I sow hosta seeds outside. I sow them in a tray with soilless mix - wetted peat moss and vermiculite or pearlite- tuck them in a cold frame and wait for spring. Once snow arrives, I make sure they are well covered. Germination proceeds quite nicely late in spring. Seeds could also be direct sown in the garden, which is basically what nature does. I prefer a plug tray because garden space is valuable.

don't have a cold frame..just had so many seeds..hated to ignore them..any tips on sowing outside?

see link ... bottom row.. 3rd option ... protect from vermin ... ken

http://www.hostalibrary.org/growingseed.html

Depending on if you have special seed or in general seed pods for your existing hosta. What I do is toss the pod that are ripe under or near the mother plant and surprising how many show up and grow. I do leave them until the following fall and then transplant to where I want them to be. I have pathway hostas growing where I must have raked up in the spring to discover them growing in the rocky gravel paths . They are tough and with water seem to grow without much attention. I still am convinced that if they were exotic see that I would kill them Fun to see them grow but now I am not sure to do with so many. Have fun doing it and it is great seeing tiny plant emerge

almosthooked..I've been reading old posts about hosta seeds..I saw a pic of your seedlings growing in gravel..I've had volunteers too but I was hoping to plant them where I want them..in the back by some trees like a groundcover..not special ones but better than weeds..so you "tossed the pod" and that's it?

A cold frame is nothing more than a box with a cover. Most of the time I forget the cover. So basically, just duplicate the conditions.

You want the seed flat out of direct sun and in a place you won't step on it. So, it can be laid on top of a garden bed, under a tree or shrub, or under a deck or in a garage.

A plastic lid is good so that you don't have to worry about the soil mix drying out or becoming contaminated with weed seeds.

Snow, if you get it, is your best friend and you can just pile the seed flat with it. I often pile snow on the seeds and then replace the lid and cover the lid with snow. That way, I don't have to be futzing around with watering seed flats in the spring.

You can use virtually anything for a seed plug tray. Lots of vegetables and cakes come from the grocery store in shallow plastic containers with lids which make nifty and inexpensive cold frames.

ninamarie..for now I was just hoping to intervene rather than letting mother nature "plant" them..I hope to be one of those people getting more volunteers than they want..but in my case I WANT them..

yes I basically just cut the stalks and tucked them under the mother plant so they never got raked up with the leaves but some did,, thus in the gravel paths.Best to do is try some where you want them and hope for the best, if it doesn;t work you haven't lost a thing but time. I just transplanted some in a "nursery area" to see what transpired for fun

I've got volunteers growing through the spaces between pavers in the patio.....just toss some seeds where you want them. Some will grow, some won't. No reason to add any complications.

musky..was outside all day..collected more seeds..I don't expect EVERY seed to grow..just wanted to improve my odds and wondered if there was a secret to success..saw several volunteers today that I've never noticed..

I ordered what I thought was different colored Hosta‘s and what I finally received from China of course, is 5 bags of tiny seeds. Supposedly for the different plants. There are 200 in each bag. I read this on here about pods and don’t know anything about the tiny seeds. Does anyone have any knowledge of these seeds and how I plant them?

Are they really Hosta’s?

Help

Joey..pics 1, 2 volunteers that popped up in the front path..pic 3 volunteers in back..scatter your seeds and see what happens!..