Romneya coulteri seeds – (Californian Tree Poppy, Matilija Poppy)

Description

Romneya coulteri  picture thanks to Jelitto Seeds https://www.jelitto.com

Romneya coulteri is a  beautiful plant which has slightly leathery grey leaves. The leaves which rise from the woody base in the spring and die down again in the winter. The plant  forms a shrub-like structure and from this emerge many fat buds. They  open out to amazing white crinkle pleated  papery petals, to form stunning  white poppy  flowers about 15cm wide.  The flowers  have deep egg yolk yellow centres.  This  beauty  has won the Royal Horticultural Society award of Merit.

It is an extremely beautiful flower which attracts attention whenever it is seen.

Romneya plants  like  very well drained soil, a little on the dry side, but it  is not a plant for small gardens reaching about 2 m tall eventually and about 1.5m wide .

Sometimes we have plants of these seeds . See https://www.owairakaseeds.co.nz/product-category/p-plants-p/

Sowing advice

There is varying advice for the seed propagation of this plant.:

The seeds germinate well with the application of GA3 ( Gibberlic acid-3). This can be bought from agricultural suppliers.  We used  the brandname Gibber90.  You only need an extremely small amount of GA3  ( the amount which will fit on the end of a pointed toothpick )sprinkled over the seeds . Place them  on a moist paper towel and then enclosed in a plastic bag, and kept them at about 20 deg C for approx 4 weeks, following the advice of Dr Deno in his books : Seed Germination theory and Practise 2nd Edition – Introduction June 1 1993. Check them  frequently for germination and pot them  up immediately that they germinate. We have tried this method and it works well. Be careful not to overdo the Gibberelin as the seeds may etiolate and not prosper.

Other advice, which we have not tried, suggests the use of smoke treatment as used  in many Australian seeds, see  https://www.owairakaseeds.co.nz/product/billardiera-fusiformis-australian-climbing-bluebell-sollya-heterophylla/ for this method.

Other  advice is to give the seeds a period of moist warmth  -20 deg C  for 4 weeks  ( pot up with a good seed raising mix, moisten ,  and enclose pot in a plastic bag to conserve moisture) followed by a period of cold  4 deg C (ie fridge in warmer areas for 6 weeks). After this take off plastic bag , bring out to about 12- 18 deg C and wait .  They reportedly germinate in about 2 months .