The Sweet Shrubs are forming seed pods now. I will be picking them when they are ready and hopefully I will have some to share with anyone who wants them. This was a good year for them.

I also have 12 seedlings of two different varieties. Not sure what I am going to do with them yet. May try eBay.

If anyone is in need of a more cold hardy strain, I will have plenty of seed also. Mine, however, will be the straight species Calycanthus floridus. They won't have the cool possibility of crossing with Venus, which has Chinese and western American sweetshrub blood in it.

Treemail me if desired. I am figuring it will be close to a month yet.

@Leftwood, I would love to know more about Venus, could you send me a link? She is larger than my Michael Lindsey and smaller than my Spicebush. I am very interested in learning more about her. Thanks.

Calycanthus x raulstonii 'Venus'

http://polk.ces.ncsu.edu/venus...

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletch...

http://jcra.ncsu.edu/resources...

Now I am confused. The Venus I have does not have white flowers. I purchased it from Hirts 4 years ago. It has always had the same colors the others did. What are your thoughts on this if any?
I want to sell the seedlings and I do not want to misrepresent the plants by saying they are 'venus' if Hirt got his tags mixed....would not be the first time.

The first two links opened but the third I was unable to open with IE...I am having puter problems and had to remove firefox and chrome until I get it fixed. Thanks so much for your help. I had not had either of those two.

The third link does work, but it is only a collection of about 50 photos of Venus from the University. So it's no big deal.

Venus should always be white, or at least almost white(perhaps beige-like) in off years. It's likely that your original source either sent you the wrong plant, or they sent you a seedling of the true Venus, thinking the seedling would look like the mother, which they never would. (The seedlings would not come true.) The real Venus is only propagated through asexual means, like cuttings. Never seeds.

The most likely scenario, I think, is that you received the wrong plant.

Oh, @Leftwood, I am so grateful that you told me about the Venus. Good Heavens, I would have been selling my so called Venus to ignorant people like me and never knew I was misrepresenting myself. What a bummer that Hirt Is. I am so disgusted with them. This is the third time they sold me the wrong thing and just last week they kept sending me the wrong plant. I never sent them back but I told them they were not the correct ones and that I want my money back. I had the plants they sent me and I told them they could have them back but they will pay the shipping. He just gave me my money back and never the postage to return the wrong plants, so I kept the stupid plants I did not want. Do you believe he did that 2 times and I even spoke to him and told him if he did not have the plants he lists, he should take them down.....what a way to do business.

I should have known something was not right when I went back to eBay and looked at his listings. He actually said on there if you get the wrong plant you get your money back. He must do this frequently.

I was having computer problems for a few days and yesterday the technician fixed my PC problems and today I opened the third link with no problems. I am now so in love with the white 'Venus'...problem is, you can not be sure what you get until they bloom, then it is too late after you have it in the ground. Unless you buy them when they are in bloom....not sure how that would be. Those flowers remind me of the star magnolia but not as flimsy. They are just beautiful. Thanks again for sending the links. I am going to print those pictures out for my file. Have a great day.

Mixed reviews on Garden Watchdog for Hirt.

It's really terrible when companies seem to do this on purpose, but it often inadvertently happens on seed exchanges, just as would have been with you.
--- Glad to be of service.

Sent you a little something for your time. Hope we can talk again. Have a great day.

I sold my first little sweet shrub seedling on eBay this week. I am so excited they are healthy. It was the one that so called Venus, but I did not sell it as that since I am now positive Hirts mislabeled it when they sent it or sent me the wrong one. Who knows, but it is a sweet shrub and it had such a sweet odor when I packed it to ship. It is only about 5 inches tall but so cute. I can not believe I grew it from a seed.

I am wondering is it soon time to pick those seed pods off. They are getting brown and I guess I need to wait until they are brown on the bush before removing them. Correct?

Yes, let them ripen on the shrub.

I thought so @Greene since last year I waited too long and they got black and so hard. This year I am going to be on the ball for sure. I love this wintersowing thingy. I never did it before last year and it was so exciting. This thread will help me through another year of seeds I hope.

There are two ways to harvest the Sweet Shrub seeds.

If you want to plant the seeds immediately, like right now, wait until the seed is RIPE and plant immediately. Seeds planted like this can germinnate in 3 to 4 weeks.

Or, for winter sowing or to trade/sell the seeds, or to store seed over the winter, allow the pods to dry and ripen on the plant before harvesting the seeds. Seeds harvested at this stage will require stratification...from 3 weeks to 3 months of cold weather before sowing in the spring. Once planted, these seeds can take several months to germinate (as we all discovered from your experiment).

See JB, since you started your experiment I have been studying!

Isn't it fun we have learned something? I think I will put them in the frig. like last year.

I went and picked my most ripe pod, and one from last year.


Cut them open. Old seeds still seem good, but I wonder if the embryo is actually still there. Notice the hole in the center of the cut open seed. For some woody seeds, if the embryo shrinks down creating an air space inside the seed, it's okay. But for most, the embryo is dead.

This season's seeds are ready to plant, if you so choose. When I split the pod on one side, and carefully opened it, half the seeds were completely loose and wanted to fall out. Detachment is a definite sign of being post ripe. They are also changing color. If you want to get any sprouting this year, plant them now, before the seed coat hardens. If they sprout, I am guessing you will need to keep the seedlings actively growing inside through the winter, though. Seedlings that don't normally sprout in the fall usually don't have the built in mechanisms to survive the ensuing winter. If you plant to plant later, it would be best to keep the seeds contained in the pod, where they will dry more slowly, until they get hard on their own.

I think since I am not very good with seeds, that I will let them dry and put them in the frig. for 3 months. Plant them after the holidays in my little plastic containers and sit them outside until they sprout in the Spring...hopefully. My pods are more round than long just now. They seem to be just forming. Yet some are getting light tan on the ends. My one old shrub had almost no flowers this year and it has no seed pods forming. The weather just did it in this past winter. The bush is beautiful, no flowers or pods though.

JB said:I think since I am not very good with seeds, that I will let them dry and put them in the frig. for 3 months. Plant them after the holidays in my little plastic containers and sit them outside until they sprout in the Spring...hopefully. My pods are more round than long just now. They seem to be just forming. Yet some are getting light tan on the ends. My one old shrub had almost no flowers this year and it has no seed pods forming. The weather just did it in this past winter. The bush is beautiful, no flowers or pods though.

I don't know JB, you seem pretty good to me But the process you describe is basically wintersowing. Very easy.

Karen

very easy...that's me when it comes to seeds. If I keep them inside the GH or house I overwater them for sure. I am not one to be too patient with seeds if I can see them and watch for sprouts.

I have to clarify something with those seeds we propagated. The seeds from #1 were Michael Lindsey and the seeds from #3 were spicebush but on the invoice I have it said #2 was a Venus and I know now that is not true. Hirt must have messed up the tags again because I found out just a few weeks ago all Venus HAVE WHITE FLOWERS. I know #2 does not have white flowers. I am selling them on eBay as just Carolina allspice or sweet shrub...I sure do not want to misrepresent anything I sell. This is the second time Hirt screwed up tags on plants. Really not very funny when that happens. I should have been smart enough but when you get them and they are all green and not blooming and the tags say what you thought you bought....then I forgot about it and it bloomed and I had completely overlooked the fact the flowers were not white. When I was talking on one of the forums I was told ALL VENUS ARE WHITE....I was really taken back and wanted to be sure I passed on the information. Sorry about that ladies. You did not get a Venus...nor did I obviously. Is my face red. Thank God for people who tell you things that save you from embarrassment in the future.

Okay, no problem.
So now we know the flowers are not white and your face is red.
But what color are the flowers on this one if not white?