It's easy to choose plant varieties to Winter Sow....you don't even need to know the botanical names of any of the plants you choose. All plants have common everyday names or descriptions that can bring to mind a natural environment, a regional location, or a description of reproductive habit. These names and clue-in phrases will help make it easy to choose which plants you can Winter Sow.

Natural Environment Common Plant Names

Look for names showing natural environments and outdoor locations.

Arroyo
Brook
Canyon
Creek
Desert
Dune
Field
Meadow
Mountain
Plain
Prairie
River
Sea
Swamp
Valley
Veld
Etc.

Some examples are:

Alpine Aster ~ Aster alpinus
Beach Plum ~ Prunus maritima var. maritima
Chaparral Brodiaea ~ Brodiaea jolonensis
Desert Willow ~ Chilopsis linearis
Dune Grass ~ Leymus arenarius
Eastern Bluestar ~ Amsonia tabernaemontana
Gorge Fleabane ~ Erigeron oreganus
Great Lakes Sandcherry ~ Prunus pumila
Hedge Maple ~ Acer campestris
Hillside Gooseberry ~ Ribes californicum
Meadow Checkerbloom ~ Sildacea campestris
Prairie Bishop's Weed ~ Bifora americana
River Hawthorn ~ Crataegis rivularis
Snow Arnica ~ Arnica frigida
Tundra Wild Rye ~ Elymus sajanensis ssp. hyperarcticus
Valley Lupine ~ Lupinus subvexus
Water Locust ~ Gleditsia aquatica

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Temperate Climate Plant Names Indicative of Winter Sowing

Look for names that might indicate an origin in a temperate climate:

Siberian or Siberica
China, Chinese or Chinensis
Polar, Arctic or Arctica
Alpine, Alpina or Alpinus
Oriental or Orientale
Caucasian or Caucasica
Canadian or Canadensis
Russian or Camschatcensis, etc.(indicating Soviet origin)
American or Americana
European or Europaea
Etc.

Basically, you're using geography to match a global region or feature to a plant name.

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Catalogue and Seed Packet Germination Terms Indicative of Winter Sowing

Take a look at a seed catalogue, most will have some sort of notation about a seed's germination requirements, or you'll pick up a few clue-in phrases.

Look for these terms:

Reseeds or reseeding
Wildflower
Will Colonize
Self Sows
Hardy Seeds
Can be direct sown early
Seedlings can withstand frost
Sow outdoors in early Autumn
Sow outdoors in late Autumn or early Winter
Sow outdoors in early Spring while nights are still cool
Sow outdoors in early Spring while frosts may still occur
Weed (such as butterfly weed, joe pye weed, jewel weed)
Needs Pre-chilling (freeze seeds, refrigerate seeds, stratify for x amount of day or weeks)
Needs Stratification
Etc.

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More ideas about Winter Sowing Seed Selection

Think about your own garden, and your neighbors' gardens too.

Do you find plants that have volunteered each spring and shown up as seedlings that you didn't sow? These are very good choices. (let's say that your orange marigolds have returned in Spring as volunteer seedlings.......you can then be pretty well assured that gold, or lemon, or African or French varieties will also reseed for you too, when it comes down to it a marigold is a marigold is a marigold).

Go to your local Botanical Garden and ask the gardeners which plants reseed there. Any plants they mention would be a good choice for Winter Sowing as your local Botanical Garden more than likely has the same climate as you do.

Take a walk at a Nature Preserve near you and observe the wildflowers, the young seedling trees, bushes, vines, etc. All of these plants have germinated and thrive outdoors with only Mother Nature to assist them. All of these plants are excellent choices for Winter Sowing.

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The link at the bottom brings you to this FAQ grouping, each individual link on that page has a subset of links below "Tip". The subset links have related content.

The link below has a great deal of info about the plant, seed collection and germination--it does fine for WS.

T

They only accept paper orders so you must print and mail in their seedling order. They only ship in the Spring, so watch the website for when they start selling 2010 seedlings.

They sell a Beach plum under "Native" seedlings.

T

Most state nurseries offer seedlings, but some only sell to state residents.

I have ordered hundreds of seedlings from NH, VA, NC and TX - in my experience, their seedlings were superior to those purchased from most private nurseries.

I suggest you tell the class to bring empty clean milkjugs, salad containers, soil, and you bring seeds, tape, knife scissors and printouts. Bring some bags and coarboard boxes so everyone can take their containers home easily. Do NOT do watering of the containers at the site, but instead tell people for this occasion to bottom soak the containers at home. At the class talk about WSing principles, seed saving, sowing seeds, soltice sowing, and natural germination, etc--it's your class so make it your own and do it as you feel is important. For seed sowing help them make their containers, rub in their seeds and seal the containers. Don't forget to vent.

It sounds harder than it is, the bulk of the work is in the preparation, but otherwise it's a fun class to teach and goes quickly.

T

That list is great Trudi, love your lists of all the names and descriptions of plants that can be winter-sown.

T

This is a lady who keeps on giving.
:)