Multiplying Columbine by seeds: this is how it works

With its flowers, the Columbine reliably ensures a colorful garden. The more plants stand together, the more impressive the play of colors becomes. The cheapest way to get there: Multiply columbine yourself by seeds! Instructions with all information.

Harvest or buy seeds

The Columbine blooms in July and August. When the withered petals fall to the ground, a green fruit capsule becomes visible. This is where the seeds mature within a few weeks. When the capsule turns a light brown color and opens at the tip, the seeds are ripe and can be harvested. All you have to do is hold a small bowl underneath and bend the capsule down. The seeds trickle out by themselves. They are small, oval, smooth, almost black and extremely numerous.

If you have no way of harvesting seeds yourself, you can buy them from gardening shops, hardware stores or online.

Note: If many different columbines bloom in a garden bed, you have to expect that they will cross with each other. The collected seed material often does not germinate single-variety specimens that bloom like the mother plant.

The ideal time to sow

The ideal time depends on whether you choose direct sowing or prefer to propagate the columbine indoors.

• Direct sowing is possible from April to the end of May
• occasionally even in June, when it is not too hot
• sow indoors from the end of February
• no later than the beginning of March

Tip: The young plants of the perennial Columbine are sensitive to strong frosts. With direct sowing, you have to remain flexible in terms of time and pay attention to the weather forecast.

Instructions for sowing indoors

In order to be able to successfully propagate the columbine in the house, you need a very bright place. The windowsill is ideal, but should not get direct sun. The germination time is about 5-6 weeks. Proceed like this:

1. Fill a large pot or seed tray with potting soil. If you are sowing different varieties, it is better to use many small pots to tell the plants apart.
2. Spread or spread the seeds evenly. place two seeds in each potty in the middle of the pot.
3. The Columbine is a dark germ. Cover the seeds with soil, but with a layer only 3-5 mm thick.
4. Moisten the soil with a spray bottle.
5. Put the pot (s) in their light place. The ideal germination temperature is 17 to 20 ° C
6. Keep the soil moist throughout.
7. Plant the young plants as soon as it is no longer freezing outside. If necessary, you have to separate them in the meantime.

Tip: Clarify in good time whether the seeds of the selected variety are inhibited from sprouting and need to be stratified in the refrigerator for several weeks before sowing.

This is how direct sowing takes place

For outdoor propagation, choose a sunny or partially shaded flowerbed. At shady Locations columbines remain smaller and bloom more modestly. That would be a shame.

• Loosen the soil deeply
• Remove stones, weeds and root remains
• Enrich the soil with compost
• Loosen compacted soil with sand, if necessary create a drainage layer
• Mix the seeds with sand
• Spread the seed mixture evenly
• Rake only superficially with a rake
• Carefully moisten the soil (use the spray attachment on the garden hose)

Let the sprouted columbines continue to grow in place. Plants that are too tight should be thinned out in good time. From a height of 5 cm, you can also transplant the plants if necessary.

Self-sowing - the convenient option

You do not need any instructions for this method of propagation. The mother plant does all of the work on its own. Just leave a few dead flowers. The ripe seed pods will burst so wide that their seeds fall out when the wind blows or by themselves. In the following spring, many of them will germinate. Let the strongest plants stand or transplant them as you please.

Tip: If the columbine is not to multiply itself and you want to extend the flowering time, cut off dead flowers as soon as possible, before the seeds can ripen.

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