Yes, Marguerite, some genera have amazing keeping powers. In Fall 2006 I planted probably 12 pots of Lilium gotten from a left over seed exchange. The oldest had been wild collected in 1981. I kept no records of number of seeds, location etc. but I was satisfied the germination far exceeded my hope. Joyce Miller, Gresham, Oregon, USA USDA 8 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marguerite English" <meenglis@meenglis.cts.com> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 12:05 PM Subject: [pbs] old seeds > I found a package of seeds, including some old BX seeds, while > cleaning this winter, and decided to try some of them before I threw > them out. Good thing! I planted 5 pkts of Romulea species and 2 of > Lachenalia from BX 5, sent in August, 2002. They all germinated and I > have full pots of small seedlings growing strongly. I was amazed at > the excellent germination rate from seeds so old. What a miracle > geophyte seeds are! Now to try the remainder. > > I have also been planting some 2-3 year old seeds for herbaceous > plant for my garden club plant sale. Only about half of those > germinated. (Don't ask; I'm too lazy to do germination tests with > paper towels and so on!) > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > __________ NOD32 2967 (20080321) Information __________ > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. > http://www.eset.com/ > >