What’s not to love about the incredible Laburnum tree. Bright, cheerful cascades of yellow flowers in spring. It’s a legume so it puts nitrogen into your soil. This listing is for 20 seeds.
Although Laburnum seeds have only a very shallow dormancy they have a very hard, water-impermeable seed coat and require pretreatment for successful germination to occur. Without pretreatment it is likely that 10% or less of the seeds will germinate. It is necessary to make the seed coat permeable by physically breakthrough the seed coat by cutting the edge of the seed with a knife or using a file or rubbing them with fine sandpaper. Once you have done this soak the seeds in cold water for 12-24 hours and successfully treated seeds will have imbibed water. Any that have not could be scarified again followed by another water soak. The seeds are very long lived and can remain viable in the field for 30 years.
Sow in pots or seed trays of good quality seed raising mix at a depth of about 2cm. The seed usually germinates in under 4 weeks at 15-20°C. It is important that the seeds are not exposed to temperatures higher than this once in the seed raising mix or germination will be reduced. Growth in the first year is modest, usually between 20 and 40cm.
PLEASE READ ALL THE BELOW WARNINGS: You have the option of sending via regular air mail or expedited shipping. Please choose the expedited shipping option if you would like a tracking number even though it is more expensive, because if you opt for regular mail, I cannot provide a tracking number.
If your address is in South America, Arabian Peninsula or Africa you MUST choose expedited shipping. Normal mail often does not seem to get to these destinations from New Zealand.
Expedited shipping takes less than 1 week worldwide. Regular mail to the rest of the world (apart from the above geographical regions) often takes 4-6 weeks. Please do not complain if you haven't received your seeds after 2-4 weeks. If you live in Greece, or neighbouring countries please be aware that it is not unusual for regular mail from New Zealand to take 8 weeks to reach you.