Baptisia australis - start seeds of Blue False Indigo - Seedlings a month later

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Our native perennial, Baptisia australis is a mainstay in the perennial beds. Both of our plants are the blue variety. I've seen the white flowering one and preferred the blue. They are native to prairies and savannas from TX and OK to the east coast of the US.

 The flowers have faded and the seed pods are on! Every year I plant the seeds to no avail. This year I harvested the seeds again and will try once again.

 Ball Horticulture says, "Seed propagation is the most economical propagation method, though tissue culture and tip cuttings are possible."

 There are all kinds of tricks recommended on various garden sites: Scarification, freeze and thaw the container, soak the seeds in Clorox solution, peroxide application, and hot water soak. Then there is the sandpaper-hot water method.

 It's gratifying, I suppose that everyone else has a tough time starting these seeds, not just me. 

 Clemson says to plant fresh seeds 1/4 inch deep and expect germination in 2 weeks.

 So, this year they are planted on coarse potting soil and will be topped with stall dry which is used for planting succulents.
 

Stall dry is small and quite coarse. Maybe that will be the right combination.

Also, this time I'm going to try a bit of bean inoculum as recommended by Prairie Moon. Baptesia is a member of the bean family.

If that doesn't work, there is always next year.

Baptesia seedlings one month after planting the seeds




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