Our Process
Fleuryx is backed by over 20 years of large-scale native seed restoration, peer-reviewed published research, and thousands of acres of real field work across the Western U.S. This is the same science we use in wildland restoration to bring native ecosystems back to life.
We built Fleuryx to put it in your hands with these questions:
1. Does it have a hard shell? → Scarification
2. Does it need beneficial bacteria? → Rhizobium Inoculation
3. Does it have physiological dormancy? → GermiSync™
4. How visible is the seed? → Pelleting
Scarification
Q: Does it have a hard outer shell?
Some seed coats are so tough that water simply cannot penetrate it. If the seed does not absorb water, it will not germinate. Nothing else matters until that barrier is broken.
We use a specialized scarification machine that abrades each seed coat with a level of precision that isn't possible by hand. A few of the species that go through this step include Silvery Lupine, Arizona Lupine, Utah Sweetvetch, and Munro Globemallow.
Rhizobium Inoculation
Q: Does it need beneficial bacteria to thrive?
Legumes like Lupine form a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria called rhizobia. The bacteria colonize the plant's roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen directly into the soil, which feeds the plant and enriches the ground around it. In healthy native soil, rhizobia are naturally present. In a backyard, or any ground that's been disturbed, they're usually gone.
We inoculate seeds with the correct rhizobium strains so that relationship can form from day one, no matter what condition the soil is in.
GermiSync™
Q: Does it have dormancy?
50–90% of wildflowers in North America have some sort of dormancy. Think of it like hibernation. The seed is alive, it's viable, but it's asleep, and it won't wake until it has felt a full freeze and thaw cycle to know winter passed and it's now safe to grow.
GermiSync™, developed by Dr. Matthew Madsen at Brigham Young University after over 20 years of watching native seed restoration fail because of this exact problem. It carries gibberellic acid (GA3), a naturally occurring plant hormone that signals a dormant seed to wake up and start growing, inside a biodegradable polymer coating that releases it gradually in response to soil moisture and temperature. You won’t find this anywhere else.
What that means in practice: you plant, you water, and germination is triggered. No winter. No freeze and thaw cycle. A seed that would have slept in your soil for a year wakes up in weeks. You are literally skipping winter.
The numbers say it best:
| Species | Untreated | GermiSync™ Treated |
|---|---|---|
| Thickleaf Penstemon | 1% | 47% |
| AZ Lupine | 5% | 89% |
| UT Sweetvetch |
36% | 95% |
| Texas Bluebonnet | 38% | 84% |
| Firecracker Penstemon | 44% | 86% |
| Eastern Columbine | 28% | 69% |
Pelleting
Q: Can you actually plant this seed?
Without pelleting, here's what you're dealing with:
- Seeds so small they're nearly invisible (you have no idea where they landed and how many did)
- Wind takes half of them before they hit the ground
- Fluffy or irregularly shaped seeds that clump
- Exposed seeds sitting on the surface targets birds and rodents
- You never feel like you used enough so you overseed, which creates more competition
- Bare patches everywhere because nothing distributed evenly
- Mixing with rice or sand to try and help with distribution
Whether the seed has been treated with scarification, rhizobium inoculation, GermiSync™, all three, or none of them, pelleting is the final step for everything.
For easy annuals that don't need any pretreatment, pelleting alone makes a real difference. It makes tiny seeds visible, protects them through planting and early establishment, deters birds and rodents, improves even distribution so you aren't left with bare patches, and it locks in everything the seed has been coated with so none of it is lost before germination starts.
Pellet size is scaled precisely to the seed itself and is colored to match the flower it will become, so you always know what you planted and exactly where you planted it. Every material we use is natural and biodegradable and has a purpose. This exact step took over 2 years of perfecting and what you're seeing is the result of that.
The Shaker Tube
When we were creating Fleuryx, a paper packet was never an option.
Our seed shaker makes planting easy, controlled, and consistent. The whole point of this product was to make growing wildflowers as simple as possible, and we have done just that. This will hands down be the easiest planting experience of your life, and at the end of it you get a garden full of rare, native wildflowers unlike anything anyone else on your street has ever grown.
We did the hard part so you don't have to. Plant it, water it, and let the process do the rest!
The Science: Published, Peer Reviewed, Proven
Larson, A. J. S., et al. (2023) Slow Release of GA₃ Hormone from Polymer Coating Overcomes Seed Dormancy and Improves Germination.
Johnson, A. J., et al. (2023) Breaking Dormancy and Increasing Restoration Success of Native Penstemon Species Using Gibberellic Acid Seed Coatings and U-Shaped Furrows.