I've not had problems with WSing Columbines, Delphs or Larkspur, have not yet WSed Lady's Mantle so I can't comment on that.

I suggest you give it a try and split your seeds. Autumn sow some and WS the rest in January or February.

T

I'm summer sowing columbines after reading a thread where someone had good luck growing them without cold stratification. One jug has sprouts in it; it's too soon to expect sprouts in the other one. Ladyrose65 - if you want columbine seeds to experiment with, I harvested boatloads from my plants. They're yours for postage--just let me know.

Alchemilla mollis/lady's mantle is on my list of things that need cold strat and I've got a nice pot of sprouts from WS seeds this year. Seeds were harvested from my own plants last fall.

I autumn sowed larkspur last fall and they germinated and looked fine until we got lots of rain and snow. By spring they were drowning in their jug. I am trying again this year, but this time I will plant out before snowfall.

Try direct sowing larkspur now. Keep them moist and they'll sprout. They'll winter over as tiny seedlings and take off in spring.

larkspur in January. The green in this bed is larkspur.
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Summer
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Karen

Everyone. Thank You. I am going to utilize all the advice given. Karen the garden is beautiful. What type of Larkpurs'? Such a Striking color!

Gardenweed, I'm going to e-mail you.

ladyrose: Now is the time to direct sow the larkspur. Spray them with a hose daily if possible. (though we should soon get some fall rain, I hope). You want them to sprout now and over winter as seedlings. They might wilt a little when temps go below zero, but they won't die. In spring, at first sign of warmth, they shoot up.

I have no idea what kind of larkspur they were. Any tall larkspur should work the same.

Karen

How pretty, Karen! How do you keep a garden like that weeded without trampling on something? It looks like some winter sowers just don't have weeds.

I get lots of tree seedlings, and if I don't see them when they're really small, I can't pull them up. They just break off and put out more growth although I did get rid of a walnut seedling by diligent cutting back to the ground to the point it finally gave up. That was easy to get at in my lilies of the valley. I guess my only 2 choices are a shovel or roundup. Any other ideas?

I've got one right in the thorniest part of a large rose, and every time I prune it down it puts out more shoots. I thought the only way to get rid of it for good is to let it grow out, lay down some plastic, bend it down to the ground and weight it down with leaves exposed, then Roundup. No way can I dig all that out of there because the canes are too close together to lay out heavy enough mulch 'n stuff to smother it.

Back on topic, I was thinking of direct sowing some seeds just before frost by clearing a spot, sowing some seeds and cover with a 2 liter bottle for the winter, shouldn't matter if cap is on or off. I think I could do poppies that way, oh lupine should work and maybe a couple more I can't think of offhand.

How pretty, Karen! How do you keep a garden like that weeded without trampling on something? It looks like some winter sowers just don't have weeds.

I get lots of tree seedlings, and if I don't see them when they're really small, I can't pull them up. They just break off and put out more growth although I did get rid of a walnut seedling by diligent cutting back to the ground to the point it finally gave up. That was easy to get at in my lilies of the valley. I guess my only 2 choices are a shovel or roundup. Any other ideas?

I've got one right in the thorniest part of a large rose, and every time I prune it down it puts out more shoots. I thought the only way to get rid of it for good is to let it grow out, lay down some plastic, bend it down to the ground and weight it down with leaves exposed, then Roundup. No way can I dig all that out of there because the canes are too close together to lay out heavy enough mulch 'n stuff to smother it.

Back on topic, I was thinking of direct sowing some seeds just before frost by clearing a spot, sowing some seeds and cover with a 2 liter bottle for the winter, shouldn't matter if cap is on or off. I think I could do poppies that way, oh lupine should work and maybe a couple more I can't think of offhand.

Don't be too quick to discard your container of delphinium. Last year I kept my ws container which didn't germinate and later in the fall after a cool period they germinated.