Dear Etsy Fans, Please find for sale 35 (sustainably harvested & prepared) Common Holly seeds (Ilex Aquifolium). This native evergreen can be grown as a tree/bush or clipped to form hedging or topiary. As a hedge, large or small, it can provide a dark green backdrop to borders or form a sturdy sheltering screen along boundaries. Its dense growth & masses of red berry-like fruits provide valuable shelter & food for wildlife. ALL ORDERS RECEIVED BEFORE 8PM WILL BR DISPATCHED SAME DAY SAVE PACKAGING MATERIALS - HAVE A LOOK AT MY SHOP FOR OTHER INTERESTING SEEDS & PLANTS Seed Germination Guide I have done the hard work! I have removed the flesh & prepared the seeds! The seeds require a cold period to break their natural dormancy Mix the seeds with a free draining mix of moist compost in plastic bag or small tupperware container place the bag in the fridge for 10-12 weeks After cold stratification or in early spring sow individually spaced in pots/trays of good quality compost (ideally 50% compost & vermiculite or horticultural sand. Cover them with a thin layer of compost about 1cm deep Germination can take 6-8 weeks at 15-20oc. Olly’s General Guide to Seed Sowing! I love sowing seeds & it runs in the family - dad, grandad & finally my great-grandad for whom the hobby helped him get over his experiences in the Great War. I still get a big kick when I see the first seedliing poking through from a new plant that I have never sown before or been successful at. However, even the most experienced gardeners draw blanks from time to time. Whilst I sow all the seeds that I sell so I know that they are viable, some are trickier than others & problems can arise so here are some tips to make blanks few & far between: 1) Dont Rush! Tempting though it is when that packet arrives in the post to simply bung the seeds in some compost! 2) Google & Youtube are your friends! Take some time so see the methods other people use to germinate the seed. 3) Think Nature! What conditions do seeds face? For example a seed from a tropical plant will fall to the warm, wet & dark jungle floor. A seed from the mountains of Europe will fall to the floor in Autumn, then have to endure months of freezing temperatures before germinating in the spring. So as growers, what we are trying to do is to simulate the conditions that the seeds will naturally experience & there are plenty of tricks that can be done to short cut the processes somewhat. 4) Good compost pays dividends . The best investment you can make is to purchase three bags - one of potting compost, one of vermiculite & one of horticultural sand. With these three bags I can make up whatever soil type a particular seed likes (although for most seeds I find a 50/50 mix of compost & vermiculite works just fine) 5) Rot is your enemy. The single biggest danger to seed germination is rot - either before or after damping off the seeds germinate. To reduce the risk, ensure you have good free draing soil mix & that it is moist
