from the dining table, and strategically interspersed my garden photos in between our family pictures. Before dinner was even served, the superintendent started asking, “Where did you take these photos?…Wow, what kind of flowers are these?!…Did you really plant all this stuff?….Was this really your last garden?…You were able to accomplish this much in less than three years at the last place?…”

By the end of dinner, the superintendent was saying, “I can’t wait to see what you can grow here!…You’re going to make the yard here look so much better!…Make the vegetable garden wherever you want it. If you don’t have enough room over here, surely we could find you a good spot somewhere else on the grounds.”

Mission Accomplished

Creating New Garden Beds

Spring was busy, as it included vast amounts of grass removal, mostly by hand, as we established and edged flowerbeds around the house and deck. In general, I appreciate curved, flowing garden beds, hand edged to perfection, but to make maintenance easier (especially for future tenants), the beds had to be edged with physical barriers to prevent the grass from creeping in. The soil was heavy red clay, and after amending it, I planted many perennials. We also established a large vegetable garden area where there was previously a sidelawn. To do so, we had to remove the sod, till in a dump truck load of compost & manure, and build a deer fence. As the days grew longer, my hands got sore and tired, and the pile of removed sod turned into a mountain. My vision of a mature landscape is still years away, but we are off to great start.

Woa, it’s windy!

We knew one of our biggest obstacles gardening here would be the wind. In fact, in anticipation for the wind, we planted a few windbreak hedges of Elderberries and Viburnums. This was one of the first priorities, obviously, because wind breaks take years to establish. We aren’t sure how long we will get to stay here, but we selected native shrubs for the windbreaks, that will offer birds cover and food for many years to come.

The biggest garden takeaway from 2020, however, was that the wind was even worse than I could have imagined. IT BLOWS! Locals told me that the wind is better in summer, but what they really meant is—July has slightly less wind than the other 11 months of the year. June was still fairly bad. After the final frost finally passes in late May to early June, the wind blows in; so all of your newly transplanted plants have to deal with hurricane force gales. When you have an already short growing season, this can really slow production.

To immediately remedy the wind situation in the vegetable garden, we surrounded it with pallets. Admittedly, the pallets drastically cut down on the overall curb appeal of the garden, but they are necessary and practical for plant survival. Some of the neighbors have told me the pallets offer a “country charm”.

Summer is Short

Another takeaway from 2020 is that the growing season can be unpredictably short. I, of course, learned this in previous seasons, gardening in Wyoming, but this year was an all time low in terms of duration. We didn’t even get a full 3 months, which was a tad heartbreaking. Most of the garden was brought to an abrupt end on September 7th, when we got several inches of unexpected snowfall.

Garden Superstars of 2020

It is hard for me to judge plants as I normally would, given that this years garden was so new, and that our season was so brief. Many perennials don’t come into their stride until a couple years after planting, and so most of the perennial plants are still babies! Each year, however, I like to make note of things that grew particularly well or simply plants that I loved! Here is what made the cut for 2020:

‘Evening Rose’ Summerific Hibiscus

I planted a few hardy hibiscuses from bare roots to bring perennial interest and beautiful blooms to my garden. They were slow to emerge from the ground, likely do to cool, early season weather. But once they got growing, by far, the most beautiful hardy hibiscus I grew was ‘Evening Rose’ from Walter’s Gardens. Once the heat of summer settled in, it was off to the races! This plant grew very vigorously, and the foliage was dramatic dark purple, which made for a pretty plant, blooms or no blooms. The day before our super early September snowstorm, I finally got to enjoy a bright pink bloom. It was gorgeous!

‘Jalafuego’ Jalapenos

The Jalafuegos outperformed every other hot pepper variety I grew this year. These plants produced a glut of high-quality, large jalapenos for poppers—we’re talking 4-5”, glossy, gorgeous peppers! I don’t know if I will even bother with traditional Early Jalapenos anymore. This one is a repeat for next year.

Mexican Sunflowers

Flowering abundantly, these are a hummingbird and monarch butterfly favorite. I’ve grown them for a few years, and I still love them! They held up to our crazy winds like champions, while many plants struggled, and they are just so easy to grow from seed.

‘Artemis’ Silver Sage

I make a conscious effort to grow some plants with interesting foliage. Like the cliche goes—Flowers are fleeting, but foliage is FOREVER! In terms of an awesome foliage plant, that is super simple to grow from seed—look no further than Silver Sage. It offers fabulous, fuzzy foliage in a beautiful shade of silvery green. When wet, the plants dazzle like they are covered in diamonds! They are equally beautiful in their velvety, dry state.

‘Midnight Masquerade’ Penstemon

Of all the beardtongues that I have grown, ‘Midnight Masquerade’ is at the top of my list. It ticks all the boxes of a great perennial plant. It has pretty purple foliage, flowers for a long time, and the hummingbirds love it! I can’t wait to see how these grow up and fill in the area where I’ve planted them. For a first year perennial, however, I was impressed with the flower power and beauty of these!

‘Arcadia’ Broccoli

Arcadia Broccoli is one of my vegetable garden standbys, but a good one! Last year, it seemed to take longer than ever to produce, but I got amazing central heads from it. Really, the heads were impressively HUGE—as big as your head! The plants also survived, well after our crazy September snowstorm, and several hard frosts, yielding many side shoots that were of equally high quality to the central heads.

‘Golden Dreams’ Coleus

Lastly, this Proven Winners coleus—’Golden Dreams’—won me over. Talk about fabulous foliage! This plant grew into a substantial bush by the end of summer, didn’t try to bolt constantly, and was such a bright spot in the garden. It features golden-chartreuse leaves, with toothy edges, and bold red veining. It was such a stunning plant and I will be on the lookout for it again, this summer!

Oranges are for the Birds

There comes a time each year, when the bird feeding station transforms slightly, and things get just a bit brighter! In preparation for the return of my neotropical migrating birds, I put away the Zick Dough and a couple of the suet feeders, and replace them with some oranges. Yes—oranges, as in the sweet citrus fruits! Usually this happens around the end of April. My beautiful Bullock’s Orioles return sometime during the first week of May, so I like to be prepared for them!

But it is not just the Orioles who love to eat oranges. Au contraire! Many other feeder birds enjoy their delicious, sweet pulp. Yes, right here in the United States—in the mountain west of Wyoming—I have backyard birds who love eating oranges! Most likely, you do too! Today, I thought I would share with you some of the backyard birds that are attracted to oranges. After you read my list, perhaps you will decide to add some Oranges to your summer bird feeding station, as well!

Oranges for Wild Birds

Bullock's Oriole

Western Tanager

Mr. & Mrs. Bullock

Lazuli Bunting

House Finches

Another Oriole

Male Black-Headed Grosbeak

Western Tanager

Orioles

Orioles are beautiful, tropical-looking birds. They fly to south america for winter, and then return again each spring. They are renowned for loving oranges (and grape jelly)! The Bullock’s Orioles are our most frequent flyers, and they have bright orange plumage with black details, and a very distinctive cackle. They frequent the oranges from late may and to july, then less frequently once they begin tending to nestlings.

There are a few different Orioles found in the Unites States. If you are on the east coast, then you probably have Baltimore Orioles. If you are in the west, then you probably have Bullock’s Orioles. In between, you might encounter an Orchard Oriole. And if you live in California or the desert southwest, you might become acquainted with a Hooded Oriole. Regardless of what kind of oriole you have in your area, one of their favorite snacks, especially during migration time, is oranges!

As I mentioned earlier, here in Wyoming, we have mainly Bullock’s Orioles, but this year I also had an Orchard Oriole stopping by for some sweet citrus, and much to my excitement, a hybrid Bullock’s x Baltimore Oriole. I occasionally put out grape jelly and other fruits, but oranges, cut in half, are by far the favorite among my orioles. They will always choose oranges, evne when given a spread of multiple choices included other fruits, jellies & jams, and nectar.

Tanagers

Another neotropical migrant found at orange feeders are tanagers. We have only one regular variety of tanager out here in Wyoming—the Western Tanager. Western Tanagers are actually the birds that sparked my interest in offering oranges at my bird feeding station, in the first place! Here’s the story: One morning, Hunter told me we had some sort of bigger goldfinches or something at the feeder—birds with orange faces. Of course, he was who spotted the new birds, and so could only guess what they might have been. He left the house and I eventually decided that, perhaps he was referring to an orange-colored oriole? I cut an orange in half and went and stuck it on our shepherds hook. By the time I got into the house and looked out the kitchen window, a male Western Tanager had already begun eating the oranges! Of course I had to call him and inform him that goldfinches, definitely don’t have RED heads!

And so, if you live in an area with tanagers, you may be able to attract them to your feeding station with orange halves, or other fruit. Mine also enjoy eating apples, and different types of jams & jellies. P.S.—A pair of Bullock’s Orioles quickly caught on to the oranges, shortly after the western tanagers did.

Lazuli Buntings

On occasion, much to my delight and surprise, a Lazuli Bunting will come in and nibble on the oranges. When I first noticed them, I thought perhaps they were eating some sort of fruit fly or insect. But nope, these handsome blue boys are stopping by for beak fulls of delicious orange pulp, too! This is especially surprising, since their normally preferred food is white proso millet!

House Finches

House Finches also adore the oranges. In fact, I consider them the most frequent flyers at the orange feeders. They simply cannot get enough! While orioles and tanagers start stopping by for the oranges in spring, the house finches continue stopping by all throughout summer. I especially love when I start seeing little finch families stopping by the orange halves—they teach them young! (The bird in the cover photo for this post is actually a fledgling house finch, who caught on to the deliciousness of oranges right away.)

Grosbeaks

The Grosbeaks are another bird species that shows more interest in the oranges come summertime. I have heard some folks can attract Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks to their orange feeders, but I have only managed to attract the Black-Headed Grosbeaks to mine. They are beautifully colored birds with chunky beaks and while they prefer the bird seed, every once in a while, they sit and gobble up orange for a spell. Grosbeaks also like grape jelly and apples, but like Orioles, they seem to prefer oranges, above all!

Other Orange-Eaters

There are several other birds you may be able to attract to your feeding station with oranges, including: catbirds, thrashers, and various types of wood peckers. We have catbirds here, but they stay in the relatively thick cover of our tree belt or the dense thickets along the river. I have never seen one venture over to our actual yard. I have heard other folk on social media mention that they have brown thrashers or mockingbirds stopping by to eat fruit at their bird feeding stations; neither of which are very common species in my are. Red-Bellied Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers also partake in oranges, if you have them in your yard during summer; I don’t. If I’m missing any orange-eating birds, please share them with us, below, by leaving a comment! What birds do you have visiting your yard to eat oranges or other fruit offerings you provide?

How to Offer Oranges to your Backyard Birds

Now that you are convinced that you should incorporate oranges in your bird feeding station this summer, to attract new birds and increase the variety of backyard birds visiting you, let me tell you how simple it is.

Simply slice oranges in half and skewer them pretty much anywhere!

You can poke them on the hook ends of shepherds hooks holding your bird feeders. You can poke them on visible trees or shrubs or snags. You can set them on your deck railing, a platform feeder, or an old stump. You can make a DIY Orange feeder using a block of scrap wood and some nails or screws—just be sure to use a nail or screw to hold each orange, and one below as a perch. Or you can purchase any number of different orange bird feeders. No matter how you present the oranges, you just need to make sure you are placing them in a visible spot, and keeping the oranges fresh. Birds, in passing, or flying from treetop to treetop, should be able to see your oranges. During spring when the weather is a bit cooler, you can get better mileage from your oranges. For me, they will last about two days before they are dried or gobbled up. When the heat of summer sets in, they really need to be changed out daily. Once they start getting dry and dehydrated, the birds lose interest.

So, there you have it—diversify your bird feeding station by rolling out some oranges! Attract new, different, and brightly-colored birds to your yard. Have fun with it, and remember, like all things bird feeding related, be patient!