Hello Susz,
I have grown pellies from seed on several occasions. I find that in Scotland starting off seed in propagators is no problem but maintaining good light levels is. I do not have horticultural lights. I got better results sowing seed in early Spring (April) when the light levels are better. If you can keep your light levels high then there should be no problem sowing earlier in the year.
I have five nice plants grown from seed collected and sown at the end of April just after I had cut back the parent plants. I could not find Regal Pellie seeds in T&M's 2005 catalogue. Would you give me the page number please?
Cheers
Ron

Ron, I don't have a physical catalogue and so no page number is mentioned. I looked on-line in the seeds section under P for pelargoniums and there is one labeled 'Pelargonium Regalia Mixed' and sure 'nuff the picture is regal geraniums or Martha Washingtons as they are called in North America . The code is 7490. I haven't come across any other company that sell seed for regals.I have good southern exposure and I over-winter selected plants and cuttings in a room with ceiling to floor windows. I can keep the plants cool, and an over head ceiling fan circulates the air. I also have supplemental lighting if I need it. I grow zonals of various kinds, ivy and regals. I start many zonals for bedding plants every year from seed. I got carried away last year when I got pkgs of seed on sale. Our climate is colder in the long run which is why I wanted to start earlier than the January time slot I've been using. Hope this helps. Susz

Hi Susz,
Thank you for the information. There seems to be no reason why you should not start your regal pellies in December or even November, especially as you have supplementary lighting.
Happy growing, don't forget to tell us how you get on.
Ron

Hi Susz,
Received my Pelargonium 'Regalia Mixed' seeds today. The sowing time is gven as January to March so I think I will try to germinate them in early January. The reason I could not find these seeds in the hardcopy catalogue is that they are not listed, lack of space I'm told. I am very grateful to you for posting your question otherwise I would not have known about the seeds.
I shall keep you informed about my progress.
Ron
ps also bought a packet of 'Summer Showers Burgundy' seeds.

I have Burgundy Showers. I picked it up at a nursery a few years back. Mine is a really deep purple colour, with reddish highlights in the sun and a few white streaks on the petals. This is a vigorous variety in my neck of the world. This year I finally got seed pods from them. I'll see if I get anything from them. I'm sure you will enjoy. Susz

Hello Susz,
Here is an update on my attempt to grow Regal Pelargoniums from seed. I sowed two packets of Pelargonium "Regalia Mixed" seed purchased from Thompson and Morgan, on the 10th February along with a packet of Geranium "Summer Showers Burgundy" from the same source. The regal seeds germinated well with 19 plants from 22 seeds, the summer showeres germinated rather less well with three plants from 6 seeds.
Presently I have 18 very healthy regal young plants and 3 healthy summer showers plants. If all goes well I plan to plant them out at the beginning of June when hopefully all risk of frost is over. I shall try the Summer Showers in hanging basket. In the meantime I must learn how to post photographs of my plants on Gardenweb. Today we had snow, the current temperature is about 3 degrees C.
I would be pleased to hear from anyone else who is trying a similar experiment.
Best wishes
Ron

Ron it is so good to hear from you. I had wondered how you were getting on. I got one packet of seeds but in spite of wishing to start them earlier it was Christmas holidays when I got the seeds stared. I have nine nice plants. Maybe because zonals get so much bigger than regals that it seems to me that these seedlings are growing a lot slower(?)than I expected. I wouldn't hazard a guess when they will flower, I haven't seen any sign of flower heads developing. Most the anticipation for me is just what colours we will have. I figure blooms similar to the original regals introduced to Canada. Probably that funky orange blend that caught everyone's eye at first. You would love to be in the lower Great Lakes last week and the week coming up. Snow long gone since end of March and a gradual warm up to almost summer temperatures. All next week it will be over 60 F and up to 70 F is possible. All last week when I was on midnight shift I only needed a warm sweater to go to work. We got spring blooms all over my little town. Here in Ontario we have a moderate climate but we can miss spring and go straight to summer. I trimmed all the winter kill off my roses today and I will have to hurry to split some of my over grown perranials. As much as I hate to admit it I'm going to have to cut my grass this week. Let me know how your plants and rest of your garden is doing. If you can post pictures I will too. I have posted in the roses forum it isn't too difficult. Just remember to keep the quality setting down lower if you are using a digital camera. There is a byte limit. Best to You and Yours
Susan

Hi Susan,
Just to let you know that my Regal Pelargonium seedlings are starting to flower. I sowed them on 10th February so the interval from seed to flower is about five months. The first flowers look very dark red, not unlike the named variety 'Springfield Black'. I shall take photographs and try and post them. The Burgundy Summer Showers are also beginning to bud and should flower in next week or two.
I shall now go and treat the plants with bug killer to prevent them becoming infested with whitefly and aphids.
Do let me know how your plants are doing, my blue poppies were badly affected by wind and rain this year.
Best wishes
Ron