Viburnum opulus 'Guelder Rose'

[Ex. Co. Durham, England]

Caprifoliaceae: branched, deciduous shrub to 4m, hairless, angled twigs and scaly buds. Often found growing in hedgerows and scrub, mainly on heavy soils. White flower, in flat-topped clusters, from June-July, these are followed by clusters of red berries. Widespread and common, except in the north of the country.

USES:

The fruit can be used raw or cooked, the fruit has a sour taste, and it is best cooked, used as a cranberry substitute in making, jellies, and preserves. Causes mild upsets when eaten unripe or in large quantities.

Guelder rose is a powerful antispasmodic and is much used in the treatment of asthma, cramps and other conditions such as colic or painful menstruation. It is also used as a sedative remedy for nervous conditions. The bark has antispasmodic, astringent and sedative properties. And contains 'scopoletin', a coumarin that has a sedative effect on the uterus. A tea is used internally to relieve all types of spasms, including menstrual cramps, spasms after childbirth and threatened miscarriage.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Guelder rose seeds have a deep dormancy within them, this requires a degree of patience to overcome and it is usually quite easy to get high levels of germination if the correct procedures are followed. The germination period is also lengthy and highly unusual.

First prepare a free draining substrate into which the seeds are to be mixed, this can be a 50/50 mixture of compost and sharp sand, or perlite, vermiculite or even just pure sharp sand has worked well for me. The chosen substrate needs to be moist (but not wet), if you can squeeze water out of it with your hand it is too wet and your seeds may drown and die. Mix the seeds into the substrate, making sure that there is enough volume of material to keep the seeds separated. Place the seed mixture into a clear plastic bag (freezer bags, especially ziplock bags are very useful for this) If it is not a ziplock type bag it needs to be tied. Then write the date on the bag so that you know when the pre-treatment was started.

The seeds first require a period of warm pre-treatment and need to be kept in temperatures of at least 15°C for a period of at least 4 weeks - it is not critical if it lasts a week or two longer than this. During this time make sure that the pre-treatment medium does not dry out at any stage or it will be ineffective!

Next the seeds require a cold period to break the final part of the dormancy, this is easily achieved by placing the bag in the fridge 4°C for at least 8 weeks, again if it is for a little longer it does not matter. It is quite possible for the seeds to germinate in the bag at these temperatures, if they do just remove them from the bag and plant them up - they are strong and will easily tolerate the disturbance. For small quantities I tend to just leave the seeds in the fridge and remove the germinated ones every few weeks and plant them up. I find that this way you can get the maximum number to germinate. Any remaining ungerminated seeds can have the whole warm and cold process repeated again -several times if necessary.

It has also been found that fluctuating pre-treatment temperatures can give the best germination results and I have myself had excellent results by keeping the mixed seeds in a cold shed through the winter for the cold stage of their pre-treatment and allowing the temperature to fluctuate naturally.

Germinated seeds can be planted in small pots, seed trays or plug trays in a good quality compost. Guelder rose has a mainly fibrous root system and is well suited to container growing.

Guelder rose has a 2 stage germination process. The germinating seed will grow a root approx. 4 cm long in stage 1 then it needs to experience a long period of cold (such as the following winter for the second stage of germination to occur and for a shoot with leaves to appear above ground. Keep the partially emerged seedlings out of strong sunshine, well-watered and weed free. Growth in the first year above ground is usually between 10 - 30 cm but will accelerate in the following year. Allow them to grow for 2 - 3 years before planting them in a permanent position.

HARVESTED: 2019

APPROX. 45+ SEEDS