The Flower Seed You Can Start Growing In Winter To Attract Spring Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds in the wild snack on thousands of flowers every day. Hanging one or more hummingbird feeders in your yard can help you attract these tiny warm-weather visitors. But if you want to transform your space into a hummingbird haven, you should include plants the birds are naturally attracted to. Solomon's seal is one such plant. The common name Solomon's seal includes many species of Polygonatum. These plants have arching stems with multiple tiny blooms that hummingbirds and other pollinators love. They create a beautiful, low-maintenance ground cover in shady areas and readily reproduce through spreading rhizomes once they're established. Their delicate white flowers are ideal for beautifying tree roots, which often have bare spots.

Plant Solomon's seal in an area where they'll get morning sun rather than harsher afternoon rays. If you can't do that, they'll also grow well in dappled light. Just avoid areas with full sun. They need moist soil when they're first planted, but after they take root and grow, they can tolerate dry conditions. Although you can plant the rhizomes in the spring, you can also propagate Solomon's seal from seeds. You can sow the seeds directly in the soil in the fall, but if winter sneaks up on you, you can still germinate the seeds. It will just take a few extra steps. You'll need to use a process called cold moist stratification, which sounds more complicated than it is.

Many seeds will sprout shortly after you plant them in soil, but others, such as Solomon's seal, need a cold, dormant period to signal to the plant that it's time to start growing. Native plants often need this dormant period because they go to seed in the fall. This prevents the seeds from germinating too early and dying off in the cold weather. Cold seed stratification happens naturally when you plant seeds in the fall. However, you can mimic these conditions indoors if you missed the fall planting date.

To cold stratify seeds, you mix them with a moist medium such as sphagnum or peat moss and refrigerate them. Use about equal amounts of seeds and medium, and put them in a sealable plastic bag. Spritz the contents with water until the seeds are damp but not wet. Leave them in the refrigerator for three weeks, spraying with water as needed to keep them moist. If you have room, you can also plant the seeds in a flat and put the entire thing in the refrigerator. After three weeks, plant the seeds in a warm, sunny spot indoors. Solomon's seal can take up to several months to germinate, so be patient. After the seeds sprout and the weather warms up, harden off your plants by gradually increasing the amount of time they spend outdoors. In the late spring or early summer, you can move them outdoors and transplant them to their forever home.