Patty, Datura is a re-seeding annual in my zone....should work just fine...

Stick them out there...you could soak them first if you want to get a jump on them since they won't have the benefit of freeze/thaw at this point.

I covered mine with an 1/8th inch of soil.

Patty,
I've "WS" datura for the past 2 years. they can be sown anytime, just press the seeds into the soil and sprinkle some on the top. They won't germinate until the soil warms up to about 60 degrees or more. Once they start, look out. They grow by leaps and bounds and bloom much earlier than the ones you by from the nureries. I usually start mine towards the end of March when I put out my MG seeds.
Fran

They re-seed like crazy in Columbus, Ohio. I don't winter sow them anymore, they just grow themselves.

I have the lazy approach to winter sowing and covering seeds. I just throw the darn things in and slap on a piece of tape. Seems to work.

Shoot, and here I thought they were a 'tropical' that needed to be sown in 'warm' conditions. I soaked a bunch the other night, and sowed them indoors. I did save some to WS, but wish I'd done my HW first to find out they were this easy. I figured they were tropical and I was taking a 'risk' by doing them up in Z5, but shoot...

They are related to toms. Do them as you would with Romas or something like that. I WSed some golden doubles today. The whites re-seed here in Columbus.

They need really warm soil to germinate indoors. Out of 15 seeds sown, I have two plants. I've sown 4 containers outside though. No germination yet.

Shoot! I was misinformed and started mine indoors already. I just put them in a 2 liter (as if to wintersow) and threw them in my windowsill in the sunroom. At least I do have lots of sprouts.
Nik

Nikki, if they're growing indoors, just repot them if they seem leggy. Like tomatoes, they'll root along the buried stem. Mine was sown Dec 23 and germinated around New Years. It's about 10" tall now with 4 sets of leaves. Growing it in the basement where the cooler temps keep it smaller. I'll plant it out once all chance of frost has passed.

I ws the white ones last year here in Ma. Mine only grew about 18" high and unfortunately where attacked big time by bugs. The leaves had holes everywhere and it was really ugly. I'm trying black currant swirl now and will have some spray ready as some of the pics.here are gorgeous

Annette