Great pictures, gardenweed. Makes me really want to get started sowing. Sometimes it's hard to get motivated, even though I've got the containers, soil, seed, etc. all available. Nothing like winter sowing to chase away gloom and make one think about spring.

ontnative - thanks! I'm gradually picking up the pace and making a good start on things that need cold moist stratification to germinate. I leave the others for later. I made sure to snap pictures of the green wave to show those still on the fence about winter sowing along with those who really need a visual to believe. It was originally Token's pictures that inspired me and helped me get past the "this can't possibly work" hurdle.

Merry Christmas Gardenweed,that's eyecandy for all of us.I used to hate winter,now I kinda like it..:o)

Thanks for the pictures - I am so anxious to get started that it is driving me crazy. I am not able to order my seeds until Friday which seems like forever; but while I am waiting for the seeds to arrive I can get all the containers ready and filled with soil so when the seeds come - plunk, plunk, plunk, done. This year I am starting the most number of containers that I ever have.

aklinda - are you ordering special seeds or are they things you could get in trades/SASBE offers from fellow winter sowers? I've got plenty of excess seeds I won't be sowing this year. I really can't face the work that's required taking care of 300 WS containers, then potting up/planting out. Rather than WS a dozen milk jugs of columbine seeds, I'm cutting it back to four. I grew a lot of blanket flower last year so will only WS one type this time around. I hit penstemon pretty hard last year and will sow just two jugs of that as well.

It's so easy to oversow and then have no room to grow on the seedlings. Found that out to my dismay and frustration 2 years ago.

Gardenweed-I am ordering things that are particular heights and colors to fill specific spots in my garden - can't believe I actually PLANNED a little bit. I guess you could call it planning when I walked along the flower bed and said to myself - I need something tall and purple here, need something low to fill in here and so on. Trying to fill in holes here and there - the flower bed runs along 3 sides of my yard along a chain link fence and varies from 3 to 6 feet deep and probably overall 80 feet or so in length. There are some trees, shrubs, grasses and roses mixed in. Thanks for the offer - maybe next year I'll get involved in the seed exchange.

aklinda - I'm doing the same thing with my beds. They're getting full but there are still holes I can fill and things I'd like to add that will bloom at different times than their neighbors. Up to now it's been plunk 'n run but I'd really like to work some design into the beds that surround my house. No roses here but shrubs, grasses and perennials are mixed together in most of my foundation and free-standing beds. The one thing I actually planned ahead of time was using some variegated sedge divisions to line the curved edge of one bed. I'm loving how it looks.

Here's what can happen if you don't get the seedlings planted quickly enough:

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The offspring of that jug number in the thousands now, and I've never sown another Johnny Jump-Up seed.

My front lawn is a sea of these every spring:

Pushkinia
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Yes, they're exquisite but since they grow just 5" tall, you have to get down on your hands and knees to appreciate them. Over the years they've naturalized along with Johnny jump-ups, violets, crocus, grape hyacinth and, curse of curses, star of Bethlehem. The color & blooms are welcome but I'm happy the mower keeps them trimmed and tidy. I dispose of any that come up in my flowerbeds. They will push up through a thick layer of mulch even with corrugated cardboard under it. Ask me how I know this to be true.

oh gardenweed, the pushkinia is lovely! I looked it up on Daves garden and your picture is better than theirs :)
Did you start by planting bulbs or seeds? From the pics they look a bit like tiny hyacinths.

I spent quite a bit of time studying your pics last year when I was just starting to WS. I had to smile just now when I saw the pic you posted of blue flax. I remember it from months ago. Pictures like that are what helped me have faith in the process. I only took a couple of pics of my sprouts but this was one of them:
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You inspired me well :)
Thank you!

thx for pics.....I see now you put marker tags inside before sealing up....

face palm!

Oh well - I will welcome the mystery sprouts in spring!

Wow the Coral Bells, purple palace really did good as everything else. You have done so much to inspire me Gardenweed, you're the Greatest, You're really into getting us all addicted to Wsing, I guess Wsers are just that way. I like what one poster said, I use to not like Winter but now I kinda like it. There's something for us gardeners to do all year,

I'm counting the days until Spring.
I look at it this way, Winter just means there's a nother Spring right around the corner, makes it not so bad.
Well back to sowing.
Micki

Yes, t-bird--I tuck in labels before sealing the jugs. Found out my first time WS that the tops of the jugs come off at some point and with them go the names written on them. It's not too late to drop a plastic knife or fork down the spout with the seed name written on it. Been there, done that too.

NancyPlants--I didn't plant the pushkinia; either my mother or her neighbor planted them 40+ years ago and they've naturalized over time. For a week or so in spring, the lawn looks blue instead of green thanks to all the grape hyacinth & pushkinia blooming.

Micki777 - Trudi is the WS orginator & inspiration. The rest of us are enablers who learned from her and we facilitate the addiction in others as and whenever the opportunity presents itself. Since I've had such amazing success + I love to take pictures, I post them so others can see the WS technique in hopes it helps them (like you) take the leap of faith.

Someone will soon post a clock that will count down the number of days until spring. I posted the number on my white board at work back in January and one morning a guy stopped to tell me I'd neglected (at 7 a.m.!!) to update the # of days!! I was trying to swallow my vitamin and nearly choked!

We all pay attention to the daylight hours that grow so short in December but even this afternoon I saw there was still a faint glow in the western sky at nearly 5 o'clock. Winter sowing is wonderful because we can get our hands in dirt off-season and know the seeds we sow will sprout and grow healthier than any expensive nursery-grown plant when the time is right.