All the Dirt on Gardening

Photo: Native primrose Ken Boettger a member the listserve Trillium-L, explains why inconsistent seed germination is part of Mother Nature's Plan. (See Boettger's Alpine WildSeed of Ellensburg WA ) With Ken's permission, here are his comments - "In the native plant industry this adaptation (difficult or long term germination potential) is beneficial to 'Seed Soil Reserves'. The idea is that the seeds are predisposed to be difficult to germinate. Ecologically, you want germination variability. There are many examples, but here is one. Plants produce seed. All seeds germinate immediately. Spring turns out to be very hot and dry and all wither and die. The plants then lose their gene pool and if a wildfire happens to come through that year and kill the parents, the plants are entirely gone from the site with no progeny. Rather, the plants benefit from some seed germinating this year, some next year, some three years from now. The probability of at least one germi...