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Growing Shrubs from Seed: A Gardener's Guide
Q. I occasionally come across listings in seed catalogues for interesting sounding shrubs. If you have ever grown shrubs from seed, which have been the most successful?
A. I've grown numerous shrubs and small shrubby plants from seed. The latest batch was last year, when I ordered wall germander, thyme and rosemary seeds from Richters herbs in Ontario — as part of my plan to gradually replace less enduring plants with ones that, once settled in, will tolerate drought and other challenges that my forest-surrounded garden presents. All the seeds germinated brilliantly.
Top Drought-Tolerant Shrubs from Seed
Another small, superbly drought-tolerant shrub that I've grown from seed is a cistus (rock rose) called Pink Silk, from Plant World Seeds. I value the several Pink Silk cistus plants in hot, sunny parts of the garden. They are compact evergreen shrubs with soft, grey-green foliage and pale pink summer flowers.
Other successes have been daphnes, shrubby clematis and peony. The first shrubby clematis I grew was Clematis stans (Japanese clematis), a compact upright shrub with woody stems. The broad, bright green leaves are attractively segmented and toothed. C. stans is one of the hyacinth-flowered clematis varieties. My plant has proved wonderfully enduring and is well established at a corner of a small plot with dubious growing conditions. These shrubs produce scented, lavender-blue, hyacinth-like flowers in late summer.
A more recent sowing has produced another hyacinth-flowered clematis — C. heracleifolia (Chinese clematis). They are still young plants, described as growing slightly larger than C. stans.
Interesting Variations from Seed
Growing shrubs from seed sometimes produces interesting variations. A peony I grew as Paeonia veitchii var woodwardii, described as bearing cerise-pink flowers, produced gorgeous coral pink blooms. I'm glad I grew several daphnes from seed years ago. Many of them, once popular plants, now are unavailable, as plants or seeds.
Currently, Plant World Seeds is the best source I know of for tree, shrub, perennial and other seeds. Their vast selection of hardy geraniums is a wonder. This source has an especially user-friendly website.
Read More: Best way to store leftover garden seeds. Water-thrifty plants for a drought-smart garden.
