These hearty and regionally adapted medicinal plant seeds have been lovingly gathered from the farm from established plants (that we started from seed) that are at least 6 years old. Most of these seeds are herbaceous perennials, meaning that they will die back in the winter months to return again, and again for many years to come!
Be patient and realistic with your perennial seeds growth. Often times, they can seem quite small for the first few years because much of their growth is happening within the root systems underground. This is an extremely practical allocation of resources for the plant, they are making sure that they are well rooted and established before making a big show of their recourse intensive leaves and flowers.
You will find that the seeds in your packet may still come with a bit of “chaff”. This is alright! We are a small growing operation and we do what we can. The quality and love behind growing, tending and harvesting the seed is what matters- a bit of chaff just assures that you are getting seeds from real life people.
We dare you to sow the whole packet… Most seed packets you find will be measured out in just a single gram. Most of our seed packets have been weighed out to be about 3.5 grams. Yes, this is a lot of seed for the common gardener to sow for just one season! Our hope is that the seeds or resulting plantlings are shared among your friends, family and neighbors at during this time.
Head over to the farms blog for in depth planting tips to grow your seeds!
https://www.florafarm.love/post/medicinal-seed-planting-tips
MEDICINAL PLANT SEEDS
Many medicinal plant seeds are still “wild” seed, meaning that they maintain the unaltered genetic integrity, attributes and ancestral memory of their ancient plant kin.
Many of these seeds are herbaceous perennials, which simply refers to a long lived plant that dies back to their roots each winter to come back in the spring year after year. They typically have cleverly adapted “germination inhibitors” within their makeup that assures the longevity of the plant species by discerning the right conditions for germination that has contributed to the species long standing ability to produce hearty and resistant plant bodies that withstand and adapt to changing climates and soils.
Don’t get discouraged from growing one of these plants from seed because it may need a bit more coaxing to break its seed dormancy with big fancy terms like “scarification or stratification”, you can find simple definitions and the techniques we use in our "planting tips" guide.