Exotic Seed Germination Advice

Hello,

I have the gardening bug! Last year we moved to a house with a greenhouse and south facing garden and so I've put both to use this year. I have a number of herbs and vegetables growing from seed. Both herds and vegetables are growning well, so I must be doing something right. Now I wondered about what other seeds I could germinate. So does anyone have any information on the followng

Laurus nobilis seeds, some say refridgerate for 2 weeks and some say plant straight away in compost.

Olea europaea olive (Olive Tree) seeds not googled advice on these yet

Strelitzia reginae (Bird of Paradise Flower) not googled any advice on these either yet

On the good side I have got an 8 watt heated propagator and a soil thermometer on its way. I hope that this is a good start.

Thanks in advance, Tina

Tina, I take it you have time to wait for those particular plants from seed the Laurus seed is sown in Autumn and would get a cold start.
Olive or Olea are also sown in Autumn, with both of those it is better to obtain ripe cuttings. The best bet is to buy ready grown plants in pots which will be a few years old in the case of the Olive which are frost hardy. Do not expect fruit for many years and you need two.
Strelitzia you sow the seed in spring, they need to be warm but shade in bright sunlight, they also send up suckers which can be propagated.
I am an old time gardener so no point in me starting any of those plants off they take too long to do anything and the Olea will take years, they are not showy plants and a hard enough frost can take them out, they do like deep well drained soil.
Best of luck,

Frank.