by Susan Klatz Beal

Created on: April 14, 2009

It stands to reason that if a plant produces seeds, as is the case of most, if not all, flowering plants, it should be possible to grow more plants from the seeds. Some plants can be grown very successfully from seed, however, for other plants, it may be more difficult.

In some cases, especially when it comes to a named cultivar of a flowering plant, the plant that is grown from the seed may not be true to the parent, or one cannot know whether it will be, unless they known the full parentage of the plant. Those plants cannot rightly be given the named plant's name.

One of the biggest reasons that people are unsuccessful at getting seeds to germinate is because they consistently plant the seeds too deeply. Most seeds shouldn't be planted deeper than 1/4 inch into the soil, if that.

Some houseplants that can successfully be grown from seed include:

*African Violet

*Some cacti and succulents

*Desert Rose (Adenium Obessum)

*Hibiscus, especially tropical varieties

*Brugmansia

*Jasmine, including Maid of Orleans, Sambac and Orange Jasmine

*Coleus

*Begonia

*Polka Dot

*Sensitive Plant (Mimosa)

*Asparagus Fern

*Umbrella Tree

*False Aralia

*Some types of ficus

*Pregnant onion

*Calla lilies, dwarf canna lilies, Climbing lily

*Lavender

*Most herbs

*Lettuce, Arugula and Mesclun mix.

Most plants that are grown as houseplants can be planted without the need to worry about stratification (the process of chilling seeds for a prescribed period of time before planting them.) The fresher the seeds, the higher the germination rate, and this is no different than it would be for any plant that is grown from seed.

Almost all seeds need to have warmth, moisture and light to germinate. Many people purchase seed starting mats or kits for this purpose, but they can be pretty expensive, and it isn't that difficult to rig up a system oneself. When the light is properly positioned so that it's close enough to the seeds, it can provide both the heat and light. As long as the seeds are started in a pseudo greenhouse and the moisture is contained, positioning the lights just inches above the seed starting containers will be perfectly adequate.

Some seeds have a very hard outer shell. The outer shell can make it take a lot longer for the seeds to germinate than ordinary seeds. The worst case scenario is that they don't germinate at all. The best way to deal with the hard shell is to remove a small amount of the outer shell.

This can be done in any of a number of ways: use a file and file the shell until some white appears,

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