Maybe a few converts?

Today I was standing in the Dollar General Store line to check out with about 20 twenty-five cent packages of flowers. One woman said seeds never sprouted for her, to which others agreed. I gave them a quick encouragement and told them to put the seeds in a pot, cover it with a little plastic, and take the plastic off when they germinated, but to cover them up for a freeze. One lady made a U turn and said, "Thanks for telling me about the flowers!" I know what I said wasn't totally accurate, but I didn't have time for a lecture. I think this method will work for them.

I did veggies inside today. Tomorrow I will plant a few veggies outside: lettuce, snow peas, spinach, onions, parsley, and maybe a couple of others. My peppers and tomatoes and eggplant seeds are inside.

I was buying the large flower seed packages mostly for Winter sowing in 2009. But I will plant a lot now too. They have Indian Spring hollyhocks which should bloom this year, right?

We are still getting freezing nights and probably will for about three more weeks, now and then.

I was amazed at how well my WS stuff did this year. I told DH yesterday that I wasn't going to start anything inside next year, my WS seedlings are so much better.

I'm so mean I can't stand myself.

My son and his wife live next door and my daughter in front of me. So they saw me out carrying around milk jugs and stuff and freezing to death. Told them what I was doing and they just looked at me like I had lost my mind. "I just wait for spring" All my friends thought I'd finally fell off the edge too.

Well, we were all out working in the yards yesterday and they were planting seeds and running to Wal Mart for plants. I, on the other hand could say "Oh I need something there, let me go to my table with several million to choose from." heh heh. I loved it!!!

Well, not several million, but you know what I mean.

LOL! Good for you, Lorraine! Probably looked like several million to them. Ha ha!

I'm new to ws this year. Mostly I did perennials and several are finally sprouting. It has been a long winter.....What I still have to figure out is will the annuals grow and bloom as early as the ones planted indoors? So far I am holding off on the annuals but would really like a comparison. Right now I am getting ready in a week or two to launch the annuals and am on the proverbial fence about wsing any this year.
Any thoughts and suggestions.
Thanks

Indynanny, this is the perennial (lol) question. In MY experience, most annual seedlings that one winter sows are smaller--initially--than those that you might start indoors under lights. The WS seedlings do catch up, but it might take a few weeks. (Of course, you also have to spend time hardening off the UL seedlings.)
The beauty of WS is that it is both inexpensive and effortless, compared to sowing under lights or purchasing plants. But if you want a very full display, early on, go to the nursery or grow your own under lights. Otherwise, you can rely on Mother Nature's timetable. And WS seedlings are VERY hardy and put up quite a lengthy display.
Just my humble opinion--others may have different experiences.
--

Indy: WS annuals might be smaller than nursery grown ones to start, but they catch up pretty fast. Here's one of my beds with it's summer progress

June 7

Karen

Nope, you are right, Cape. Even though this was my first year, I figured out the ones from inside have gotten planted already and the ws ones are still waiting a bit!!
don't you just love it tho. You'd think we'd have all figured the ws by ourselves!! We all know what a greenhouse is, that's all those jugs, just smaller!!!

July 4

I can't find a later shot of the whole bed, but here's one that shows a lot of it, shot from a different angle, on Sept 3.

The above results, remember, were during the summer of the worst drought I had ever seen in my 55 years. We didn't get the rain that Indiana saw. We finished summer with a 14 inch rainfall deficit. Given the fact that those flowers did as well as they did, I was more than happy with them. Not many people in this area seemed to have any flowers left by mid summer. I did!

Karen

That is so cool. I wish I could landscape like that. I'm one of those people where everything has to be in a straight line, and if you buy multiples, you buy 4 or 6.

Anyway, I love the way you have different flowers there together and not 3 lines of flowers

Looked at them some more. I can recognize most of them, but having trouble with the yellow. and the blue. Would you please tell me what they are.?

[quote[Not many people in this area seemed to have any flowers left by mid summer. I did![/quote]
You know, Karen, I noticed this myself--the WS seedlings that I planted, while small to begin with, seemed to go on much longer than the larger ones I put in from my under-lights or nursery grown annuals. I hesitated to say this because it sounded kind of dumb of me--maybe smaller seedlings just plain last longer in the garden--but I had what seemed to me an extended season of growth. When my window-box annuals from Agway were snaggly and tired, my WS seedlings in other planters were full and happy.

It seems to me it doesn't have to be an "either/or" thing. I have been planting under lights since 1972, and I have always loved it. It seemed like magic, brightened up the winter, and kept me with my nose in seed catalogs planning and dreaming.
Now, I think WS is magic too. Even more so, but I still love racing to the light stand in the morning to see what has germinated. So I think I have the best of both worlds.

Since this is only my third real year of Winter Sowing, my heart is still in my mouth waiting for sprouts. Finally, they have begun! The containers are in shade on the patio and are icy when nothing else seems to be. Now I look at them as I remove ice and think, "Look at the great stratification!" Inside sowing provides me with happiness, planting and puttering around for several months.

Karen That Sept pic is drop dead georgeous!!! Are you doing the same combination again this year? Did I see verbena bonariensis in there? Certainly a lovely bed for the drought conditions. I think I will do some profusion zinnia ws and think about some others.
Veronica

gloriag yes I too like the idea that we can have it all. I don't think I will be making as many trips to the nurseries this year unless it is just to get a fix. lol

Yellow flowers: The very pale yellow are coreopsis moonbeam. The very tall large yellow flowers are Rud. Irish Eyes, and the large flowered dwarf on the lower left are Rud. Becky decendents. All the other mid-sized yellow flowering bushy ones are melampodium, all volunteers last year!

The blue ones are larkspur gentian blue, seeds from T&M. They are now among my favorite flowers, a real electric blue.

And yes, the tall purple are verbena bonariensis. The red are emilia. There are lots of other things in that bed not visible at photo time- orange butterfly weed, potentilla, verbascum Southern Charm, agastache,et al.

Now you might understand my need to cut down on the amout of jugs I wintersow! My beds are already heavily planted. Some perennials will not return, I know. I'm counting on that.

Karen