Rhodiola rosea - seeds (roseroot)

A packet of 100 seeds. They are tiny, elongated and brownish.

The epithet rosea does not come from the colour of the flowers, which are yellow. It comes from the rhizome: when cut or scraped, it gives off a distinct scent of rose. This is the plant's most surprising feature and the best way to identify it with certainty. Its other common name, golden root, refers to the colour of the rhizome beneath the bark.

Two conditions, and both must be met.

Cold first. Stratify for four to six weeks in the refrigerator at 2 to 5 °C, with the seeds mixed into damp sand, or sow in autumn in a seed pan left outdoors all winter.

Then light. Sow on the surface, without covering, on a light, sandy, free-draining substrate, keeping it moist with a fine spray. Allow 15 to 18 °C and two to four weeks. These seeds are so fine that a single millimetre of compost is enough to stop them from coming up.

Prick out carefully, as the seedlings are small at first. Then plant out in poor, stony or even sandy soil, in sun or partial shade.

A low clump 15 to 35 cm tall, with upright fleshy stems bearing thick, grey-green, glaucous leaves, toothed towards the tip. Flowering, in April-May, forms dense corymbs of small greenish-yellow flowers.

The species is dioecious: plants are either male or female, and the females produce reddish fruits that extend the plant's interest after flowering. So sow several seeds if you want both.

It is extremely hardy, well below -30 °C. Its weakness lies elsewhere: it copes poorly with the humid heat of lowland summers. Free-draining soil, an airy position and no generous summer watering are the conditions for its survival away from the mountains. In a rock garden or a sandy pot, it does well.

These seeds are sold as ornamental and botanical collector's seeds. They are neither a food product nor a health product. We provide no dosage, no preparation method and no expected effect.

Why did none of my seeds come up?
Three causes, in this order: seeds covered with compost, no cold period, temperature too high. All three can be corrected.

How long before it flowers?
Two to three years from sowing. The first years only produce a clump of leaves.

Does it survive winter in the lowlands?
The cold does not bother it at all. What kills it is stagnant moisture and hot, muggy summers. Drainage and an airy position above all.

Is it available as a plant?
Yes, if you do not want to wait: see roseroot as a live plant.

Also worth exploring: roseroot as a young plant and our full range of seeds from around the world.