Wild Ginger and Bloodroot Seeds
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Diane Hance
Posted on: September 8, 1998

I recently received your catalogue and will be ordering some wild ginger seeds. I have cleared out a wooded area (of undesirable plants) behind my home which is quite large. I am planning a woodland garden and would like to use both ginger and bloodroot for ground cover. Can I scatter bloodroot this fall? And do you have any idea how many square feet a pkt of wild ginger seeds will cover? Will place an order as soon as I hear from you. Your catalogue is by far the best I have come across for this purpose. Bravo!! To you. Your website is also fantastic! Thank you so much for being out there on the web. I forgot to tell you I live in Coon Rapids Minnesota so I am zone 4 and of course contend with the cold winters as you also do and seeds will have a cold period. If you have any other suggestions for plants I would love to hear them. I have heavy shade as the woods is umbrelled by oak trees. My plan is to have all white flowers and many textures of green plants. Until I hear from you, thanks for any info you may have. (I know I will need to order ginger seeds soon----)

Both wild ginger and bloodroot seeds are rather short lived. We still have some seeds in special storage conditions, but both really are best sown immediately after the seeds ripen in summer. By fall the seeds will have lost some or even all of their viability – it is impossible to tell how much is lost. Normally, we prefer to take orders for the seeds and then ship immediately after harvest.

Both these woodland plants are rather expensive to collect and handle, so there only a few dozen seeds in each packet. Of those you can expect perhaps 5-8 seeds to germinate if conditions are favourable and you are planting seeds immediately after harvest.

Other plants to grow include the white trillium (which we do not carry), mayapple, black cohosh, and sweet woodruff.

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