What annuals do I need to start in February?

Some information came from: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/804677/

Here are some annuals to start in February, inside, under lights.

Dates based on average last frost date of April 22 to get the sizes of plants a home gardener needs for set out. These are probably not the dates a commercial grower would use.

Do you have more to add?

Begonia 'Bada Boom' — Feb week 1

Dusty Miller — Feb week 2
Gazania 'Daybreak Pink Shades' — Feb week 2
Gomphrena — Feb week 2
Hibiscus 'Luna Pink Swirl' — Feb week 2
Hibiscus 'Red Shield' — Feb week 2
Salvia farinacea (blue salvia) — Feb week 2

Alternanthera 'Royal Tapestry' — Feb week 2-3
Dianthus — Feb week 2-3
Digitalis — Feb week 2-3
Heliotrope — Feb week 2-3
Salvia splendens types ( red salvia etc) — Feb week 2-3

Angelonia - Annual (Grow with impatiens) — Feb week 3
Impatiens — Feb week 3
Nemesia - about 10 weeks before last frost, grow cool. — Feb week 3

Heliotropium 'Marine Lemoine' — Feb week 3
Osteospermum 'Asti White" — Feb week 3
Ornamental chilis — Feb week 3
Salpiglossis (Painted Tongue) - says Mar 1, but also says 10-12 weeks — Feb week 3
Snapdragons— Feb week 3


Coreopsis— Feb week 4
Gaillardia — Feb week 4
Hibiscus — Feb week 4
Hollyhock — Feb week 4
Heuchera — Feb week 4
Milkweed — Feb week 4
Statice — Feb week 4

Marjoram — Feb week 4
Oregano — Feb week 4
Petunias — Feb week 4

Portulaca — Feb week 4 or Mar week 1
Marigolds — Feb week 4 or Mar week 1
Torenia — Feb week 4 or Mar week 1

Six weeks ahead of time, about March week 2
Six Weeks: Cutting Ageratum, China Asters, Celosia, Cleome, Coleus, Nepeta Catmint, Forget-Me-Nots, Dahlia, Helichrysum, Globe Amaranth, Nicotiana, Platycodon, Scabiosa, and Thunbergia

The information above was extracted and extrapolated from gardeners in three varied climates:

tigerlily123
Raleigh, NC

tanglee
Whitby, ON

Weezingreens
Seward, Alaska

and Stokes Seeds website
www.stokesseeds.com

plus recent addition from John Scheepers' Kitchen Garden
http://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/



This message was edited Feb 13, 2008 2:43 AM

This message was edited Feb 18, 2008 2:59 AM

This message was edited Mar 16, 2008 10:08 PM

Thanks Suzy and all the info came from! Very useful info!!!!!!!!!

Suzy, have you had any luck starting osteospermum? I tried twice last year, and had no luck. I'm planning to try again next week.

No, I don't even know what Osteospermum is for sure. LOL!

I have some seeds & I'll give it a whirl...next week.

Suzy

I have done osteospermum every year for the past 4, and have not had problems - even with old seeds. How are you trying to start them?

Osteospermum seeds need to be nicked before sowing. They take 7-10 days to germinate. The seedlings need to be kept at 65-70 degrees during the day, but like it cooler at night, as low as 40-50. They take about 80 days from germination to flower.
They flower best in cool temps., under 75, and the flowering will decrease in hot weather, but return when cooler temps. return

Suzy-they are the "African daisies" that you may see at garden centers.

Suzy,

Osteospermums are blue eyed daisies. I prefer the white, but they come in pink and a light purple as well.

Last year, I know that I had problems with the soil that I was using. I'm not sure if that was the only problem. I don't remember nicking the seeds either. I know that there is another way to do that other than an emery board, but I can't remember at the moment. At any rate, I ended up buying some plants last year because I really wanted them, and didn't have enough time to try to start them a third time.

Hopefully all the stars will align in my favor this year.

Ah, okay, Blue Eyed Daisies -- I bought 5 last year in gallon pots for $1.00 each (very tail end of the year). But I haven't started any from seed. I did *look* at the seed, and it doesn't look like the kind you'd clip or snip or chip -- it looks more like a crispy fried egg.

Suzy

I don't chip mine...

I order most of my annual seeds from Stokes and they give detailed instructions for successful germination. Since their directions have worked for me in the past I followed the chipping suggestion. I like the white ones too. The one I'm trying this year is an AAS winner, Asti White

My osteospermum just came in yesterday from Thompson and Morgan. The Stokes order came in last week - it was all of my January plantings: geraniums, vinca, & salvia.

So, Penne, Does the Osteospermum seed sort of look like a crispy fried egg? The seeds I have are from a trade, and you know how that can go sometimes on the name...

How are you starting yours?

Tanglee, How do you chip or nick this kind of seed? Would soaking in warm water work as well? I mostly soak instead of the mechanical nick because I'm not very good at nicking.

I have some purple and I have another pack of white....I don't actually grow (m)any white flowers...I maybe need to think about those, but I'll definitely do the purple ones.

Suzy

Susie,
I took a look at the seeds, and I guess that you could say that they look sort of like fried eggs. They are flat, and thinner around the edges (which would be the white), and then thicker around the center (the egg yolk section). I will be starting them this weekend. My seeds have a pear shape.

Suzy, Soaking seeds in warm water works well for softening the seedcoats to let water in. It can be less risky than chipping because if you chip too much you can damage the seed embryo. But chipping is faster. I grasp the seed with a pair of tweezers, or if it's big enough with my fingers and chip it with a sharp paring knife. Some people use an exacto knife.

Okay, well I will definitely soak them :) No sweat -- it might take longer but it seems like it's easier for me. As I said I've been having good luck with it.

Are you soaking in plain water or hydrogen peroxide mix? Also, how long - overnight or just a few hours?

I'm pretty sure that it was my soil that doomed the osteospermum in the past. I just checked on the seeds from this weekend, and I have quite a few geranium up. Last year, I had a pitiful rate for geranium.

I can't wait until the weekend to start some more seeds!

OMG! I had the same thing happen with geraniums this year! It all started because the Moisture Control bags I bought in the fall were terrible -- all sticks and coir, so I thought they had changed the formulation and everybody was talking Pro Mix, so I went with that, not realizing how different the different kinds of ProMix are. This one was ProMix BX and held waaay too much water and half the seedlings died. (I only had 6 seeds, so 3 died, but they were very expensive!) I went to their website and saw the BX was formulated for outdoor container plantings.

I bought another pack -- and some of my regular Moisture Control soilless mix and had nearly 100% germinate and grow on. Now I am using some of the BX at the bottom of the community pots I sow in, and regular Moisture Control on the top half, hoping to use some of it up. I bought 2 big bales. DUMB! LOL!

My soaking is long enough for the seeds to stop floating and sink, or start to sink. I use warm-to-hot water, probably about 145-150 degrees, so too hot to put your hand under. If I think about it, I use the H2O2, but it's downstairs and I soak my seeds upstairs, so I usually don't use it. So far I haven't soaked any small seeds, they have all been pretty big -- Nasties, Tropaeolums of different species, Lantana, all big ones because once they are wet they stick together. I don't understand how you can soak a small seed like Primula and then get them spread out the way they need to be in the community pot. Some people mentioned a toothpick to me, but that is sort of like the tweezers...I'd need to bring in some spotlights and a white paper towel before the operation.

Suzy

Lantana is another one that didn't make it last year from seed. I think that I will try it again as well. I bought some small starts that grew into monster plants. They completely engulfed the lavender, and barberry in this bed. I think that were also a few lillies that were smoothered.

Yikes, I started my Hibiscus "Red Shield" too early! I have to start a month after the dates posted in these threads because my last frost is May 15 (although we have had frost as late as Memorial Day). They are already coming up. That's okay, I can set them on the shelf that has a little more room than the rest.

Zarabeth, I started my Hibiscus 'Red Shield' last year too early, in January. My last frost date is about May 10th, but it can be as late as May 22nd. The plants got big, but I put them in 6 inch pots and pinched the tips a couple of times which made them bushy. The reason I started them early was because they take a long time to flower and a friend who is crazy about Hibiscus told me hers didn't flower because the frost got them. I was trying to make them flower before that happened. I don't know if they did flower because it turned out that we put our house up for sale and moved from Montreal to Toronto so I didn't see them after August. But they did look big and sturdy. The leaves are a beautiful colour too. I'm going to use them this year as the centre of an oval annual garden. I'm going to plant, from the outer edge inward, Begonia 'Bada Boom Pink', then Salvia farinacea 'Mini Victoria', then if you picture the inner part of the oval in 4 sections, 2 sections with Cosmos 'Sonata White' and 2 sections Zinnia 'Uproar Rose' with the Hibiscus in the very centre. I hope it looks good, it will be in the middle of the front lawn! Karen

Sounds beautiful! I love all of those plants... I did have some pink ones I started a couple of year ago, but they didn't survive the second winter (the cold snap hit when there wasn't any snow, and I didn't have time to mulch that year). I did get flowers te first year, but they were even better the second.

So, February is about done--and I'm just going over my list and checking it twice--

And wondering-- are we supposed to start Marigolds next week (march)??

Spring is approaching... (but you'd never know it looking outside)!

And thanks for posting all these seed starting dates! Very handy!

Of the annuals I'm growing this year, I'll be starting the heliotrope and osteospermum tomorrow. They take a little longer to grow than other annuals.
My next planting date is March 13th when I'm going to plant coleus, portulaca, and verbena. They're a little slower than the annuals I plant last.
I plant the remaining annuals on March 20th. These are calendulas, cosmos, impatiens, marigolds, petunias, salvia farinacea, and zinnias. I've tried planting them earlier and have to end up cut them back at the beginning of May because they get too big and then too leggy under the lights. This sets the flowering back a few weeks. I'm in zone 6a too. I don't plant the annuals outside until the 2nd week in May at the earliest because there has been the odd frost before this date and I don't want Mother Nature wiping out all my hard work!

Hey, Tab, Add to them all you want!!

Marigolds, the 2 kinds have 2 different dates -- the bigger African ones take longer than the little french ones. Go ahead and start the big ones March 1st, then a week or 10 days later start the smaller ones. Your last frost date is about April 7th, right?

Suzy

I started my calendula this past weekend. This is my first time growing them. I think that it took five days before I needed to remove them from the dome. They had grown almost tall enough to actually touch the dome.

Last Frost Date List by Cities: http://allaboutsquarefootgardening.com/?page_id=8

Our Cincinnati last frost date is around April 17 by most charts. I think I'll wait a bit on the marigolds.

I have some heliotrope to start today and a bunch of herbs. MMmmm....I'll have to review all the info and see what else can go in.

Don't want that situation of getting pale, tall, and leggy plants before my plant out dates...

This is a great thread. Very useful!

Tabasco, I already have quite a few butterfly plants growing.

I put several containers of nectar plants out for wintersowing (mostly perennials) in the past month and will start some of my annuals and herbs today under lights.

I'm afraid of the seeds germinating early, the seedlings not growing well and too long under the lights, and then not having my gardens ready and weather decent enough for them.

I am relatively new at growing under lights...well, I have done it before but have not had success to any degree...I am trying to be a little bit more measured and manageable about it this time--not easy to do because I want to grow Everything! LOL

bump

Thanks for bumping this! I was just wondering when sow my petunia seeds. This will be my first time trying to grow anything indoors. Hope it works out. Thanks again.
Pam

Hi Pam,

After years of experimenting, I have found that Tidal Wave Silver is best germinated at the end of February to go into my hanging pots after our last frost date in zone 5a, of about May 15. So I would guess that you can sow yours about in another week.

I know you're in Pennsylvania. I found a nice "last frost date" chart for you.

http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/pa.html

Donna

Thanks so much Donna!!!

What a great list and good tips. Thanks!

I have just germinated Bergenia Winterglow, Heuchera 'Firefly' and got a big surprise when I pulled out some 3 Geranium Black Velvet Rose, which I purchased from Park Seed from 2003. I put three in small peat pots under my shop lights, and two of the germinated in two days! I also successfully germinated seeds from the North American Lily Society, candidum Cascade Strain. It's a madonna lily that is supposed to have improved disease resistance.

I'm still struggling with heliotrope. I put it in a wet coffee filter that I placed inside a baggie and put on top of my fridge for warmth. They germinate, I move them to peat pots, and then they keel. ARGGGGGH!

Donna