Thank you Token, this is a very important plant for us to WS.

I've done several in the past. Shrubs/Small Trees are a very nice way to improve your property as foundation plantings, hedging or habitat use. They make shelter for birds, their blooms could attract butterflies or hummers, and many make fruits/berries/nuts which are food for critters.

I've done crepe myrtles, buckeyes, butterfly bush, peaches, pines, elderberry, rose of sharon, barberry and a few others--some I can't ID, lol.

For Solstice, I did some Mexican Buckeye which are marginal in Zone 7a so I'm hoping for success--they have nice leaves, pretty flowers, can be grown as shrub or tree, and they have nuts for critters. You can't go wrong!

Thanks for posting about winter sowing shrubs and trees. I'm going to try a flowering dogwood this year too...

Just wondering if you have any recommendations about how to collect and sow dogwood seeds...did you collect the dogwood seeds yourself from an existing tree, or did you get the seeds in a swap?

I collected some dogwood berries this autumn after they fell to the ground. I read on the net you should soak the berries to remove the berry flesh, but after I did this, the seeds ended up looking a little different than the pictures I've seen of dogwood seeds on the net. The seeds I collected are smaller and more dark brown...in the pictures on the net the seeds look larger and more of a light tan color. Maybe I waited too long to collect the berries?

I guess I'll sow them anyway and see what happens...but just wondering if you have any tips.

I collected my own seeds from berries that were plump and ripe. If you wait too long, they might not be viable, but I would still sow them. They do need a warm period first, based on what I read. Last year I had seedlings but lost them to powdery mildew and fungus.

If you collected them when they fell, that was the right time according to the article linked below. They can be WS anytime now, and it suggests nicking the seed a bit before planting.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Grow Flowering Dogwood Trees from Seed

Though technically a perennial, I am wintersowing amsonia hubrichtii to plant in a bushy clump that should contrast nicely with my little barberry bush. I'm sure the wrens will have fun poking around in it! I am also wsing northern sea oats, an ornamental grass that I think will be a good bird-friendly addition. Both these plants should be a colorful interest in my garden for at least three out of four seasons.

Ellen

I already sowed 2 trees and 1 shrub - Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) and Silky dogwood (Cornus amomum). The Fringe tree requires warm then cold stratification periods and usually takes 2 years to sprout. Hoping to condense that to one year, I cleaned off the purple flesh, sowed it in a milk jug early September and have kept it in the house since then to get the warm stratification. Soon it will go outside for cold stratification and join the Dogwoods which were put out in November.

This will be the first time I've tried sowing trees and am very curious to see what happens. If lots of them sprout, I am not sure where the heck they will be planted!

I collected the seed myself from specimens in the local area, when the fruits appeared to be fully ripe. Here are pics of the "Mothers" of my future babies -

Flowering Dogwood in front of an office building -
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Fringe tree in front of a school -
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Silky Dogwood in a local wetland, berries turn a pretty blue
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The plant that lured me to the seed exchange this year was the elusive White Beautyberry. I looked everywhere and couldn't find seeds for this!

I was very lucky to get some in an exchange, and I sowed them today. If nothing else makes it, I hope they do!

My shrub this year will be the Royal Japanese Azalea. Tried getting seeds from Gardens North last year but they sold out quickly. This year I got them on time, but have also acquired some from a Second World War Veteran who now crosses Azaleas and Rhodies for fun. He gave me some RJA seeds this year and I am so excited about them!!

I've also sown more calycanthus. I didn't realize it had such amazing fall color. They were sown in the fall when the seeds were ripe. I included some in two of the swap packages.

And Cornus mas, I think. I'm still not 100% on the identification yet. There are a few here at the house planted eons ago by someone long dead. They've already germinated.

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Last year I sowed Beauty Bush, Butterfly Bush and Lilacs all with great success. Also sowed dogwood last year, second attempt. The first year I had no germination but I suspect the seeds I had received were not viable. Last year I had one sprout early and one sprout at the very end of summer so for those of you sowing dogwoods don't give up on germination if you don't have early sprouts. I'm still holding on to the rest of my dogwood containers from last year to see if going through another winter will coax them into sprouting. I'm also still holding containers of roses seeds that did not sprout because some people have reported that it sometimes takes over a year for germination.

Thanks everyone for the tips about Cornus florida...I didn't know about the "room temperature for a period of 105 days" part. Oh well...I guess I will scatter the ones I collected outside in case anything wants to eat them, and try again next year. Luckily I have plenty of other seeds to sow this year! Thanks again.

Topie,

If you read on down at the link I provided above, it says,
ThatÂs one technique. Another technique is to nick each seed in a couple of different places with a knife right after the seeds are cleaned, and plant them out immediately in the fall. Cover the seed bed with a piece of screen so the critters donÂt dig them up and eat them.

If you read the entire article, it describes 2 ways, one being the storing at room temp in moist peat for 105 days, and the other for planting immediately in the fall.

I would not be too quick to scatter those seeds for critters.

Sue

Hmmmm...I didn't nick or soak the seeds for the Dogwoods, just cleaned off the berries, and sowed them in November. I just figured that the long cold stratification period of about 5 months would loosen the seed coat, but we'll see.

In William Cullina's book on growing and propagating Native Trees, Shrubs, & Vines, he says "Sow later-maturing, red-fruited species like Cornus florida and C. nuttallii in fall; they require only a cold period. Each contains one 1/8-inch long nutlike seed best cleaned of pulp in the blender. The bigger seed means a bigger seedling come Spring."

For those WSers interested in sowing shrubs and trees, don't forget to check your state's list of invasive plants. At least one shurb mentioned on this thread, Barberry, has been found to be invasive and is prohibited in my state.

OK, thank you chemocurl/Sue and terrene! I read that part of the article about the alternate "nicking" technique too, but I figured since I didn't nick them right away and plant in the fall, that the seeds wouldn't work? I think I will just nick the seeds and give them a whirl.

We have had pretty warm-ish temperatures here in PA up until this past week (just planted an oak tree last week and the ground wasn't frozen yet) so maybe it's not too late to nick and sow.

Thanks again!

I've been successful with japanese maples and barberry, roses.