They are easy from fresh seed for me, and kind of a pain and unpredictable from purchased or stored seed. Problem with sowing it fresh is that even here, the seedlings might need some protection or a cold frame their first winter depending on how well developed they are going into cold weather.

Tony Avent, Plant Delights "Fresh sown baptisia seed germinates quite easy and quite fast...usually in two weeks. Old stored seed, on the other hand is very difficult and slow to sprout. I recommend that all old baptisia seed be placed in a Styrofoam cup and doused in boiling water and allowed to cool prior to planting. This will begin to break down the seed coat and encourage germination."

If you have one of the hybrids, they don't come true from seed - pods on my own are more black and dry than tan or brown when ripe.

The regular false indigo, baptista australis, is super easy from seed. Plant them in the fall and after the winter, they will sprout with wild abandon. Tony Avent is wrong when he says that old seed of baptisia australis is difficult to germinate. I planted some seeds that I had for 5 years at my mother's house this past fall and this spring there are so many seedlings up that I have had to thin them out or she would have a super crowded set of seedlings.

The seed pods are very black when the seeds are ripe and the seeds often fall out of them when I cut the plants back in the late summer/early fall.

I get plenty of False Indigo volunteer seedlings in the spring. These would probably do well with winter sowing but I don't know if they need a chilling period to germinate or not. I'd wait until the pods have dried to collect the seeds. You'll hear them rattling around in the dry seed pods.

I went to Tony Avent's article on Baptisias (thanks to the mention here), and tried the boiling water method with seeds I had collected last year. They started germinating in days! Yippee! Will be transplanting them hopefully in a week or two.

Definitely wait until the seed pods have hardened and turned brown- as mentioned they will rattle around and a few will probably have started to open up. If you don't want to start them this year- next spring will be fine.

I just collected some baptisia seeds from pods that were dark brown and dry (the seeds were beginning to fall out of them). Can I plant them now or should I store them until just before the spring?