Essentially, no. In principle, you can do your planting year-round, but you won’t see much initial progress during plants’ dormant phase (late autumn to winter). This mix also contains frost germinators as extras; these are activated at temperatures below freezing, and will then germinate early in the year. The other seeds in the mix really get going at stable temperatures of 15 degrees and up, and where there is plenty of light.

Sure. Or just in parts. Or in crumbs or fragments. It doesn’t matter – something will always come up.

Ok, let’s take a look: does the tower feel more damp than dry? Is it positioned more in light or in shade? In the warm or cold? More in something like soil, or rather on something like stone or asphalt?

If your answers are “damp, bright, warm, soil”, then we have no idea what’s gone wrong – so sorry – but we’ll send you a new one straight away! For all other answers: okay, so real botanists… Please first change the conditions so the first answers are as above, and have a little patience.

No – because it’s already been there. Some seeds need a period of cold before they will germinate. To enable the cold-germinating seeds in the mix to be activated, we pack them in a freezer for three weeks before we use them. These plants thrive especially well when kept below 5 degrees for another two to three weeks after germination – this happens during the cold winter period without any need for you to intervene. Any seeds that miss out on this will get to enjoy their moment after winter and frost the next year.     

The Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment and the State Commissioner for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management have written about the origins of native plants at www.agrar.hu-berlin.de: “Berlin is a green city. Its parks and gardens are home to many ornamental plants and crops which were originally imported from all over the world. In addition, around 1,400 wild plant species have also been found in the city. Over 10,000 of these are native, meaning that they mostly occurred naturally thousands of years ago, in landscapes not subject to human influence. Around 300 species originate from other parts of the world and have now become successfully established in Berlin.” (…) “Non-native”/“alien” are the terms used to describe native plants whose seeds come from more distant regions. In contrast, “native” plants come from colonies that have reproduced in a particular natural area over a very long period of time.”

All the seeds we use are classified by nature conservation and landscape management associations as wild plants native to Berlin.

This can happen – sorry about that. We have built the box specifically so that the tower has the best possible protection. When packing, we perform a visual quality check on each one – but a natural product is a natural product, and there’s no getting around that. Germination capacity is of course not affected by small or large pieces breaking off. However, if you want an undamaged one (and we can understand why you would!) just send us an email and we’ll ship a replacement immediately.

The answer to that is a great story about Berlin and about rubble plants, newcomers and marginal species – as well as tolerance, colour, love of life, and diversity. We’ve summarised much of it for you under “Story”.

Sure. Stored in a cool, dry and dark place, the seeds will last a good three years. But we all know what to expect as old age advances…