Commonly known as tweedia, Oxypetalum caeruleum is the ideal vining plant for the xeriscape garden because it requires little water in maturity. Growing to 3 feet in length, with fuzzy stems and leaves, it blooms in mid-summer to early fall with star-shaped blue flowers. O. caeruleum is considered a tender perennial, which means that gardeners in cool regions -- those below zone 10 on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone Map -- typically grow the plant as an annual. Seeds are easy to start, indoors, six weeks before the last frost date.
Instructions
1. Choose a germination container. The size to use depends on how many seeds you wish to germinate. For lots of seeds, use a nursery flat and for just a few, use nursery pots.
2. Fill the container with seed-starting mix, sometimes labeled as "germinating mix." These mixes are typically comprised of sphagnum peat, perlite and gypsum, with no soil. Water the mix while stirring to ensure that it is evenly moist.
3. Place the Oxypetalum caeruleum seeds on the surface of the soil. They require light to germinate, so either leave them exposed and plan on keeping them consistenly moist or cover with a very thin -- less than 1/8-inch -- sprinkling of sand or vermiculite. Cover the container with plastic wrap.
4. Set the heat mat's thermostat to 71 degrees Fahrenheit and place it in an area that receives bright, indirect sunlight, or 6 inches beneath grow lights, left on for 16 hours a day. Place the germination container on the mat. Oxypetalum caeruleum seeds germinate within one to two weeks.
5. Remove the plastic wrap from the container when the seeds sprout, reduce the heat mat's temperature gradually over the course of three days until it's turned off and allow the container to remain in the same location.
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