How to Grow Perennials From Seed

Growing perennials from seeds can be rewarding.

As perennials grown from seed can vary in their flower and foliage color--as well as size--seed is only used for growing plants where variation is not a problem. In some plants, like Alchemilla mollis, the differences will be so minute as not to matter. However, in others like delphiniums, a wide variety of colors can be produced.

Things You'll Need

• Perennial seeds
• Pots
• Potting soil

Instructions

1. Fill a pot with a compost potting soil mix of good quality. Gently press it down. Sow the seed thinly across the surface.

2. Cover the seeds with some fine gravel or grit. This will help to keep the surface moist. It will also make it easier to water the seeds evenly. It also protects the vulnerable necks of the seedlings from rotting.

3. Label and water the pot. Hardy perennials do not need heat to germinate. The pots of seeds can be placed outside in a shady place. However, if you want to speed up the process, place them in a propagator in a shaded greenhouse.

4. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, they can be pricked out into individual pots. Hold the seedling by its leaves and not by the stem or root.

5. Place in a cold frame or greenhouse until large enough to be moved outside. Acclimatize them in stages of an increasing number of hours per day, so that the plant becomes gradually hardened off to the outside conditions.