Item Tag: Actaea

Red Baneberry {Actaea rubra} Heirloom | Showy Plumes | Shade Tolerant | Pre-Stratified 20 seeds Free Shipping! Red Baneberry is a favorite species for cool shade gardens and has alluring foliage that reaches an average height of 2 feet. Red Baneberry bears fluffy clusters of small white flowers in spring. After flowering, the plant continues to provide color and texture with the berries that ensue in mid to late summer. The fruits are brilliant red, though sometimes white, but with a smaller, less prominent dark spot as seen in Actaea pachypoda (Doll’s Eyes). Before the fruits mature, the two species can be distinguished by the thickness and coloring of the pedicels (the small stem connecting individual flowers to the main stem) – Red Baneberry exhibits more slender, green pedicels while Doll’s Eyes will have a thicker, red tinted pedicels. Baneberry plants are poisonous and should never be eaten. These plants prefer full shade, but will tolerate mottled, medium shade if paired with cool temperatures and higher moisture levels. Red Baneberry appreciates a thick layer of organic matter. The berries are nontoxic to birds, the primary disperser of these seeds. Some birds that are attracted to Red Baneberry are Ruffed Grouse, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, American Robin, Wood Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush, and Brown Thrasher. Red Baneberry is avoided by mammalian species because of its toxicity. *This species may be difficult and/or slow to germinate and grow to maturity. Seed of this species is kept under refrigeration (33-38 F) in our warehouse. The days in transit to you in colder or warmer conditions won’t harm the seed, but it should be put back in refrigeration until you are ready to plant or apply pre-sowing treatment. Growing your own plants from seed is the most economical way to add natives to your home. Before you get started, one of the most important things to know about the seeds of wild plants is that many have built-in dormancy mechanisms that prevent the seed from germinating. In nature, this prevents a population of plants from germinating all at once, before killing frosts, or in times of drought. To propagate native plants, a gardener must break this dormancy before seed will grow. Seed dormancy can be broken artificially by prolonged refrigeration of damp seed in the process of cold/moist STRATIFICATION. A less complicated approach is to let nature handle the stratifying through a dormant seeding, sowing seeds on the surface of a weed-free site in late fall or winter. Tucked safely beneath the snow, seeds will be conditioned by weathering to make germination possible in subsequent growing seasons.