I haven't ordered many tropical seeds but I've gotten plants from a number of places. Zone 9 Tropicals, Gardino Nursery and Caldwell Nursery have always delivered beautiful plants. I don't know if they sell tropical seeds but if they do I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them. I've always had great results with seed from JL Hudson but I don't know if they carry tropicals.
Karyn

I order seeds from Trade Winds Fruit (love them- pretty high percentage of germination, good selection, great prices) and Banana Tree (there stuff is good, not as high germination, but great selection- worth the shot). For heliconia or ginger seeds- Viveronenes- she has the freshest seeds- always get quick germination.
-Gwenn

I've bought multiple times from both trade winds and banana tree. Germination has been good (more than 50%) except for heliconia & banana's...no matter how many times I tried with seeds from these 2 places, I have never been successful. Trade winds is very reasonable, only charges 25 cents postage per seed pack but you get limited #'s(usually less than 5 or 10 seeds)and sometimes you have to wait while they gather the seeds (ok with me) but it might take 2 or 3 weeks to get your seeds.

MsBatt, can you provide a website for barbadine?

Same thing, Gwenn, do you have a way to contact Viverones?

I can't help myself there is something just so special about looking at a plant that you grew from seed!

Thanks,
WRF

I found Barbadine at www.barbadine.com ---they have some things I've not found elsewhere, most especially Stictocardia beraveinsis, Ipomoea ochracea, and the Ipomoea coccinea var. aurantia. I'm also intriqued by the ipomoea tricolor 'Shibori', which he says is elsewhere called 'Flying Saucers'---but his pics are nothing like the 'Flying Saucers' I've grown before.

Has ANYONE out there ordered from this guy??? Or odered these particulkar seeds from another source, with good results???

The website for Viveronenes is http://www.viveroanones.com.
You can write her an email for the heliconia and ginger seeds she has available. I know she also sells her seeds on EBay (cheaper than on her website)- I think her name is heliconialady (But I could be wrong on that name).
-gwenn

Thanks msbatt and gwenn! I actually just ordered from heliconialady so I'm happy that her seeds are good!

I ordered heliconia seeds from heliconia lady once before after Gwenns recommendation. Was very pleased. Within four months had germination of 9 different heliconias, the only one I am still waiting on is Sexy Pink, and that is supposed to take a year anyway.

Bill

Tradewinds fruit has great prices and 75% germination for me. Banana-tree is good to. But!!! heliconia lady on ebay By far the best seeds. Most important thing in tropical seeds is freshness.Her seeds are fresh. I have had seeds from her germintaing in the envelope she sent me Great seletion to.

Most all of Barbadine seeds are listed on Ebay..do a search

Well, Barbadine is the only place I found with the Stictocardia seeds, so I'm gonna order from them. Thanks for the feedback, guys!

The problem with nearly all tropical seeds is that they have a short lifespan so buying them commercially is always going to be a bit of a lottery. Because they live life in the fast lane, there is rarely any dormancy naturally and fertility often plummets after a few months even when well stored. One thing I have found that helps is to germinate the seeds on blotting paper. Apart from high temps many seeds need very bright light to germinate and one of the few things that can induce dormancy is if they have been stored in a dark place - in a seed packet for example.

I got my Stictocardia from a man in Florida

Care to share his name with me, Hotdiggetydam?

msbatt I have emailed him to see whats available...i will get back to you when I hear from him :)

Thansk!---I really appreciate this!

Hello
Only place I've bought seeds was banana-tree. Had fairly good germination but lost a bunch to the huriicanes.
Only one that totally failed was Trevesia palmata. got zip out of it.Naturally the one I most wanted lol. The Schizolobium amazonicum is now pushing 20 feet and the Cassia roxburghii is four . Just maybe , I'll get some flowers this spring?? I really don't have the patience to work with seeds lol Seems to take forever!! i only tried these because I was unable to locate the plants.
Still looking for the Trevesia. gary