Any winter sow going on?

Wondering if any here are doing winter sow, flowers, trees, whatever? I did some early daylily, some coneflowers, some larkspur, Just looking for some discussion , fun , seeing what you all might have going..

Nothing for me -- I wont get started this year until March. So i'll probably only be doing Annuals this year.

I'm putting together a list tonight of stuff I want to wintersow. Have to sort through my seeds. Mostly perennials I'm thinking. For sure, some columbine but not willing to start all of my Aquilegia 'Corbett' that way - maybe some. Too OCD to entrust my few collected seeds to wintersowing. I lack the experience. I also want to go through the list I saw for zone 5 of seeds that can be sown successfully on the wintersowing website I saw referenced on another thread. I saw a list on DG in the wintersowing forum but wasn't sure when that had been updated. I have some Belamcamda (blackberry lily) seeds that I might try. Should also have some larkspur somewhere. Wondering if this is a good method for trying to get old seeds to germinate.

Yes!! I am trying again this year. Last year I planted about 400 seeds in milk jugs & ended up with about 100 plants. I think they didn't do as well as I had hoped because we had such a MILD winter last year (& I didn't start my winter sowing until the middle of January). This year I had all my seeds out by the third week in December. I'm guesstimating I have about 600 seeds shivering in the cold right now. In all sorts of containers. I hope to have at least a 50% germination rate. Imagine 300 plants!!!! I live on two acres & I am slowly replacing most of the lawn with gardens. I can't wait for Spring!! :o)

You put out 600 different seed varieties??? Or 600 seeds total? Going to get my WS done this weekend. Based on what the temps are next week, I think we'll have enough cold this year. I must say though that when I start seeds in the house that need stratification, I've never put them in the freezer, just in the fridge.

Oh my...600 different seed varieties, lol!! No, I'm not that ambitious :o) I just counted the seed packets. There were 47 packets...so maybe more than 600 seeds. My Mom gave me 14 of those large rubbermaid plastic storage bins. I drilled holes in the bottom for drainage & each bin has one packet of seed. I also had 52 milk jugs & an assortment of other clear plastic food containers that I had saved all summer. I can't wait for spring to see what germinates.

Perhaps off topic (but that will not stop me now.) A long time ago when I lived in the city, was a kid, we had a neighbor who was overally proud of his front lawn. Spent a lot of time and money making sure no weed showed up. This being before some of the newer chemicals and lawn services. The perfect lawn. We were admonished if we walked onto it to get our errant ball. So, one year we collected as much Dandelion seed as we could and saved it up. During the winter we had mock snowball fights in our yard using seed laced snowballs that all wound up on his yard. Poor guy had a fit that next Spring.

gasrocks - how funny. Winter sowing at its finest? Wonder what the success rate was.

Finally got my winter sowing done this afternoon. Was motivated to get it done with the temps forecasted to fall later today. Since I only had 9 plastic jugs, I compartmentalized the interior space by standing rectangular plastic lids from luncheon meat containers on edge. I was able to get two or three separate spaces inside to make room for more seed varieties. I planted -
Lobelia syphilitica
Nicotiana alata
Nicotiana 'Lime Green'
Forget me nots
Echinacea 'Big Sky Sundown'
Echinacea 'Ruby Star'
Echinacea 'White Swan'
Echinacea 'Summer Sky'
Echinacea 'Green Envy'
Tricyrtis puberula
Canterbury bells
Larkspur
Belamcamda - blackberry lily
Aquilegia 'Corbett'
Aquilegia 'Woodside'
Aquilegia clematafolia
Aquilegia 'Sunlight White'
Oriental poppy 'Pizzicato'
Most of the seeds were collected and were starting to get old so it was last chance for them. And I'm not real sure about the newer Echinaceas - if any of them are sterile. I had other biennial seeds but ran out of room.

The White swan come true from seed, the others I have read yes and no about, Ruby star gives a similar to the parent often from my reading but truly I do not really know for sure..(i bet you have read the same haven't ya)? LOL
Well we will wait for future details about your success with excitement , youthful invigoration !!!!
Coneflower is a great plant to work with! fun when they grow too..

I think the poppies I tried W S are dead. (WS describes my mood). ..


This message was edited Jan 19, 2013 8:21 PM

I have a couple of other poppies that I might sow in paper pots and set outside before the last frost. They're annuals and I'm not sure if they'd like to be frozen. Last year's success was hard to go by since it was a warm winter. 'White Swan' has been pretty reliable in the past with collected seed but just not sure about the others. This new breed of coneflower seems like it can be a little dicey. Will let you know what sprouts but I'm sure we're still a few months away.
Still waiting for the arctic cold to hit but it's still relatively nice out but windy.

Well it is kind of a stray but under lights a Wallflower , a meadow rue , and a little huckleberry is trying become sprout .
Everything outside is under the snow once again..
Will it ever end?

It is only January so I figure 2 months to go. I do usually get outside before the end of March though to cut back a couple of clematis before they push out new buds. Otherwise, I kinda look on winter as giving me time away from outside activities to get caught up on indoor stuff - indoor house maintenance, other crafts, etc. I'll start some seeds in a couple more weeks and start repotting some plants that have wintered over indoors, getting ready for spring.

I took some Clematis bud slip cuttings last week or so . Greening and budding in January they were and would of frozen off anyway ... One more indoor thing to do lol . That is going okay so far .. their looking like leaf , an experiment ...
Everyone who sees the big blue blooms wants one , they just don't want to shell out the green for one in a pot..
I don't know about the out side larkspur still but a few more of the winter sown Daylilies were up last I looked ..
Trying to organize my seeds and plans for the spring garden .. not anything too difficult but it is a tedious effort..lol
I have three tissue boxes of seeds to organize as I keep misplacing a few I want to try..
MY GREATEST SUCCESS in winter sowing is leeks , their like rooting willows ,, super easy ...the way to with the green plants .. lol At least something always goes along well though ...

Yes, I need to organize as well. Every year, I do a spreadsheet. One page is for my current inventory, one page is price comparisons for shopping and one page is for seed-starting. Being busy with other indoor projects, I've only done the wintersowing part of the seed-starting page. Woefully behind on organizing this year.
Are you supposed to get any of tomorrow's ice storm? They've got us forecasted for a 90% chance. Either it'll be not much of anything or it will be so nasty that we'll lose power. Regardless, I have no plans on leaving the house tomorrow.

Well the weather is saying freezing rain and sleet ,not expecting any extreme freeze we all let you keep that , but Monday near 60 falling back to 3 by Thursday is going to make a lot more people sick...
Sunday going going to be icy but temps rise all night here... goofy weather , I swear ... yes I am near cursing ...
I am really happy my huckleberries are going to grow failed a bunch of times... My american cornflowers too , difficult to get real good seed for those ,and with those I have to have to grow them..

WARMER thoughts even if not exactly there yet...

Definitely nice to see new sprouts this time of year!

I have sown a few penstemon varieties; Rocky mountain, pinifolius and whipple's. Monkshood, Columbine and Lupies. Also tried some pansies. I just recieved an order from georgia vines I'm looking forward to sowing. I also have Nicotonia sylvestris, a purple variety and a lime green variety I saved. About 6 different petunias as well. I'll be busy for a while. I need more containers. I'm filling them as fast as I get them : )

pony - would love to hear how your monkshood does. Tried years ago but not wintersown and no luck. Would like to have more.

I suppose this does not count - LimeQuat seedlings.

it all counts!!! cute sprouts!

Very cool, gasrocks. Had to look up limequat since I had never heard of it and was surprised to learn that the seedlings are identical to the parent despite the hybridization. Also says there can be two plants per seed. Fascinating.

I have 3 pots full of seeds and more fruit to harvest yet. If you want a seedling, later when it gets warm enough to safely mail one, let me know.

That would be fantastic! Thanks! Will send info via D-mail.
Do you grow them like citrus? My Meyer lemon is currently going to town with both new leaves and flowers. Of course, it's dropped about every one of it's old leaves, some still perfectly green. Hoping it's doing that because of the emergence of new leaves. I've been hand-pollinating with a small paint brush and already have too many fruits forming so will have to eliminate some. Loving my floor lamp which seems to do a great job with the light since I can actually see that the leaves have turned towards it which signals some pot rotation. Ooops - sorry to stray from the thread.

Yes, we are off topic but others can join in. D-mail sent.

Were only chatting about what we like , enjoy enjoy..,

Some sprouts to view..

juhur - are those the huckleberries and cornflowers you mentioned? I'm not so good at recognizing seedlings unless I've grown them myself. Getting close to seed-starting time for me and am getting excited. Have been doing a lot of other indoor work in the house in preparation to devoting time to the seeds.

Yes those are both there and a small type tomato also ,Once these are in trays or larger pots ,and I can set plants outside on the drive or or in the garage I will start more.
The huckleberry seeds laid around a while too long ,not getting good germination , I have three growing , a couple came up and fell over and faded after a few days , have use for at least 6 or 8 of them , Then if I like them I can keep some seeds ..
Not dampening off bothering the seedlings some are just plain weak ,likely from me leaving seed too long....

Can you take cuttings once your existing huckleberries get big enough? Sometimes I like the "instant gratification" of cuttings. Have a whole slew of cuttings to pot up to the next level, hopefully tomorrow.

I have no idea if cuttings from Huckleberry are possible? I am not real god at pots or cuttings some of that you know ,but I keep trying and sometimes I get results .
Still trying Clematis cuttings with if'y results , I should of kept some Agastache in a pot too , but didn't..
Have a couple of things to try yet and such will be forth coming,no sign of my Larkspur , but the Pentsemon are making little plant starts all around .
Longing for spring I really am and weather like this just makes it more so....

40F and .94" rain today. Almost all snow gone off roof - YEAH.

Snow has all melted with the rain and 40's yesterday but the ground was still frozen. Today it's overcast and windy but I'm planning on doing some repotting this afternoon after other chores get done.
juhur - Ken Druse has a good book called "Making More Plants" that might interest you. Compiles a lot of techniques on how different plants like to be propagated, when to take the cuttings or divide or collect seed and how to do it. Some cuttings are more challenging than others.

Well there is no doubt I could use a little info, but my thought sill has to put it together correctly , I was better at some plant manipulating when I was younger, I do not know if that was because it did not matter as much to me then as it seems to now,
I see the mistakes I make , and seem to make them anyway , I like to have things proper ,do them once , and be on with it , A lot of plants have suffered because I am like that , if it is not right I am as likely to let them die as to correct anything.
I was never "born to be" attentive , never was, never will be .
Still do some decent and beyond natives and tomatoes though, The rare 9 foot Coneflower or 25 ft Tomato plant , a 30 inch Giant Sunflower bloom , are a few successes that make me as happy as can be..
Any time I have seen any , that are like that, I grin with a "what do you know" ? I got something right ..!!
..

Not sure I can word this correctly. Remember for many of us the only way we ever figure out the correct way to treat a plant is to kill a few first. Gene

That could explain why most of us are not Doctor's!!!!! lol ^_^

I totally understand learning the hard way. I tend to be impatient and usually have to start all over again the right way.

I tried re-sowing some meadow rue , not sure which Thalictrum this is.
Plants look really bad this time of year , after a few of you mentioned it I went looking today , My Black Ball (cyanus) was standing a week ago with blue green leaves ,all gone now ,, Warm to freezing temperatures are taking their toll.
Everything looks dead, except Ditchlily shoots and some red pentsemon.
I am depressed again with the garden , but it is February , so what garden here, is there.?.


Still a mucky ,muddy , rainy mess.."out there"

Frigid and windy here today. Had light rain late yesterday and then the temps dropped. I did notice a few daffodil shoots yesterday in some of the more sheltered locations and I could see the crown of buds at ground level on a hyacinth or two. Even the various tiny spring bulbs have sprouted a few shoots. Peaked inside of my winter sowing milk jugs but didn't see anything green but I didn't expect to yet.
Only 10 days until meteorological spring (Mar 1)! March can be a big snow month for us so I won't be doing much outside yet except maybe pruning some clematis.

You guys........ it is all so relative. Another month yet before I can complain about mud. Today there is 1/2 inch of ice covering my driveway, had 1/2 inch of snow last night, winds at 25+ all day, high was 12F.