Native Plants
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Wednesday - March 12, 2008
From: Queen Creek, AZ
Region: Southwest
Topic: Propagation
Title: Germination period for Snow Mountain beardtongue (Penstemon purpusii)
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Why is the germination period for the Snowmountain Beardtongue so long?. I understand it to be approximately 690 days.ANSWER:
I did find a record on The Seed Site from UK that reported "679" under the column heading "Winter-Out" for Penstemon purpusii (Snow Mountain beardtongue). According to their Germination Page: "Out = seeds sown in pots of compost and kept in uncovered trays outside in the open or on a shelf unit with covered sides."
Tom Clothier's Garden Walk and Talk web page has a Penstemon Germination Database that gives the germination time for P. purpusii as 8 weeks at 40° F. Perhaps the The Seed Site number was an entry error (maybe it was meant to be 67 or 79) or perhaps the outdoor temperature in the UK was not sufficiently consistent during the winter to germinate the seeds in the same amount of time as reported in the Penstemon Germination Database.
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