I had enough seed of rosulate violets one year (I collected the seed) to try various things with them. Only two or three germinated when planted fresh without treatment. More germinated when treated with GA3, but as others note, they etiolated and none lived more than about a year and a half. I kept the pots that didn't germinate, and eventually tried making a compost tea and dousing them with it in the hope that natural gibberellins would stimulate germination, but it didn't
One thing I may have done wrong was planting the seeds too soon after harvesting. This goes against everything one supposes about the genus Viola, but I've noticed that some Andean seeds germinate best if kept at moderate room temperature, dry, in paper envelopes, for about 6 months, then planted. That said, I probably couldn't grow them in character here in the low-elevation Pacific Northwest anyway. In gardens that enjoy high latitude and/or high elevation, they should do better, hence Stephanie Ferguson's reported success with them in the Canadian Rockies. I also remember seeing a photo of the very choice Andean Oxalis erythrorhiza growing perfectly in character in a garden in Nova Scotia -- very near sea level, but far enough north that summer insolation (amount of sunlight received) may compensate for the low elevation. Of course, many plants most of us think of as "alpines" can be seen at sea level or at least quite low elevations in the far north. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA _______________________________________________ Alpine-l mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/alpine-l
