PROPAGATION OF SEVERAL NATIVE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS

Interest in growing native plants has been increasing in recent years. In an effort to better understand some valuable native plants for use in the Northeast, the propagation and taxonomy of several plants with potential as landscape plants were explored. In an effort to make more propagation information available to nursery growers and plant propagators, commercially feasible propagation methods were researched. Asarum canadense, Canadian wild ginger, seed is typically difficult to germinate; so warm stratification and gibberellic acid were tested to determine if this process would increase germination. Warm stratification mimics conditions to which the seed would typically be exposed in nature, and gibberellic acid is a plant hormone that can substitute for cold stratification and help increase gemination of seeds. After one, two, or three months in warm stratification; seed was soaked in gibberellic acid for 24 hours and placed in petri dishes. None of the seeds germinated, this could be the result of a double dormancy in the seed. Comptonia peregrina, sweet fern, is a native shrub often used in landscapes and erosion control. Because seed is difficult to germinate and stem cuttings are no