Winter sowing - 2010 - what's sprouting?

FWIW, I had zinnias, petunias, and cosmos that sat with snow cover for three days, didn't faze them. The jugs are sitting against the wall of my house, but it's a north wall, not a sunny south.

Cool! Good to know Zinnias are that tough! I knew the other 2 were pretty tough, but have always given Zinnias protection.

Birder... I think repetitive is good.

Celene... when your Cosmos were covered in snow, it was just the containers, right - not the actual seedlings?

a few yrs back when we got our COLD snap in April... I had cosmos that did keel over due to the cold. If your containers were wrapped in a blanket of snow, that would protect them from the cold weather. That yr we dipped into the low 20's and some of my annual didn't make it.

Thanks all! I want to make sure I have all of my bases covered. LoL this WS is so addictive. A freind of mine was interrogating me last night about what I planned to do with all the plants in the jugs. LoL I had to explain that I planned to make more gardens to put them in. When guests see the jugs they really question my sanity. I guess part of my determination is to rpove I'm not insane just a gardener lover.

I got a touch of jugeye this morning and I have good news!!!! Out of 36 containers, I have 7 that have sprouts, black hollyhocks, malva, chocolate orange ruds, burgundy gallairdia, blue delph and my favorite cherry brandy rud. And I think there's one that lost the name. Did any of your containers form a ball of soil in the middle of the container? Most of these containers were started in either December or January.

Hooray! Diamond. More sprouts will come. You know, "If you W.S. it, it will sprout!"

LoL thank you Birder! I can hardly wait!

Radicle, man! (root, that is) It looks like my columbines are starting to germinate. I can see that the seeds have expanded and some of them are sending out their first root.

Yes, the snow was on the jugs and not directly on the seedlings. Not a very scenic picture, but what can I say :)

speaking of what's sprouting, how early do you all start transplanting into the garden. The accuweather 15 day forecast is looking very nice and making me think dangerous thoughts (i.e. itching to plant things out sooner than I probably should =X).

I am dividing perennials now - many are just breaking out of dormancy. I have planted pansy outside around the first of April for several years now. I plant these in containers where the woodchucks won't find them, and mulch with pieces of broken flower pots, crockery and stones to keep the squirrels at bay.

As a test I planted a few salvia "Artemis" seedlings yesterday to see what happens. The seed packet identified them as winter hardy, so I speculated that this might work. I have more to put out later if these fail.

FOTV, the Poached Egg I mentioned is Limnanthes douglasii http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1904/ , aka Meadowfoam. They're supposed to attract hoverflies so i'm going to plant them all over the place, plus probably bring one in as a house plant.

What are hoverflies?

grrrlgeek, Thanks for the add'l info. What a sweet looking plant.

Just noticed a few sprouts of perennial Verbena and 'Husker's Red' Penstemon this afternoon.

Hoverflies like aphids.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-28_hover_or_syrphid_flies.htm

I know. I'll try to resist the urge as long as possible. Still have several beds to prepare so I can keep myself busy for the next few weeks.

Things that have sprouted in my jugs here in zone 6b:
Achillea “Flowerburst Red”
Delphinium “Centurion Gentian Blue”
Delphinium “Centurion Sky Blue”
Delphinium “Connecticut Yankee”
Delphinium “Double Blue Lace”
Delphinium “Centurion Royal Purple”
Delphinium "Magic Fountain cherry blossom/white bee"
Delphinium "Magic Fountain Dark Blue/White Bee"
Delphinium "Magic Fountain Lilac Pink/White Bee"
Digitalis purpurea "Camelot White"
Digitalis purpurea "Snow Thimble"
Penstemon heterophyllus “True Blue”
Pulmonaria angustifolia
Thymus serpyllum “Mother of Thyme”
Verbena bonariensis
Veronica "Sightseeing Mixture"

Still waiting for these to sprout:
Aquilegia alpina
Astilbe "Amethyst"
Columbine "Origami White"
Columbine "Tower White"
Hibiscus "Disco Belle White"
Lobelia "Fan Blue"
Lobelia cardinalis
Lobelia "Compliment Mix"
Prunella “Freelander Blue”

PGT: someone likes Delphinium!! I like them too but can't grow them here---too much heat and humidity. I grow foxglove instead. It's the closest plant that looks like Delphiniums. Good for you to have so many flowers sprouted so far. I'm still contemplating ordering a few more seeds. I think the Columbine 'Dwarf White' looks so cute! http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/perennials/columbine.html You have to scroll down. I noticed Dollar Store has some nice looking Columbine seeds for a dollar. I need to get back in the store and buy some of the seed.

In past years I have planted out hardy annuals and hardy perennials very early, probably around now. They did fine.

Karen

Karen... do you think you can plant out for zone5 now?

I think you could, as long as you are certain that the plant is hardy. e.g. my larkspur volunteers stayed happy in below zero temps all winter. It's a hardy annual.

I think anything that's big enough to handle and is a hardy annual (like poppy) or hardy perennial (like echinacea) would most likely be fine. Of course, there are never any guarantees. In wintersowing, Mother Nature always has the upper hand.

Karen

birder,
Yes, I LOVE delphinium. I planted some from seed last year, and got some small blooms, and was hoping for beautiful blooms this year, but I don't think that any of them came back. If my new ones don't survive this year, I think I'll have to throw in the towel and stick with larkspur :(

how do you figure out what's a hardy annual? I understand that certain plants reseed themselves and the plant itself doesn't survive the winter but usually the hardiness zone only tell you which zone it can survive in.

Boy, I can't imagine why delphiniums wouldn't grow big time in zone 6!! My sister's are beautiful in zone 5. They are old plants and keep seeding new ones that come up all around. She gives them to the women for their plant sales. So, I don't think it is too cold for you.

I don't grow them because the wind breaks them off so bad. Maybe they need calcium or something. Don't know. But they do grow for me.

Jnette,
I would have thought they'd be just fine, too. But, I've been looking for their leaves coming up, and I don't see them. Most of my other perennials are already up (like columbine, dicentra, geranium, lupine, daisies, campanula, foxglove, phlox paniculata, sedum, etc), but I don't see any delphiniums! It's making me a little crazy, actually.

Did your ground freeze hard and deep like mine did? Well, guess what? My helebores that always come up thru the snow are just now coming out of the ground. I saw them yesterday!! It was just too cold here and we did not get any snow. Now if you got snow, but it froze hard first, the snow isn't going to insulate them like it would if we get snow first and then it freezes. I just think this is the weirdest year and am not expecting anything normal.

I just ran out in a hail storm and put all of my jugs under the table. It was coming down so hard that if anything was up it would have bombed it. Oh, BTW, I finally got some ageratums up.

This was a weird winter. My SO thought I was crazy when I complained there was no snow to cover the plants. Some of them I think got too dried out, and my Winter Aconite never came up. The crocuses look nice though.

You were right gg. Did your ground freeze? My ground froze so hard and deep that my heleboreus are just now coming out of the ground. They normally bloom thru the snow. We didn't get any snow this year. Actually, I was worried that I had lost them, so really happy to see them coming up. BLOOMS!!

our ground normally freezes up here in N. IL... grrrrl is a bit North and East of me... our ground here has been thawed for at least a month now.

I get a few more jugs, 1-3 a day of new germination. I've begun my annuals, may be a tad soon... but it's been warm, with 70's tomorrow... long range forecast has 60's for next week... i can handle that.

Over the weekend we had a cool spell, but it warmed back up yesterday and several more jugs germinated. Gentian, Prunella, Geum, Milk Thistle, Clasping Coneflower, Dalea purpureum, Shooting Star, and another Penstemon showed up yesterday. Some more annuals are sprouting too, Ageratum, Plains Coreopsis, and Petunias. I'm excited about the Ageratum, never grown those from seed before!

re Ageratum .... I thought that was a perennial.

OH... i guess i have HARDY Ageratum. it IS very pretty. I love mine.

I love the perennial form too. I've got some of that, and it blooms late in the season. This is the annual form that just sprouted, Leilani Blue from the Piggy Swap. I think it came from Bluespiral, and she said it reseeds for her. I hope to have that color through the summer!

Funny, my ageratum just sprouted too. I probably got some of the same seed that you did. Are you saying it is a perennial? That would be wonderful.

Jnette, I'm pretty sure 'Leilani Blue' is annual, but I do have the perennial form. I can save seeds from it this fall for you, or send you a division this summer if you'd like.

Anita: Since no one answered your question regarding what makes a hardy annual, I will try.
Hardy annuals are annuals that can take a lot of cold weather. A lot of times the seed catalogues will tell you if it's a hardy annual.
Here's a list of hardy annuals: http://www.thompson-morgan.com/info/index.html
and another: http://www.thompson-morgan.com/info/index.html Please note the second list is for winter sowing.
I hope this helps and maybe someone else can add more to this answer.

If I had it last year, I go by how it did when it started to get cold.

Birder, I always order several seed packets of annuals from T & M each year, many of which I then WS, , but I never knew that I could type in "hardy annual" or "winter sowing" onto the Thompson & Morgan website and get a list of specific seeds! How great is THAT! Thank you for posting this information!

OH.. i forgot to mention... my Darwins Blue has germinated!!
Veronica spicata 'Darwin's Blue

I hope it's a first year bloomer.

Woot! Papaver sonmiferum "Lauren's Grape" sprouted in the middle of five-day stretch of dark, cold, RAINY weather. Go figure.