 |
Gentiana septemfida |
 |
| Common name |
crested gentian |
| Family |
gentianaceae |
| Life cycle |
perennial |
| Flowers |
blue (early summer) |
| Size |
6" |
| Light |
sun-part shade |
| Cultural notes |
ordinary garden soil |
From seed  |
germinate at room temperature
detailed seed-starting info below
|
| Seed ripens | late September |
Small, compact gentian with tidier foliage than most others we grow. Real neat-looking even before it blooms. Then the interestingly wound buds emerge, and shortly thereafter the trumpet-shaped clear blue flowers provide the real show. A charmer! Took three years to bloom from seed.
|
We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Gentiana septemfida
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Nick Drapela | Jan 07, 2006 | Nice web site. I enjoyed your pictures and info on Gentiana septemfida, which I am about to attempt to grow from seed. The one piece of information I really haven't found anywhere is how far apart to plant the seeds. Does one seed grow into one flower so they must be planted in clumps? Or does one seed create an entire plant? And if so, how big is it?
No one seems to have this info. If you included it in your seed starting details, that would be fantastic.
Best of luck. Thanks for the pictures and info.
One seed gives one plant. In the case of this gentian, one plant will give several flowers. Seeds can initially be planted fairly close together, then transplanted to pots as they start needing more room. Note that gentians are notoriously finnicky about growing on - take good care to prevent damping off. |
| Bill Youngberg | Mar 27, 2006 | Rob,
Really nice picture of this plant. I had limited success with it and it is a difficult to get to grow from seed (or at least it was for me). Thanks for the comment that it took you 3 years from seed. One that I had bloomed a few days after a close personal friend died. It was almost like she was saying "Hey, I'm OK and in a better place."
My question : I'd like to buy seed for this and other gentians. Where (here in the US of A) may the be purchased ?
I'm pretty sure I got my seed through a trade. And although I've tried twice now, I've not been able to collect viable seed from my plant (only one survived, it may not be self-fertile). Good luck finding a source. |
| Irena Montuori | Oct 11, 2009 | My swiss friend gave me couple of plants quite few years ago, but they do not spread, I try to mimic the alpine conditions, but no success. I was informed that they do not like hot afternoon sun, so they are in half shade now. Any suggestions about the soil requirements?
I would guess reasonable drainage and fairly fertile soil would be necessary for this plant to thrive. |
| Blake | Jun 24, 2012 | I tried 3 batches of these with each set of instructions I found online. 1. room temperature 3 months in dark. 2. room temperature 3 weeks, then fridge for 4-5 weeks, then out at 9'C. 3. 5-days at 10'C, 5-6 weeks in fridge, then gradual warming up.
ALL did nothing. Everywhere I read said to do them in the dark. Maybe I should have tried light, as you said. Bothersome seeds!
My most recent attempts have not included exposure to light (nor purposeful exclusion of light). I think it's more likely that your seeds were not viable – in my experience, a common issue with gentiana seeds. |
- Seed from '01 trade. Baggy 70F (55%G, 7-10d)
- Same seed as above. Baggy 70F (35%G, 10-19d)
- Seed from '04 garden. Baggy 70F (4w) - 35F (32d) - 70F (15d) - 70F with light (13d). No germination. Must not have set viable seed.
- Seed from '06/'07 HPS/MAG exchange. Baggy 70F (fairly good germination, 6-20d). Could not quantitate because it was difficult to identify seeds amid the chaff
- Seed from HPS/MAG '11/'12 exchange. Baggy 70F (22%G, 9-17d)
- Same seed as above, cold-stored through summer. Baggy 70F (8%G, 9-20d)
- Same seed as above, cold-stored. Baggy 70F (reasonably good germination, starting 11d)
The limited data above suggests that viability declines relatively quickly. Seedlings stay tiny forever; start in early winter.
I welcome comments about my web pages; feel free to use the form below to
leave feedback about this particular page. For the benefit of other visitors
to these pages, I will list any relevant comments you leave, and if
appropriate, I will update my page to correct mis-information. Faced with an
ever-increasing onslaught of spam, I'm forced to discard any comments including
html markups. Please submit your comment as plain text. If you have a
comment about the website as a whole, please leave it in my
guestbook. If you
have a question that needs a personal response, please
e-mail me.
|
