Bottle Gentian

I took a ride to the woods last weekend with the garden tractor, (all by myself, and had time to gop around), and found lots of bottle gentian! I especially remember these fondly from my childhood, having my grandma and dad point these out to me. I would love to have some in my garden. Would it be wrong to move a few, and how well do they move?? Or they seem to be forming rather large seed pods, has anyone ever grown them from seed with success?? Legit

You need to check and see what the state guidelines about moving wildflowers are - each state varies. I have a clump that was rescued from a logging road and they do move pretty well, but once moved they want to stay where they are. These have been shifted twice and this year was not a great year for them. I've never seriuosly tried them from seed. If you go that route, my advice would be to gather the seed after the first frost and plant them out where you want them to be. Be sure to mark the spot. I'll see if I can find out anything about how they want to be treated.

In From Seed To Bloom, Eileen Powell says that gentiana are difficult. Probably it would be best if you plant them outdoors in a protected spot, just barely covering the seed. Maybe I'll try some, too, and we can compare notes in the spring.

Hi, sort of hard to germinate but not too bad. I've germinated this seed two ways. The first way was the classic winter sowing which is usually no fail for native plants and my germination rate was only 10%. I had the best success by starting with cold stratification in my refrigerator. My neighbor gave me seeds he had just collected. This is sort of important as gentian loses its viability real fast. I think a lot of people don't have success with this plant because they receive old seed or seed that wasn't properly stored. I took his seeds and soaked them in room temperature water over night. I added a little bit of water to some vermiculite and made sure it was damp not moist. This is sort of important too as if the vermiculite has too much moisture, you are more likely to end up with a fungus issue while cold stratifying your seed. I have a girlfriend who uses damp peat moss instead of vermiculite and this is only personal preference. Anyway, The next day I drain the seed and dry it off with a paper towel and mix it in with the vermiculite and toss it in a tiny plastic glad food storage container. My friend uses ziplocks and they work just as well. We write the name of the seed on the bag/container and the date and then place it on a lower shelf in the refrigerator. Every few weeks throughout the fall, winter, and first few weeks of spring we check our containers to make sure they haven't dried out. Bottle gentian needs to be in darkness to germinate so when we winter sowed, we covered the seed ever so lightly with the planting medium and then placed tree leaves over the top. You don't need to worry about this if you cold stratify in a refrigerator. That's about it until the following spring. Sometime after the temps start warming up, you may notice a few of your seeds have begun to sprout in the ziplock/storage containers. Go ahead and direct sow them or plant them in individual containers as long as the threat of frost if past. I'd toss a few leaves over the area if direct sowing to keep it dark until all seeds germinate. It will take a few years before they bloom so don't think you did anything wrong if for the first 3-4 years or possibly longer if your plants don't bloom. These plants remain quite small the first year as they are putting down roots. The second year they take off if planted in an ideal location. My germination rate going this route was about 30-40%. My girlfriend hit about 50%. Rats, lucky her!

Thanks a bunch for all of the suggestions, I think I will experiment and try several ways to go. Now to catch the seed at the right time. Does the seed pod turn completely brown when the seeds are ripe? They still are quite green. Legit

I was told to hold off gathering a few "greenies" just yet as I was a tad premature and jumping the gun. Patience isn't the greatest virtue when waiting for seed but I suppose we have to! Wouldn't you just love to grab your Bottle Gentian! Trust me, I'd love to grab your bottle gentian! Best wishes to you with your seed germination project!

They do turn brown and open slightly when they're ripe. It will be interesting to see what we get next spring.