Has anyone grown fritillaria persica from seed? The bulbs are a little expensive, and my climate isn't generally the best suited for growing them. But I planted some to discourage chipmunks and groundhogs from digging around the foundation and in my raised beds. The ones on the south side of the house did extremely well, and produced quite a lot of seed. The only resource I could find was for fritillaria Japonica, and it said that seed was best sown as soon as possible, as it didn't stay viable for long. But then it went on to say that it needed cold stratification to germinate! So damp paper towel or vermiculite in the fridge???? All suggestions welcome!

Yes, you could say fritillaria seed is best sown immediately in their natural environment, but short viability is not the reason. Fritillaria seed goes through a "ripening" process before it actually germinates and grows. The seed is programmed for this to begin at the end of the summer as temps cool and rainfall returns after a very dry summer in its natural habitat. Through the fall (and winter), the seed prepares itself for germination in the spring.

Fritillaria growers usually keep seed dry until mid to late August in the northern hemisphere, and plant them then. They water, and keep moist enough to keep the seed hydrated, but not as much as in the spring when growth occurs. Changes take place within the seed, and don't require excess water. The seed will plump up, but will not physically grow. All fritillaria, with the exception of some native to western North America, will need to go through a cold treatment of some sort to finish the process. Then they are ready to sprout in the spring.

So seed planted in the spring will not emerge until it goes through the ripening and cold treatment. This means that seed planted in the spring will not emerge until the following spring.

Fritillaria growers that receive seed during the winter or early spring, save the seed until the following August to plant. Fritillaria seeds are among the relatively few that are actually stored best in the deep freeze at temps 0-15°F. But the seed must be completely dry.

I'm not sure when Fritillaria persica seed disseminates from the dry pod. If it is more than a month before you plan to plant, then I would freeze them. Less than a month, keep them in a warm dry place. It's very common for Frits to produce a lot of unviable seed. You will want to plant a lot more seed than you think you will need. Also, don't count on success planting directly outside. It's very unlikely to work since your climate is so unlike it's natural habitat. You would grow them in a pot for 2 or 3 years before planting out.

Thank you, Rick! The seed pods just started to split open, so I cut the dry stalks and put them in a brown paper bag. I'll go ahead and pop them into the freezer for now and wait until August.

Make sure everything is completely dry. Bring them inside in air conditioning, out of the sun. Sometimes you can see the embryo by candling them like Lilium seed, but sometimes you can't, so you never know which are viable for sure.

There are so many seeds that I'd be in real trouble if they all germinated, so no worries!!!! They flowered at the same time as the daffodils, and the pollinators loved them. This is what I got when I shook out the pods:


I had a little diatomaceous earth in the bag, and that's the lighter color you see on some of them. They almost look like Special K cereal all piled up like this.