My 1st Time To Winter Sow! Please List Seeds for z-5

Hello to all you Michiganders :o)

I am going to be WSing for the 1st time this year.
Could you all please list the seeds for zone 5 that you had success with wsing,
I know the wintersown site has a list for zones 5 thru 7, I also know that some for zones 6 and 7 won't grow here (but only as an annual)... So would you please help a newbie out ;^), If you had luck with seeds from other zone areas that would be great to list too, all I ask is that you tell what zone it is for.

Thanks Connie

well i did WS sib. iris and daylilies last yr and they grew
will have to look up others

Thanks Dori :o)

Connie

So far we have:
sib. iris and
daylilies

Hello again, Connie, cegoins :-)

We planted several types of tulips, Egyptian onions, garlic, and other stuff I can't remember the names of, last week. They are supposed to be hardy into zone 3.

Unfortunately, while I was building my grow light frame, I knocked my crystal ball off the work bench and broke it and since this is also our first time at winter planting I can't tell you for certain just how productive they will be come. :-)

BUTTT...come next spring.....

BTW...I am planting 12 Early Girl tomato seeds indoors just to see if they will grow. I have been told (by experts) that by using a grow light (sound familiar?) and keep the seedings from freezing, they should produce. "The" experts tell me that cold does not harm tomatoes: it only slows down the growth and ripening rate. We have two rooms on the west side of the house which we do not heat in winter and they qualify as "research rooms". I am also told I had best not clutter up or dirty up [my] research area. That area of the house is designated to the L'il Woman, who can get really Big on my messing up.

Hi lostindian again *grinning*

This is strickly for out door Winter Sowing,

I have never grown by lights, and I don't have a green house or room in my house to use either, so the WSing sounded just like something right up my alley :o)

I asked Poojer (Trudi) in another forum what type of soil she used to WS and her reply to my post was any type except for the dollar store type...

Also she gave the advice to think of what mother nature is doing in your own back yards. (not exact words, but close enough)!!!


For those that don't know Poojer (Trudi) Her website is http://www.wintersown.org/ it's a great place to start reading to learn more about WSing...

See I am learning a few things roflmbo ;^)

Connie

Well, I'm not from Michigan but I am in zone 5b - and I did do a fair bit of winter sowing last year. Some of my successes:

Dianthus
Four o'clock
Asclepias incarnata
Jacob's Ladder
Northern Jacob's Ladder
Verbascum chaixii
Linaria
Nicotiana
Portulaca 'Moss Rose'
An ornamental grass whose seed I gathered from a public garden - name unknown

I'll check my list later tonight and update here any others that I may have missed. I hope this is helpful!

--Ginny

oh thanks for the info Ginny. and not being from Mi. is okay just as long as Zone 5 is involved lol

Connie

You're welcome Connie :-)

Hi Connie, I'm zone 5b / 6a.
Ageratum
Sunflowers
Alyssum
zinnia's - they don't like their roots disturbed, so I only plant a few in each container so they get a huge chunk of soil with each seedling.
Rudbeckia
Balsam

Those are the ones I grow almost every year with WSing.
Others I've tried:
Lychnis
Delphinium - iffy for me.
Columbine
Stocks
Oriental Poppies have worked great in years past, has a tap root so give it a lot of bottom space.

This year I'm going to add some Japanese Maple seeds and Hardy Hibiscus.
Crossing my fingers.
sharon

Thanks Sharon

I have most of those too :o)

Connie

Here's my promised update from last year's list of WS seeds Connie. Some of them have already been mentioned by others here.

Anemone
Dwarf Delphinium
Lychnis coronaria
Radiant Crabapple
Annual Poppy
Iris setosa
Lavatera trimestris

Things I also tried that did not produce any success for me last year were tomatoes, bell peppers, Thalictrum rochebrunianum, Veronica, and Ligularia.

Good luck! --Ginny

i did some research and found these listed and this is a link to Judi's wintersowing page-where i got all my info before
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/wtrsow/2002050141031613.html
and this link from a daves member:
http://davesgarden.com/journal/d/t/Cordeledawg/4359/


Hostas, Roses and Ornamental Grasses are all easy to start using the Winter Sowing Method.


*Perennials*

Aquilegia (columbine, grape colored flowers)
Aquilegia mix (columbines, nice selection from my garden)
Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed, pink flowers, will grow in dry dirt)
Campanula latifolia (mountain bells, purple flowers)
Campanula medium (Canterbury bells...nice mix)
Coreopsis Mix (1'-2' mix of strong golden flowers)
Hibiscus militaris (halberd-leaved marshmallow)
Inula helenium (inula)
Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Moudry' (fountain grass "black moudry")
Tanacetum parthenium (feverfew)
Tanacetum vulgare (common tansy)
Vernonia gigantea (giant ironweed)

*Annuals*

Cerise Celosia (celosia...candle type, cherry pink flowers)
Cosmos sulphureus (bright lights cosmos)
Daneborg Lace poppy (Papaver somniferum, red and white flowers)
Morning Glories (lavender)
Nicandra physaloides (aka shoo fly, apple of Peru, black pod)
Nicotiana rustica (Aztec tobacco, greenish-yellow flowers)
Nigella (blue flowers, nice for drying...weird pods!)

*Veggies and Herbs*

Italian Parsley
Bok Choy
Ruby Beets
Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Soldier Beans

***I think you can WS just about anything.
I have so many plants that reseed themselves(thats winter sowing)
hope this helped a little!

ginnylynn... usually tomatoes are the easiest plant to grow or mine would not have lived. Of course the soil has the most to do with their production and we have very rich soil naturally. I didn't even add any fertilizers to the ?15-18? plants I planted. My bell peppers did well despite their small size.

At the end of what I thought was the growing season, I harvested about 25#s of large green tomatoes. At that time, I didn't know that cold doesn't hurt tomatoes, but slows the ripening process.

When the temps got down below 50 degress, I built a tee-pee over the plants overnight and removed it during the day for sunshine, which gave us quite a few more vine ripe tomatoes. In fact, we are still enjoying fresh tomatoes today with a few pounds still ripening in the kitchen window sill. I harvested all green tomatoes when the temps at night hit freezing or below and the days only went into the low 40's.

To make a short story long.... you may want to go to UM or MSU web sites or even google in "How to grow tomatoes in Michigan". There is a host of information available which should help you to produce "whatever".

Hopefully this info helps.

Hi LostIndian! Thanks for the tips and info. I had no problems with tomatoes and peppers actually planted in my garden in the spring - it was the seed that I tried winter sowing that didn't germinate for me :-)

I had heard that germination rates and success/failure for winter sown peppers and tomatoes are erratic and unpredictable in our zones, but thought I would give it a try once. If it had worked what a marvelous thing it would have been - no more veggie babies cluttering up my house every late winter/early spring!

--Ginny

This is April in the GH-i started all these tomatoes in my basement Feb/march

I love mators -Im not sure how good they will grow underlights this winter-i will be watching
to see how they do. I have ultraviolet lights over my daylily seedlings right now in the basement.

WOW Dori, nice very nice :o)

I don't have a basement :( but sure wish I did... nor a green house, maybe dh will build me one next fall lol

Clematis--'Radar Love'
grass--'Bunny Tails' lagurus ovatus
coneflower
hollyhocks
sea holly
parsley
Catanache aka Cupids dart
foxglove
hyssop
borage
Penestemon--'Husker Red'
scabiosa (the annual type)
Gaillardia
echinops
maltese cross
Prairie Coneflower
Blackberry Lily
German Chamomile
Summer Savory
Feverfew
Baptisia
grass- 'Pony Tails' stepa tunuissma (sp?)

Thank you grannymarsh :o)


edited to ask, did you winter sow all these? and if so how was the out come?

Thanks

Connie

This message was edited Nov 17, 2006 11:25 AM

All of those that I listed were success stories-they sprouted, grew and were planted out in the garden. And yes, I did WS them.

Thanks again grannymarsh,

I have some of those and will try my hand at winter sowing them...

Connie

Any other Michiganders Winter Sow last year or beyond last year?

Connie

I did a little. I did daylilies, Bachelor buttons, Cardinal flower and of course feeding the birds caused an awful lot of sunflowers to sprout. LOL

lol hemlady,
I feed the birds too and had flowers and strawberries growing in some of the oddest places. :o)

Connie

I grow tons of annuals by the WS method, but my most thrilling success was my WS-Leonotis leonurus aka lion's tail - it grew to 7+ feet tall and was just beautiful. I planted 6 seeds and 3 germinated and grew. I planted them in semi-shade, using the hunk-of-seeds method. Try this one if you can find seeds - it is a thrill to see it bloom!