My question is this... I have a list of seeds that I really want to start, but want to make sure it's ok to do now. Will these be ok:

Daylily
Formosa lily
Siberian iris
Hosta
Milkweed
Agastache
Puruvian lily
Mexican shell flower (mexican lily)
Blackberry lily
Columbine
Lunaria annua
Lavatera arborea
Heuchera
Japanese iris
Spuria iris

Thanks!

Em

One thing I noticed about your list is that aside from Lunaria and Columbine, all of these are very late germinators - April and after here in Ohio. You might want to consider adding a couple more early poppers so you don't get discouraged reading about everybody else's containers bursting to life while yours are just sitting there.

Have fun!
Jeanne

Thanks!

I WS columbine on December 26 and got sprouts April 17 according to my sprout chart. They take a long time to sprout. The blackberry lily I WS on February 22 sprouted on April 19 according to my chart.

They may winter sow OK, I haven't tried them, but if you are Z6 you may want to wait a while for those pots. Just temps (and several weeks) of about 60F is all the colder they would need - colder not required.

They are going to form bulbs, and those resulting bulbs won't be hardy to much below a Z8 (like 28-32F)...you are going to have to lift in Fall, or containerize and protect the containers to keep these, they won't be much hardier than dahlia for you - I'd hate to have you germinate the seeds then lose the plants next winter before you have a chance to see them flower :)

I'm finding the sowing hints link above a little over simplified...Gardenweed, hope I'm not sounding critical of a friend of yours! But there are some things there that really would do better with warm, cold, cool cycles that pop out at me.

Gardenweed... You are lucky to have had sprouts in April. Mine only came in late June and into July in the three years I sowed them and they are 'sporadic' sprouters. :O)

I think I might be ready for some of those warm/cold/cool cycle seeds a few years down the road when I've built up a little confidence. In the meantime, I'm impressed with my first year WS results and look forward to half-killing myself planting out year two seedlings.

Tiffy - I WS 30 milk jugs of columbine last year. I think I got sprouts in two. I left the others hoping to see something green but at a guess I'd say I potted up or planted out less than a dozen plants out of all those jugs. I'm LESS than enthused about growing columbine via WS this year! I will, but I'm going to shake seeds over the potting mix like adding pepper to scrambled eggs and sow not more than TWO milk jugs. They are definitely slow to germinate and the polar opposite of foxglove which germinates--quickly--at a rate of about 250%! I took photos of the foxglove, the lychnis, the penstemon and a few other sprouts. The columbine? Wasn't much to see.

With that one though, 4 of the first 5 will often do better (not that no germination is possible) with a beginning warm moist period. Aconitum (Monkshood), Alchemilla (Lady's Mantle), Alstroemeria (Peruvian Lily), Astrantia - then of course helleborus ....

You've got the confidence now :) It just takes a little more pre-planning than straight winter sowing, either by sowing those things in Fall, or sowing a few weeks before solstice (or whenever you normally will winter sow) and leaving them inside till time to go out for mother nature to finish them. I know you don't want a row of milk jugs lined up on your mantel through the holidays, but there's always the option of putting the seeds in with a tsp of moist vermiculite in a tiny zip lock and leaving that (dated) on your desk - then sowing the contents, vermiculite and all when you are ready to winter sow.

It's really not cheating :) and whatever gets you to the seedlings is OK.

Callicarpa dichotoma 'Japanese Beautyberry'
Callicarpa Americana 'American Beautyberry'
Centranthus ruber 'Rosyred'
Agastache repestris 'Sunset Hyssop'
Campanula latifolia 'Brantwood'
Hollyhock 'Creme de Cassis'
Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy'

These are the ones I can think of at the moment. I do not plan to sow as many this year, my gardens are pretty full and I usually end up giving them to my neighbors. I'm looking for Winterberry seeds but I most likely won't find female and male seeds.

I sowed campanula brantwood a few years ago and loved them but for some reason, they didn't come up this year. I think they may have been strangled out by other plants close by.

I have a large bag of Miracle Grow garden soil so I'll most likely be using that, it's hard finding a good soil for ws at this time of year. I've had pretty good germination in the past with MG so I'm not too concerned.

Happy Winter Sowing!
Linda

GGG

1947 copyright!! I think I may do some reading!! The old fashioned way!!

Jodie

After seeing Linda's post, I realized I had forgotten to add Callicarpa Americana to my list.

I knew that Tigridia pavonia - shell flower was for zones 8-11, but I still wanted to try it since I had the seeds. I can wait on WS those until later, and I can plant them in pots so I don't lose them next winter.

morz8 - a row of WS milk jugs lined up along the mantle wouldn't bother me in the least. Problem: I don't have a mantle. I do have a small folding table I purposely brought inside & washed for just such WS urgencies. I think I'll give it a try with the lady's mantle altho' I WS that last year not knowing about the warm period and got excellent germination. I'm not growing the others you mentioned.

Could I substitute Perlite for the Vermiculite? I have oodles of different size little zip lock baggies.

Columbine is not hard to WS, they sprout abundantly for me, although somewhat sporadically meaning that some seeds will continue to sprout through the Spring and summer. They reseed a lot in the garden too. As long as you have viable seed, and surface-sow them, they will WS very well.

I've also added:
Callicarpa americana
Salvis - 2 different one's
Painter's pallet

I still have more to go through. This is exciting!