No, I start inside and transplant after hardening off. My soil is poor, but I am working on it. Maybe I will direct sow in the future.

Chrysanthemum can sow directly.

If I have collected my seed (and have generous amounts ) I do sow directly. This year, I have sown martagon lilies, various campanulas, aquilegias, hesperis, meconopsis, foxgloves, valerian, bluebells, liatris and quite a few hardy annuals such as orlaya and ammi, giliia, fritillarias and legousia.

I don't broadcast seed but make small drills with my onion how, water the drill then sow. The most important thing, I think, is to ensure that the seeds make good contact with the soil, so I press them in (or tread on them) and cover with the spoil from the shallow drills, kick a bit of leafage over them and that's it - job done.

I have already seen seedlings appearing, even from the martagons, but it will be next year before I discover how successful this method has been en masse. I have an area set aside for nursery beds (where I will prick out pot-sown seedlings) and will probably sow directly in rows, moving the seedlings into their final place when they are big enough (as I get a bit fed up with tending to hundreds of pots).

If I have lots of seed I direct sow them and sometimes thin the next year and sometimes edit by moving in spring. I have well draining sandy soil with gravel on top, seeds come up easily in it -- there is no mulch, frozen ground or standing water in winter. Sometimes I toss them about and sometimes I make a hole with whatever is close by (like a small rock) or in my hand or I just use my finger and press a few in, it depends on the type of seed. Some plants will naturally self sow so they obviously would make good candidates for direct sowing.

For seeds I paid a lot for, from a special order or trade, or that have specific needs or are dust-like I will sow in pots, sometimes protected, sometimes not. Some I sow in open pots outdoors in fall, some the same way in late winter if they only need warm and some I sow indoors by a big, warm, sunny south window.

Ones that have been successful & which are easy are those which also tend to self sow a just bit (or more aggressively) so I always get volunteer plants without sowing anything.

You can find charts for seed sowing/germination requirements that will tell you what different seeds need by way of germinating and you start getting a feel for what can be direct sown. I think Prairiemoon has one but there are several I've seen.

Here are a few I can think of that have been successful
--
larger seeds of any type, usually they will do well D.S'd
penstemon (I have millions of seed so I toss them)
gallardia
echinacea
flame flowers --(Talinum)
Salvia greggii
Sphaeralcea ambigua or angustifolia
ornamental grasses, many types
Rudbeckia
Ratiba columnifera
Caesalpinia gilliesii --Yellow Bird of Paradise
Russian Sage
Missouri Primrose
Liatris
Psilostrophe cooperi (Paper Flower)
Flame Acanthus
Berlandiera lyrata (Chocolate Flower)
Agastache
Dalea purpureua
Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii (Turk's Cap)

Thats a short list, there are many more that would be good candidates.

Too many hardy annuals to list. Direct Sowing is the best way IMO. Don't mess with winter sowing jugs etc.

I just got back from visiting a native plant garden collecting seed. I only got tiny amounts so these will be sown in marked pots.

You can get a lot of plant material from rooted cuttings. I found the jugs they use for winter sowing make excellent containers for rooting cuttings which is my main reason for messing with jugs. You can check online to see what is the best method or type of cutting for just about any plant. This is a very easy and economical way to get new plants. Many shrubs can be started from hardwood cuttings in winter.

Baptisia, Amsonia, columbine, Lobelia, Agastache, Siberian Iris.

Columbine and lupine

Thanks everyone for being so very generous with your knowledge, I wish you lived closer! Tex and Camp thank you especially for going above and beyond in answering my simple question.

I don't want to mess with pots, either, it's just not my thing for the time being but that could all change someday!

I love many of the flowers mentioned and want to try some of those and also a few hardy annuals (I love snapdragons!).

Not that I need yet another addiction, but...any seed companies you would recommend? LOL!~Thanks again.

It would probably be helpful to ask which companies are best avoided. Last year, trials were done (in the UK) to test the viability of seeds from a number of leading companies.....and the results were shocking. Not, however, for those of us who had bought and sown seeds, only to have epic fails. Generally, we gardeners tend to blame ourselves for failures to germinate....I certainly did until I started using more and more self-collected seeds. Almost overnight, I was apparently a seed-sowing genius! Where I would gaze, forlornly, at rows of stubbornly empty pots, berating myself for my own uselessness, tiny plantlets appeared, willy-nilly.. Expecting failure, I had sown many more than I needed....I was banning people from leaving my house without taking bagfuls of seedlings......and so forth.
My seeds had not been sitting in a merchant's warehouse for years (in some cases) and had not had a chance to be killed slowly, so, as a first option, I would be looking about the garden, seeing if there are some fat seed pods to collect. It becomes quite addictive and enormously fascinating....and, it feels as though, quite literally, money does grow on trees.
I think GW has forums where seeds can be had for free (winter sowing, maybe?)...but swapping, if you can arrange it between fellow gardeners, is always rewarding.
I will have to let people more local to you chip in with seed companies....but, if you are feeling adventurous and wish to try things which are a bit less ordinary, I will recommend Plantworld seeds from the UK. They have taken over as my favourite company from Chiltern seeds and ship to the US..

Avoid Thompson & Morgan - rubbish and expensive too.

Thanks, Camp! I've had disappointments in the past and just figured they took more fussing than I was willing/able to give! Now, throwing seeds on the ground, I can do!

I tend to buy one plant, grow it for a while, then divide it if I am happy with it. Little seedlings tend to get trampled in my garden.