[carlrmj]

 Has anyone grown either Heuchera or Hosta from seed .

 My wife loves both and would like loads in the back garden,i've seen they sell seeds on ebay, but don't know how difficult they are to grow from seed .

 Thanks Carl

[mumofstig]

I've never tried either, but can tell you that Heuchera seeds are tiny - from when I tried to collect them in the garden 

[casper]

Hope you get the answer, I want more Hosta, I want them around my fish pond, they are great space filllers with lovely big leaves. It would be great to frow from seed 

[JimB]

hi!

A bit of a lost cause with me for both!

Have tried to save seed from Heucheras  without success but on a number of occasions have found seedling growing in the tubs. I pricked them out and potted them on but for some reason they always die!

Also with hostas I have saved seed on a number of occasions and sowed the seed, they do germinate ok, but they are very slow growing, the latest batch are in their third year and are only about two inches high!
They are almost always useless green varieties as all the cream leaves,light coloured and other fancy leaves never survive.
I looked on some American forums when this happen to me at first, and they also reported that they could not get fancy ones to grow on!
Some of the American amateur gardeners have photo's of thousands of seedling which they have propagated, and most are almost green leaves, no specials, but someone succeeds as there are lots of pretty ones out there!
One other thing, they say that they have to keep them about four or five years before their true foliage shows up!

Try this site Hostaseedgrowers forum, you have to registar to view the photographs!

Hope this helps!

Cheers!
 

[carlrmj]

 I'll have a look at Hostaseedgrowers forum, my wife loves both them and heuchera and asked me to try and

 grow them as they cost so much to buy as plants.

 Cheers Carl

[fatcat1955]

I bought 3 Hosta's for a pound each at a plant sale last year. I grew then on in 9in pot's and in the Autumn cut off and potted all the pup's. I now have 18 Hosta's of which 12 are in flower. They are so easy to propagate i would not bother with seed.

[JimB]

 I'll have a look at Hostaseedgrowers forum, my wife loves both them and heuchera and asked me to try and

 grow them as they cost so much to buy as plants.

 Cheers Carl

Try the pound shops, they have them, it's either two or three in a pack, good value if not the latest varieties, but only buy if they look alive!

Cheers

[Trillium]

Even growers don't bother with seed. Instead, they dig up the plant and make loads of root divisions that are potted up and grown on. Ask me how I know this 

Hostas need to be dug up every 3-5 years anyway and divided so roots aren't crowded. They can be divided a lot if you want plenty of plants. Just be sure each slice of root has a leaf or leaf bud. We used to use a large flat edge screwdriver that we shoved into the centre (of the dug up plant), and then divided the halves into further pieces. This is best done in very early spring.

Best to pot up the youngsters for the first year to keep an eye on them, and be sure to keep them in light shade (shade cloth works great) to lessen stress, and water often and well, adding some general purpose fertilizer to the water. By the 2nd year they might be ready to be potted in the garden. All depends on growing conditions and weather. Add slug pellets to pots because the beasties love hostas.

Heucheras are treated the same.

[casper]

Yes my Dad used to divide his Hosta, he was able to give loads away, maybe thats the way,