Sweet Cicely seed offer

[bunkie]

beautiful pics telsing!

i planted some seed this year, but it's not germinating. it was fresh seed too. is there something special it needs?

[ottawagardener]

Was it fall planted or spring? It needs a period of cold. I understand that if it is not really fresh that it can enter a state of deep dormancy. Did I send you the seed? I always like to know if something goes awry. Normally I have good germination on the self sown ones but then they are really, really, really fresh. Let me know if you need more.

[toad]

Sweet Cicily grows well in my high Ph clay soil. Around here it's not really invasive, has more the character of a relict plant - imported my monasteries in medieval times, surviving in patches here and there, not far from human habitat. Mine is a hairless variety, found near an old monastery. I like the taste, but also it's ability to keep ground elder (also imported by monks) at a distance.

[Hristo]

Bunkie, the seeds need at least 2 months of cold moist stratification to germinate. If you have sown them directly in the ground this spring and they did not got enough chill days they will not germinate now, but next spring.

Toad, this hairless form sounds very interesting. I have only haired plants and I do not find their leaves pleasant to eat because of them (though the unripe seeds are still great).

Telsing, your seeds are still in the fridge, so I still do not know of which form is your Sweet Cicely - the hairy or the hairless. Can you tell me in advance, because I got curious ? Thanks!

[ottawagardener]

I went and checked and the leaves are covered in a fine down so I'd say hairy. Sorry Hristo! I'm curious about this hairless variety as well!

[atash]

Mine Sweet Cicelies have hairy leaves that are unpleasant to eat. The only thing I can think to do with it is make tisane (aka tonic in some parts of the world) out of it, but that takes a long time to steep. Quite sweet though.

Mine are weedy. Spread fast by seed.

Best tisane herb I have found so far is Agastache foeniculum, which has a smell somewhere between mint and anise. Unfortunately it does NOT grow like a weed here--seems to detest the climate. Rots in the rainy winters here.

[ottawagardener]

Ours are pleasant enough to eat - not super hairy. In fact, my girls are always chewing on the m raw though this may be in the mouth of the chewer so to speak. I've nibbled on them raw several times without finding them unpleasantly hairy. The stems are hairless. I wonder if there is a sliding scale of hairness?

[bunkie]

telsing, these were seeds given to me in a trade. so far, all the seed you've sent has done really well...cept, the sperling perennial onions...tho not your fault. looks like a mole went through the patch and decimated them all...sigh...none returned this year.

i see from what Hristo said, my problem might be that they haven't experieced the 2 months of stratification.

telsing, in the fall, i'll pm you for some seed and try that, if you have some to share...thanks!

[ottawagardener]

I will happily send you some seed in the fall Bunkie! Oh and hopefully some sperling toga top onions too if the leek moth is kind.

[seedywen]

A few years back, someone gave me daffodil bulbs with plenty of sweet cicely...attached... via the soil.

I love sweet cicely as a plant...so early and vigorous...a lovely complement to the pastel columbines, coming along at this time.

However. True confession, time.

Never used it, herbally. Am thinking more it's dried properties, rather than fresh, as in, utilizing the anise flavor for winter baking. Any suggestions?

For example, if the brown, long seeds are saved, can they be ground and still retain the anise flavor?

[toad]

My Sweet Cicily is totally hairless. In other areas I've seen all grades of hair density on the species. At one point I even started to wonder, if there are more than one species?

toads.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/sweet-cicily-two-varieties-or-two-species/

I've even seen a plant with red colouring on the hairy stem in an allotment.

www.flickr.com/photos/10348212@N07/3645146840/

I find the mature brown seeds to be the only tasteless part of the plant (didn't eat the root yet). To me it's more a chewing plant, when I'm in the garden, than a plant I use in the kitchen. It has a wonderful strong licorice/anise taste, similar but distinct from fennel. I possibly could make a wonderful juice, if stem were to be squeezed.

In autumn I'll have plenty of seeds.

[Hristo]

Initially I thought that your plants could be some Osmorhiza species (like Osmorhiza longistilis www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_sheets/weed_herbarium/pages/osmlo.html ) instead of Myrrhis odorata, but the leaves of yours look just like Myrrhis odorata.

Do not forget me when you get the seeds

[stevil]

My Sweet Cicely is also hairy (like in Toad's second picture).

I only use the leaves early in the spring as they aren't that pleasant at the intermediate stage (both the hairs and they are also fibrous) but I always enjoy the flowers and young green seeds as did my kids (yes, the candy plant!). Visitors to my garden would compare the taste to an old-fashioned candy "Kongen av Danmark" (King of Denmark) - I'm sure Toad knows the "King of Denmark"!

Think you should introduce these other forms, Toad - also liked the red-stemmed one! You could market the hair-free one as Bald Cicely.... Yes, please, I would also love some seed

One thing I've noticed is that most plants I've seen outside of Norway seem to be much smaller plants. Mine currently stand at 1.3m and are at the flowering stage.

[ottawagardener]

I am very interested in hearing more (even maybe doing a little seed trade?) with these alternate types as well. The red stemmed one is particularly beautiful.

I think mine are about a meter at flowering stage or maybe slightly higher.

They are soft looking with downy stems but I don't find the hairs unpleasant to the mouth raw though this might just be me, or the variety. I should have seeds in a couple of weeks, if anyone wants to try to see if they are really a bit less hairy? Though they aren't hairless like the one pictured here.

Very interesting.

[toad]

Hristo, Stephen and Telsing, I'll have seeds for you later this summer of the Bald Cicely. They grow to a height of 110 cm.
The red-stemmed is in an allotment garden, just a single plant. I have no idea how stable the trait might be, or if is due to some environmental factor. I don't know, if I will be able to get any seeds of the red-stemmed. I know a lady having a garden nearby, I can ask her, if she could acquire some seeds for you.