WS RESULTS - SPRING 2015

Time to start a new thread! There is already a seed germination for inside or direct seed starting, but let's post our sprouts from WS here! Cant wait for mine! :)

Here are a few of my WS containers. I love this time of year!

Hi Stillplays!

I was wondering if this thread was ever going to get any action...
It's been cold here til last week, then off and on. Today and this coming week/weekend supposed to be in the 50's..feels like spring has finally arrived, so assuming I might see some sproutings here in Mass. sometime soon-??

Looks like you have some interesting plants there..and healthy too!

I hardly did any this year, but had some success:

1- Helleborus foetidus 'Wester Flisk'
2- Iris foetidissima lutea (it required 2 winters out in the weather).
3- no luck (yet) with Winter Sowed Eucomis but the ones I started in the window grew well. It seemed unlikely it would work outside, they are from a warm climate.

You both have planted some interesting plants! I love to hear what others have planted (and their results!)

Nothing yet. Still too cold in my 5a zone. :-(

Here too, PAgirl, but it definitely (FINALLY!!) feels like spring here this weekend, so soon.....SOON!!

It's been pretty cold here up til the past weekend, when a warm front came in (FINALLY!) and we've had some lovely spring weather and sun starting Saturday. Yesterday I was looking at my WS containers, and they seemed pretty wet. It had rained in the morning, and we've had a good deal of rain last week, BUT they have plenty of drainage, so I was hoping that nature would take its course. This is my first WS'ing season....

This morning I went out to check out of curiosity, not really expecting much,and at least 10 of my containers have sprouts! Some are plentiful! I WS'd more than 80 containers, so I was thrilled to see my sprouts starting :)

Among my sprouts are Lupines, Poppies, Dianthis (fringed), Cosmos, hollyhocks, malva, scabiosa, yarrow...and so it begins....Looking forward to alot more sprouts now! I am psyched!
PS I'm in Zone 6 ...cold New England

*o/*

(That's a cheerleader emoticon, in case you were wondering).

Thanks pistol...I needed that. :-)

oops somehow I messed up:

*o/*

There now her arm is not invisible!

Ok all danger of frost has passed and it's time to be outside. Sharing winter sowing good, bad, and ugly.

Good: agastache, aster, balloon flower, basil (late Feb sow), hollyhock, blanket flower, butterfly weed, cabbage, cilantro, cleome, common milkweed, cornus kousa, datura, dill, dogwood, Echinacea (white pink prairie), false indigo, false nettle, garlic chives, hairy mountain mint, hardy begonia, hoary vervain, ironweed, joe pye weed, lavender, lettuce, liatris Lunnaria annua, marigolds, new jersey tea, parsley, partridge pea, pipevine, purple horsemint, queen Anne's lace, rose of Sharon, ruellia, silene regia, swamp milkweed, tropical milkweed, verbena, zizia, Columbine.

Bad: no germination - ash, calendula, trumpet vine , chelone, mistflower, prairie dropseed, pride of barbados, canna, salvia, senna, Texas bluebonnet, hibiscus coccineus.

Ugly: lot of rain has some seedlings looking so so. An been playing for two days and still have tons to do.

Verdict: addicting like all things gardening.

Wow! What fun. I don't even know what some of those are-gonna go look up zizia.

Memays,

I enjoyed your WSing report. Sorry that some things didnt germinate for you but it looks like overall you did well. I know you planted a ton of WS'ing containers! :o) I planted a number of the same things. My sprouts are just starting...

Pistil, I often end up googling some things that others buy/plant...I learn alot that way (and I'm sure I'm not as knowledgeable as you yet)

Val, I love your enthusiasm! I'm pretty happy overall with the results - I hid most of the non-germinated pots way in the back, just in case. And then some of them I recycled the soil in my new planter dh made me - so just in case they want to volunteer, I'll let you all know!

Pistil - I should have used the common name of golden alexander, latin name is zizia aurea. See http://www.nababutterfly.com/golden_alexander.html

Finally, got some sprouts! Poppies, Bachelor buttons, snapdragons, alyssum, and candytuft. Still been doing "spring sowing" in milk jugs. Weather has been so crazy. For 2 days the temps were in the mid 70's. Today it's rainy and cold. 48 degrees this evening. It's only supposed to be in the low 50's for the next week or so with nights in the 30's. Just gotta let Nature do her thing I guess!

Memays, truth is I don't know that one under any name. So much to learn discover...
PAgirl60-to a seed, hopefully all this variation means it's time to wake up.
Everyone- my cheerleader icon is somehow not translating. before the o is supposed to be another arm, using the opposite thingy to this /. Wierd it just will not be accepted by DG. She is raising her arms and shaking pompoms.

I just came back from a European tour and could not wait to go outside to see my WS containers. My lupines from valal are sprouting , also snaps, petunias,salvia, and Delphiniums. I just immerse the containers in water yesterday so they can get some moisture.

Finally, at least two of my gladiolus species sprouted: Gladiolus Communis ssp. Byzantinus and G. Flanaganii. I'm still hoping for several others.

Going is still slow for me. The caryopteris and digitalis grandifora have lots of germination, geranium Purple Heron has one seed sprouted and the bottle gentian has two sprouts. No action yet on the various kinds of Echinacea and milkweeds.

Has everyone's WSing produce some good results?
Some of my containers are doing great, others just sprouting now, and some nothing...but wondering if they are going to ...later??

Overall, I think I'll be busy this Memorial day week (taking a week's vacation to get alot of my planting done!) Being my first year, I would say it was a resounding success. Not sure I'll do as many next year!

Hope everyone's having a great spring and KNOW you're all busy in your gardens! So much to do!

Pic 1 My WS containers on the right side of the deck
Pic 2 My WS containers on the other side of the deck!

This is the way I always plan for my WS area to look, but I always seem to get off track, then it is spring (Spring comes in January here). Now I have a zillion seed packets in a box...

Well, pistil..there's always next year!! ? Spring in January sounds GOOD tho! You'll have to do some "spring sowing" instead!

looks like I've lost my Gladiolus Flanaganii to fungus gnats - it was the only african gladiolus to germinate up to now - so right now it's only G. Imbricatus, G. Communis Byzantinus and G. Illyricus alive of 12 species I tried. All the purple species, no other colors..... Oh and one Alstroemeria Lightu and a few Viola Coreana.

I think I should specialize on warm germinating plants...

pmm, sorry to hear that. It's always disappointing when it doesnt germinate or when you lose something early on.

Hi valal, your left side of the deck seems as though it had better results. I think you did great for your first year. I like your idea with the plastic over the large pot, will try that one next year.
. I just sow some Snap beans. Bush beans and pole beans on Sunday and we are going away for a couple of days so I hope when I return they will be sprouted.I think that the plant we mailed me last year has sprouted up too I think it was the blue Cardinal flower. Will keep youosted

Most of my WS seedlings are coming along nicely.Today I transplanted a few healthy alyssum seedlings into a decorative flower pot. Same with candytuft. Bachelor buttons look good but gotta find a place for them. Also planted out some California poppies, I know poppies don't really like being transplanted, but if small enough they usually make it. My snapdragon seedlings are kind of ... eh. They sulked for a long time. They are only just starting to make their true leaves now.

I was very surprised by the good germination for Cleome. Lots of seedlings growing in the milk jug. Gaillarida kind of slow but seedlings are coming up. Got lots of lemon mint seedlings. I want to fill up a back corner of my "hot" garden. Hot meaning ... it cooks pretty much all day.

Less than a week ago, I Spring sowed some marigolds and they are popping up already. This year I'm trying a white variety - Killimanjaro something or other from Baker Creek.

Hi Cynthia,
The position of my WS containers isn't telling as far as results, as I moved them around alot, and just set up the "table/shelf" areas to water more easily. Some containers still have not sprouted at all, some are just starting this last week. It's been a very interesting first year -- and I have my work cut out for me in planting. Yes, my blue cardinal flower has just been starting the past 2-3 weeks as well. it doesnt bloom til Aug-Sept so isnt going great guns yet. Havent seen the black eyed susans you traded me. I hope they made it thru the winter and/or are just late sprouting-??

PAgirl, I WS'd candytuft and got ONE sprout. So disappointing. Maybe more will come?? My poppies were the first thing that sprouted, and are going great guns (still in their containers, will be planted out this weekend). I would love to see your white marigolds...they sound very interesting! Please post a photo when they bloom.

Valal, isn't it amazing when you try a new method, in this case WS, and it works.. and you're like.. why did I wait to try this?? I did that last year and couldn't wait til this winter to have another go at it.

On the topic of unsprouted jugs..I left a few out to see if any would require double dormancy, then ran out of potting mix this year when prepping WS containers and ended up dumping last year's failures into my mix to stretch it a little further. Now I've got tons of mystery volunteers in this year's WS containers. Not bad if you like a little mystery, however I am a true type a and not knowing what some of them are, is killing me.. although most seem to be asclepias tuberosa, some are mimosa tree, and just this week a sesbania vesicaria. Others I guess I'll find out as they grow. One looks like a peanut but it could be senna (?).. who knows!

Memays that is a nice list! And sounds like you've had some pretty good results too.. awesome!

I'd say at this point half of my jugs have sprouted, so about 40 out of 80.. not too shabby.. hope everyone else is having fun playing in the dirt :D

Hi valal, I have white Gomphrena not white marigolds, one of the garden buddies sent me some seeds.

My first WS bloom.. zinnia 'Senora' and some of my Echinacea seedlings, a Mexican fan palm, and lavender.

Cynthia,
White Gomphrena is good too...but PAgirl posted that she had planted some white marigold seeds...didnt know they existed. Was at walmart yesterday and they had beautiful pots of Ameria. Thought of you as they so like the gomphrena!

Stillplays, LOVELY zinnia! You are SO much further ahead in your blooms than we are here in Mass. But I'm trying to be patient! Spring flowers are still blooming/budding!

Have a great day everyone!

Thanks to deejay9 that sent me some poppy seeds and I saw on the internet to sow them on the piles of snow and when the snow melts they will settle in the soil, Wow the seeds are germinating like crazy , I know that I will have a beautiful garden this year.Yesterday my Garden club had a sharing day and I got some Coral Bells and I shared some yellow and peach irises.

Sowing on snow- now THATS Winter sowing!

Gladiolus Dalenii (yellow Form) has emerged - and it is the first species to reach more than 50% of germination. I tried to inquire what was different with that one, and found that those were some seeds that were new on the sellers site at my third time visiting (I knew I needed something yellow and looked before). So I think gladiolus seeds have to be really fresh to be viable. of course that's hard to tell on the websites without constant monitoring, but it's encouraging for taking your own seeds - they are fresh as can be.

Been enjoying many WS blooms this summer! Some of my WS seedlings have done better (grown bigger, etc) than others. Of course not all perennials bloom first year. But here are some recent pictures. i have agastache 2 different places and they seem to be much bigger/fuller than another spot

1. org agastache
2. pink agashtache - both were from a "Fragrant Delight Mix"
3, Blue balloon flower - first bloom this week. i thought they were not doing much, then last week they started sending up stalks with a bud
4. Pink balloon flowers - 3 first blooms this week
5 Irish Eyes Rudbeckia

I planted a bunch of different varieties of rudbeckias, just posting a couple

1. Denver Daisy/Rudbeckia; seeds from a plant I bought last year (that didnt reseed itself)
2. Rudbeckia Orange Fudge
3. Coleus (the ones I've taken out of the keg planter (as they were sowed very heavily) have grown so much more

Hi valal, you did very well with your Winter Sowing and the flowers are beautiful. Someone just sent me some balloon flower seeds , I will winter sow them too.Do you know you can take cuttings from each Coleus plant and when they root and get bushy you can keep cutting more and have enough plants next spring.I have not bought Coleus in years because I keep making cuttings every year

I usually grow coleus every year, and last year did learn you could take cuttings, but I was in the midst of large garden project and didnt get them in time. I am going to try and take cuttings of a few things this year, out of curiosity and see if I can root them and keep them over winter: perilla (a friend gave me a couple plants and it's stunning in the midst of my garden...dark purple leaves and has grown about 2 feet!) begonia, and a couple other things. We'll see how I do! :o)
Balloon flowers have become one of my favorites, and I want to grow more. Maybe I'll have a "balloon flower patch" LOL!

I think I need to follow this thread. Of all the tomato seeds sown this past winter I haven't had a fruit YET.... they didn't get to the garden early enough. I just planted 70 day varieties in pots to pot up in larger pots and move to the greenhouse at the appropriate time. Is this that kind of thread?