Red Salvia - I touch the seeds and they never even germinate no matter what. I leave them to the wife to handle since we love them for the hummers.

Alyssum if I try to start it indoors. I can direct seed it fine but indoors it is a total loss.

Then there is my Wave Petunias. Not a total loss as some of them do germinate...eventually and do ok but nothing like the plain pets I start. But wife and DIL consistently have almost 100% success so I just steal cuttings from theirs. :)

On the Purple Prairie Clover are you scarifying the seeds? Direct seeding? Have you tried another location to see if it will over-winter better? Heavy winter mulching?

Dave

Gazania, I figured it was possibly the seed the first couple years because I got zero germination. Last year I let my two year old daughter sow some of the seeds where ever she wanted outside. She probably got 100% germination but was so excited by it that she picked them so she could show me LOL.

This year I sowed 50 cells and have had 2 germinate. I think it is time to move on.......

SCG

This year, verbena and aster have been my problem plants. For verbena, I've sowed 150+ seeds; the picture below represents the entirety of that effort. To date, I have one aster out of 50+ seeds. Said aster is currently 1/2 inch tall; I'm not ready to declare victory as yet.

Delphiniums. So lovely, so perfect for my zone 3 harsh winters. But man, hard to germinate! Trying some cold treatment this year, maybe this will be my year....

flutterbug, I have both of these growing in my garden & they self seed. The Ipomopsis rubra comes up as thick as grass around the plants, the prairie clover puts up volunteers but not quite so prolifically. So...on that note, I will tell you how they come up naturally & it may give you an idea how to sow them successfully. My soil is sandy too.

The Ipomopsis seed ripens in late summer & the seeds sprout in fall and through out winter around the plants. These winter over as small plants and are ready to take off in spring. I have to seriously thin them. I'd suggest planting them in late summer in the ground. One year I had one plant in my courtyard among prickly pear cactus. Never again, I was pulling seedlings by the handfuls around cactus. They are a biennial plant so you usually do plant those in early fall.

The purple prairie clover doesn't start coming up until later in spring. They definitely need cold stratification. I originally purchased a plant so I always get a few babies close by, you can move them if they are small enough, after that they are more difficult due to a tap root but many times the plant will die after moving. I think you need to sow them where they are to grow in the fall. Sow a bit thickly & you should get something.

Thanks for the tips!
TexasRanger, I am going to bet that you are absolutely right about them needing to be direct sown. I have a hard time keeping seeds where I sow them. I think the birds always get them. I read a good idea somewhere about putting a layer of burlap over the seeds until they germinate. This fall I will try that out.

ZQGardens, I am not sure which type of Verbena you are growing but I know Verbena bonariensis has way better germination when sown in fluctuating temperatures. I had tried them a few different ways one year and the winter sown in a milk jug did awesome. (They were actually spring sown in the Milk Jug type greenhouse. I just put some out that way this year as well. I also had success leaving them out on an unheated porch one year. I no longer have that room unheated so I lost that luxury, because that was where I'd germinate all my seeds that needed cool and/or fluctuating temps. The Verbena seemed to germinate in early to mid April here. If you are growing one of the other types. I know the V. canadensis has a low percent of germination.

Buttercrunch lettuce.
Not one germinated out of hundreds.

Other lettuce - fine.

I direct sowed some lettuce seeds before and didn't get a single one either!

Beets- I sowed a whole packet this year for the first time and got maybe 4 seedlings..... -_-
Up until now, everything of mine has grown just fine.

I have always had a hard time with asters, until last year. I tried Tower asters and they germinated really well. This year I sowed them again plus a different aster and again the towers germinated fine, the others, I think I have one that germinated.

I bought 8 different types of petunia seed this year, 5 of them I got close to 100% germination, the other three I got zilch. Which has never happened to me with petunias before. Avalanche Red, Denim Shockwave, and Baby Ducks - total loss.

It's weird how sometimes things work and others they don't! I have been using the farmer's almanac gardening by the moon this year just for fun and I haven't had any failures aside from forgetting to water something too long :( I actually have an Ipomopsis flowering now!! I also have some successful moonflower vines this year which I haven't had luck with in the past. I think if we keep trying we eventually are successful!