Starting Seeds in June

Can I start perennial seeds in June and have them big enough to put out in the fall? I live in zone 4/5 and purchased some perennial seeds at a discount price and thought I would go ahead and start them instead of waiting until the spring season of 2010.

What are your thoughts?

Deb,
As long as you can keep them cool enough you shouldn't have any problem. I've got several batches of Aquilegia, Anemone, Dicentra, Astilbe, Heuchera, Bergenia, Baptisia and a few others that I just started in the basement right now. By starting them now, you can guarantee that all will bloom next year, whereas not all perennials started in spring 2010 will bloom that summer. You can either keep them in pots all summer or plant them out into a small "nursery" to be dug and transplanted from this fall. Either way, make sure you keep them well watered and protected. If you keep them in pots, make sure to step them up into larger pots as they grow so you don't end up with a rootbound mess.

trc, do you transfer your started seeds to a nursery bed until autumn and then plant them into their final garden spot in September or so?

Or do you let them overwinter in the nursery bed and then plant them into the flower border in springtime?

I would like to try to get some perennials going now so that I have bloom next year, too.

Tabasco,
I actually do both, although I transplant more in the spring than in the fall. Often, I'm late getting summer germinated plants into the ground and I hate to dig them up and damage roots when they just get going good in the nursery, so I just leave them there until spring. If you transplant in the fall, you need to have 6-8 weeks of growth before a killing frost to ensure adequate root growth for overwintering. A lot of times, I'm either too busy in the fall, or haven't decided where I want certain plants, so I wait until spring. I've not had any problems with spring transplanting even early bloomers like Aquilegia and Dicentra.

Thanks.

Good to know how to do this. I would love to get really good at seed sowing and rooting perennials so I never have to go to the nursery again (not really!).

Judy

I tend to sow all of my perennial seeds during the summer, but I have a longer growing season than you have. You can also winter sow them. I find that the perennials bloom much sooner if I have started them before fall.
Linda