Sowing Watsonia Coccinea Seeds

Watsonia coccinea is a showy flower native to South Africa. It has sword-like leaves and bright tubular blooms arranged along 1-foot spikes. Though coccinea usually indicates a red bloom, the flowers may also be purple, pink or orange, according to the Pacific Bulb Society. In the iris family, Watsonia coccinea is hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture planting zone 9. It usually is planted as a bulb-like corm, but ambition gardeners can start Watsonia coccinea from seed.

4- to 6-inch pots
Seed-starting potting mix
Plastic dome or plastic wrap
Bone meal
Trowel

Instructions

- 1
  Fill 4- to 6-inch diameter pots with potting mix in the fall. A store-bought mix labeled for seed starting is fine, or create your own with equal parts peat moss and vermiculite. Add a pinch of bone meal to the bottom of the cup.
- 2
  Thoroughly moisten the potting mix with water. Moistening the soil first keeps the water from disturbing the seeds.
- 3
  Sow the Watsonia coccinea seeds 1 inch apart in the pots, and cover with an eighth inch of the seed-starting mix.
- 4
  Cover the pots with clear plastic wrap if no domes are provided. This will help the soil stay moist so that the seeds can germinate.
- 5
  Place the pots in a place where the temperature is 50 to 70 degrees.
- 6
  Loosen or remove the plastic and provide more water if the soil begins to dry. Watsonia seeds may take up to six weeks to germinate, through four is more usual.

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