Many perennials will bloom next summer

I have googled two very interesting lists of perennials which will bloom in the summer (probably) if planted now.

www.inthegardenonline.com/basics_firstyearperenialsB20.htm

And www.robsplants.com/plants/fastperennials.php.


I tentatively add my own: Summer Carnival Hollyhocks, Tutti Frutti Lupine, ganzia, verbascum, gaura, rudbeckia hirta (and others I imagine,) blackberry lily, rose campion, geum, delphinium, and columbine.

I have spent all evening getting a huge number of seed packets gathered together in order to put them under lights in the morning! I am really excited about this because I am living on a new property and will need lots of bloom in 2008.

I hope some of you will try a few seeds of some of these to see it they work for you.

Thanks Gloria for the links! I'll add heliopsis helianthoides to the list with their gorgeous yellow, long lasting blooms and is a great butterfly magnet.

These perennials were winter sown and bloomed for me in the first year:

Agastache rugosa, "Korean Mint"
Anomatheca laxa, "False Freesia"
Eupatorium rugosum, "White Snakeroot"
Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina', "French Hollyhock"
Nicotiana langsdorfii, "Green Flowering Tobacco" (perennial in zones 9 - 11)
Polemonium pauciflorum, "Yellow Jacob's Ladder"
Salvia roemeriana, "Cedar Sage", "Hot Trumpets"
Scabiosa atropurpurea, "Mourning Bride" (perennial in zones 9 - 11)
Stachys coccinea, "Scarlet Hedgenettle"

'Honey Bee Blue' and 'Honey Bee White' Agastache bloomed the first year for me also, but were bigger and fuller the second year.

Heliopsis helanthoides var. scabris aka "False Sunflower" (the one I was calling "Not-Chocolate-Daisy" before it was properly ID'd) bloomed a lot the first year from winter sown seed and was even more impressive the next year.

Coreopsis and Daisy "Alaska" will bloom first year from seed. Liatrus did also. Helen

Did any of you get these blooms from winter sown seeds or were they all under lights? I believe I still have some of the seeds you mentioned.

The ones I mentioned above were from winter sown seed.

The ones I listed were all winter sown. I thought of a few more:

Tanacetum parthenium, 'Feverfew'
Gaura lindheimeri, 'Whirling Butterflies'
Centranthus ruber, 'Jupiter's Beard'

Yes, mine were wintersown as well. Also anise hyssop agastache, mealy cup salvia, salvia splendens and celosia will bloom prolifically from wintersowing seeds the first summer.

My experience has been rather sparse as far as success with Wintersown perennials blooming the first year.

Here is a nice article about first season bloom for perennials from Diane's Flower Seeds:

http://www.dianeseeds.com/flowers/first-year-perennials.html She mentions starting them under lights in most situations. Our growing season here isn't really conducive to a lot of bloom the first year from Wintersown perennials. Too hot and short.

Celosia and Salvia Patens would be good candidates for first year bloom, but aren't they annuals?

t,

thanks for posting that link... i was just going to go look for it.

Gloria -- a few months back i asked the question in the Perennial Forum about First year Blooming Perennials

doesnt seem there are that many of them... but enough at get color in the garden for the first year.

for me, Early Sunrise Coreopsis and Golbin Blank Flower [Gaillardia] were huge bloomers for me.

Terese

I like Diane's seeds, too. Very nice old-fashioned collection.

Will your Gaillardia come back year after year? Mine are a bit wussy and fade away during winter. Coreopsis are champs though. Dianne says many perennials that do bloom first season are a bit short-lived and that has been my experience, too--for instance some daisies. For best success with first year bloom here, though, starting under lights gives them a nice head start...

tabasco,

since this was my first year sowing... i have no idea what the Gaillardia ... i hope they come back, it does say they are hardy from zone 4 ... if not, i still have a lot of seeds.

the only daisys i did last year were Shasta... no blooms, but i think i heard they were second year bloomers... so we shall see what this year brings for me.

Terese

Most stuff I've read says gaillardia is short lived and likes well draining soil, esp. in winter. I've wintersown them, but most don't survive the first winter. Last year I did get two burgundy gaillardia to grow; I hope they make it through winter. One of the 2 still shows some sign of green, so I'm hopeful.

Gaillardia is my realy booger plant, it doesn't seem to like me. I get poor germination and they usually only last one summer. When I bought plants, they didn't survive winter either. It doesn't like me!

Karen

The plants I had from this past summer, where i harvested seeds from... they came in a "mix"
Either Dry Land mix or Bird and Butterfly mix. and i had tons of plants, so i'm assuming i had great germination.

kqc., Same for me with gaillardia. I think it's our sultry weather here. They appear to like clear sunny skies and dry air and good drainage, too. Not exactly what I have in the garden...

tcs, you are lucky to get them to grow! Pretty flower. (-:

they are planted back where they get - really no shade, no rain - only what the weather provides ... and we can go weeks without rain ... for a while i was dragging the hose back there... but that thing is so heavy, i dont do it often.

Now that I know their tendencies, i'll keep more of an eye on them.

I think we are supposed to have a drier summer. Even though it seemed like we were dry... when we got rain -- we'd get inches.... then weeks with nothing. but we were not considered a "drought" area.

and i did get about 4 or 5 more varieties of Gaillardia in the swap... I'm so stoked.