HOW TO GROW COLUMBINE SEEDS How to Plant Crystal Star Columbine Seeds (need cold stratifying) WHEN TO PLANT COLUMBINE SEEDS: Plant in the Spring after the threat of frost has passed. WHERE TO PLANT COLUMBINE SEEDS: Columbines are a highly adaptable flower. They do well in many climates and sun conditions, but they will bloom best in full sun to light shade. Plus, columbines are deer resistant, and birds and butterflies love the nectar found in tip of the petal’s thin spur! HOW TO PLANT COLUMBINE SEEDS: For best results, put columbine seeds in the refrigerator for 24 hours prior to planting. Another, slightly more intensive way to stratify (a process of breaking seeds’ dormancy by subjecting them to moist/cold treatments) your seeds is to first, sow them into a container filled with moist soil. Next, place the container in a plastic bag and refrigerate or freeze it for 3 weeks. Finally, remove the seeds, and place them outdoors in a sunny location or under grow lights and allow them to germinate (21 to 28 days). If sowing outdoors: In the early spring (3 to 4 weeks before the last frost), sow your columbine seeds on top of lightly raked soil. They do not need to be covered. Your columbine seeds will germinate in around 21 days. If starting indoors, plant columbine seeds 6 weeks before the average last spring frost. Columbines are perennials that are hardy to zones 3 to 8 or 9, depending on variety. HOW TO CARE FOR COLUMBINE: When flowers begin to fade, dead head to allow for fresh blooms. When the season is over, cut down to the ground. HOW TO COLD STRATIFY SEEDS Everyone wants plants. Now. But there are a small group of seeds that require a special treatment before they will even germinate in a climate that has temperatures below freezing. This process is called “Cold Stratification.” There are two ways to accomplish this. Fall Planting If time is not a problem, you can put them in the ground in fall and let them go through a winter. They will sprout next year, but not flower. The following year, having gone through two winters, they will return and bloom as expected. If you are planting poppies direct sowing is recommended in late fall or early spring for zones 2-8 Create a "False Winter" The second way to do this, if you want to save time, is to create a “false winter.” What this does is trick the seeds into thinking they have been in the ground for an entire year. All they need is to be in your refrigerator for at least 2 months. About 3 months before spring, place seeds in a plastic bag with a handful of slightly dampened, clean peat, paper towel, or a mix of clean peat and sand. Seal and label the bag with seed name and date, then store in the refrigerator (not freezer) for at least 2 mos. before planting in spring. (The cold period mimics a full winter’s cold.) Once your seed has been treated, it’s ready to plant when spring arrives.