actually, the best way to propagate is warm sowing. Fresh seeds will germinate fairly quickly but the rates vary depending on the type. I collected seed from 6 different native baptista 3 weeks ago. All have some germination.

Thanks, I'll stick some in the ground now and see what happens.

I ws white baptisia lactea on 4-20-10 and had germination this spring with five seedlings growing now.

Mnwsgal, do you mean 4-20-11 or 4-20-10??

I ws Baptisia australis and B. leucantha in 2008. Got good germination with 3 months cold strat. Don't know about fresh seeds? This year, the B. australis finally bloomed a little, it was purple but not the pretty blue-purple, and I was disappointed. Then a vole ate the roots! The B. leucantha (white) is doing okay, but hasn't bloomed yet.

4-20-10 went through '10 and germinated spring '11. They were not fresh seeds. My info says seeds need chipping which I didn't do but cold strat accomplished.

I WS baptisia australis seeds harvested from my own plants last year when I was a newb and didn't know what I was doing. Got excellent germination and this past winter I sowed more of my own seed. Got even better germination knowing what to expect from WS seeds. Potted up plants in gallon containers are currently 8-10" tall and very healthy. My mature, established plants are loaded with seedpods so I'll be harvesting those in a week or three. The pods have turned black but the seeds inside aren't ripe yet. If anyone wants seeds to experiment with, I'm going to have a boatload--maybe we can do a trade.

I'm so glad I read this post. Today I came home from the zoo with some baptisia seeds--I was going to stash them away until winter but now they are sown in one of the flower pots on the front deck.

Two containers of the seeds I 'snatched' did not germinate as of yet, so I threw them in the freezer. Everything else has germinated and now I have about 35 baby baptista!! Great plants for interspersing in your garden to add nitrogen without the constant work of fertilizing!!