Cleome Lutea GERMINATION

This thread is for everything who is trying to germinate Cleome Lutea. Please post what you have done to try to germinate these seeds and whether you've had any success.

Photo courtesy of Ben Legler. Thank you Ben!

What a lovely cleome...I have planted other species of Cleome but never even seen a "yellow"..Do you have any seeds to spare.
Thank you
Liza

I think I read about it here originally:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/655031/

and these were offered this summer:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/862589/

Good luck and let me know if you got them to germinate.

I didn't ever get around to sewing mine so I'd be interested in any info and/or experience anyone else had so I know what to do next year.

Cleome seems to self sow here. I got a volunteer one summer (bird planted I guess) I had to look it up because I had no idea if it was weed or what) and then collected the seeds to sow in another area. Since then they are coming back each year without my help but with natures grace almost like a weed.

So what does Mother nature do? I guess plant in late summer (the seeds fall in late summer) and wait.They do best in a hot sunny area. Since they spend the winter in the ground, I guess from seed, they need a cold period to come up the following spring.

But Cleome Lutea is not the same as the other Cleome.

Oh. What is the diference besides the color?

They are native in certain region and most of us out of that region have not been able to get the seeds to germinate.

Thanks LiliMeric
Okay I get it.
I found this info on the web . Seems it is a bee pollinated flower and so your seeds might not have been pollinated especially with the disappearance of the bees lately. All the sites say it is easy to grow so I'm thinking it might be the seeds. Where did you get them? Also most of the sites said they need light and dont do well when covered too deeply.

If you want to look up more info its also called yellow bee plant. Hope this helps:-)


http://www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com/cart_print.asp?species=Cleome%20lutea&sref=400926

Cleome lutea , yellow spiderflower , ,Type= hha, , direct sow in fall, or sow @ 80ºF(day) 70ºF(night) , 10-20d , needs oscillating temps

http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?stat=BROWSE&query_src=photos_flora_sci&where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Cleome+lutea&title_tag=Cleome+lutea


http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/beeclass/Pollination.pdf

Hmmm. Well, if you get them to germinate then you can let me know how you did it. I think I've tried everything I can think of. I only have a few seeds left and I'm holding out for the spring to see... if they weren't meant to grow here, then they weren't meant to grow. I just thought it would be cool to have some. Nobody else in my neighborhood would know what they are anyway.

There were several thread about it and a few people got the seedlings to come up but they did not survive to flower.

My seeds came from the wild in Nevada, growing on the side of the open road! :)

Lili... Since you have just a few seeds left. it just might be worth it to email these folks. They got a home page around some where too and ask them the best way to go about.

http://heritage.nv.gov/wildflow.htm

OK. Thanks so much. I will try that. I'll let you know if I can get them to germinate (and grow). ^_^

Ah ha! You guys found me out. The only problem in asking someone in my office about cleome is that it's a rather common, almost weedy species and our job is to track rare and threatened plants and animals. (Though Jim does the wildflower reports as a courtesy to the native plant society.)

I think the key to germinating the cleome seeds is patience. These plants are summer annuals and should be sown outdoors in the spring. I'm not sure if they require a cold period but you probably aren't having the combination of hot days and cool nights that occur around the time we start to see this plant. They might also need a particular photoperiod for germinating, since the seeds are usually scattered on the surface of the soil.

I'm pretty sure they're pollinated by more insects than just honeybees because honeybees are pretty rare when you get away from the towns and agricultural areas. Whenever I have been collecting seeds, I have seen several types of flys, small bees, beetles, and butterflys on the plants.

The plants grow in almost any type of soil from gravel to alkaline clay. Their life span is pretty short, flowering for a few weeks before they die. The seeds are kind of a pain to collect because the seed pods shatter a soon as they are ripe, so there are only a few ripe seeds on the plants at any one time.