Winter Sowing... What's sprouting #3

wow... that is fantastic!! my ws'ed tomatoes did not germinate.. i think they were "cherry".
and yeaks... havent even started any marigolds yet... should get on that lickity split.

looks like a nice day... will be planting for sure...

OH... wanted to comment... I grew Penstemon Violet Dusk... both in the house on a heat mat and ws.
the inside ones germinated first, but the WS'ed ones are already bigger. it's like my inside seedlings have just 'stalled' out.... unless their roots are growing like mad....

another Oh... my "basket of Gold" [alyssum montanum] that i grew last year is blooming. YAY.
and the Heuchera Firefly. [i may have mentioned that above somewhere]

Teresa do you have pictures? I don't have anything that blooming right now except the bonfire euphorbia (quickly becoming one of my favorites). I have a few things popping up and I have no idea what it is. Some of my irises are getting buds. Here's a shot of the euphorbia. Its an older picture. Its a little bigger now.

Anita... i'll take the camera out in a bit. I do have a few things blooming. Though i needed to photograph the hosta i had to tear apart yesterday.... gotta get out of my jammies and put the sweats on to head outside.

I've been so excited. Almost all of my 120 jugs have sprouts. My sweet peas are growing through the hole and many of the others are begging to be set out. I got my beds ready and was going to plant out. Then Mother Nature entered the picture last night and changed my plans. I covered most of the jugs with a frost blanket, just in time. I usually don't bother, but so many of them have good sprouts and some are sensitive. Oh well.

It's supposed to warm up on the weekend, but maybe another storm next week. I'm having a bad case of zone envy.

Who'd have thunk you could be envious of zone 5! It's not tropically warm here or anything, but nothing like what you have. Chin up, it will be over soon.

Congrats on your blooms tcs, and sproutlings- slopesower. I love allysum. Gotta put that one in for next year!

Thanks for the pic of Euphobia Bonfire. I just ordered that in a co-op, plus E. Tiny Tim, and piced up Lime at a local nurseries. Thery're pretty intriguing plants.

I was pretty surprised at my tomatoes! I would guess the Amish heirlooms have self seeded under the same weather conditions I have here. Seems to me that region and weather probably play a role somehow in genetically determined germination time. ???

Hello all!


I plan to plant more sprouts today. If I remember correctly, most of the veteran WSers plant their sprouts in clumps. By planting in clumps, do you find that you lose some plants because of over crowding? I didn't know if it would be worth it to try to seperate the sprouts or make smaller clumps, maybe???

I made some smaller clumps but boy are they hard to hold together! Went in fine and are growing, but I'm doing larger next time.

I agree with clp ... when you do the smaller clumps, it does seem harder to keep them together.

Maybe if the plants were bigger, it would be easier to plant smaller clumps.

Thanks I think they will be okay. I was helping a MG transplant seedlings from her GH. She plants each individually. One of the packs I did yesterday had 74 seedlings in it. She thought my clumps would. Be too crowded and I might lose some. I think I would rather watch grass grow than to do that with each one of my seedlings. LoL

Makes me crazy just THINKING about do that!!!!!

... and you could separate each of them, plant them all and STILL have plant loss.

Clpgirl I'm with you. I like the idea of seperating a clump and planting it like that. Terese, you're right. I could do all that seperating and still end up losing some plants. That's extremely time consuming. I was done planting in 10 minutes.

I mostly just do the clump of seedlings planting with small, hard to handle seedlings that are best planted out early. If they're big enough, I'll typically separate them.

and... there are plants/seedlings that are easy to do one at a time. and others that it is almost impossible.

off the top of my head... just ones that i have worked with...

the obvious.... Salvias, ZInnias, marigolds, Holly Hocks, Malvas, et all [larger seedlings]
the obvious clumps --- ... Agastaches, Huecheras, Joe Pye Weed, Monardas...

It helps hunks to stay together if the soil is wet. I usually bottom water very well first, then dump out the whole blob on it's head into a flat. Flip it right-side-up, and cut into hunks with a knife. Usually works well.

Karen

Okay that's the method I will be using. I noticed in your pictures your flowers look thick. I like the healthy, thick gathering of flowers you get from the planting in clumps.

I did some planting yesterday as i knew we'd be getting rain over night.... worked like a charm... even the Asters i transplanted about 10 days ago have perked up.

Yesterday i planted a bunch of Salvias, Joe Pye Weed Gateway, Larkspur, Marshall's Delight Mondara, and NoID Monarda, Veronica Ironweed, Snow-in-the Summer, Wild Lupine,

Today I'm going to plant a few HH Black Current Whirl, and some Amaranthus -- i think it's the Hopi Red. I love those.

then in the AM heading out of town for a while... so i need to get as much done as i can.

I was going to take a 'head count' of what has not germinated for me, but i wont dump anything til at least mid-summer.

OH... if anyone starts a thread about.... WS whatcha planting?
add a link from here so i can find it.

I have 33 un-germinated containers.

Smooth Aster, BlueBird
NY Aster, Woods Purple
Aclaea Simplex, "Elstead"
NY Aster, "Professor Kippenburg"
Agastache, orange
Huerchera, TIramisu
Huerchera, Caramel
Sagae, hosta
Agastache, Apricot Sprite
Phlox, Peppermint Candy
Montana Cornflower
Obiedient Plant
Cup Plant
Sambucus nigra, Elderberry
Lantana
Purple Majesty Millet
Platcondon, Blue Balloon Flower
Cherry Tomato
Semi-Double Mix Poppy
Baptisia Australis, False Indigo
Dwarf Aster
False Indigo
Creeping Zinnia
coccinea - Lavender
Mexicana Limelight - salvia
x Hybrid "Mesa Purple" - salvia
Bonfire - salvia
Lade in Red - salvia
NoID Large Red - salvia
Aster, Ostrich Feather
Genitana Andrewsii
Gilliena Trifoliata
Gladiolus Imbricatus

Wanted to show you all my tomatoes and some chias (all sown Feb. 25-27). The one that look empty has a tiny seedling just pushing up.

More maters.

Chia "Shirley Mix" poppies

Chia Peach Delphs

Chia Evening Primrose Yellow.

nice chias!!

Last, Cosmos "Bright Lights" (I may have mixed the labels of the last 2, it's pouring right now and am NOT motivated to go check.... :)

Thanks-and too think I had no real belief this would work!!!

clp -- i think you are right on the mix up... those dont look like Cosmos ... and ironic.. i just sowed my Cosmos yesterday,

I did Bright Lights, Sensation Mix and Limara Lemon.

Here is my Larkspur Chia.

Terese sounds like you have been busy! We have been getting plenty of rain. Like you, I have been going out trying to get some things planted. I only transplanted the Cherry Brandy Ruds but I moved the Georgia Peach Coral Bells. They were not performing well. I moved them under a tree with some Hostas and Lamium. The colors are a huge contrast. LoL I don't know how its going to look in the heat of the summer but right now it seems BRIGHT. LoL I also moved my Euphorbia but they are not taking the move well. They are really drooping. I snapped a picture of the CB. These are one of my favorites.

Very pretty Anita.

Thank you Jnette! You can see them long before you reach my home. LoL

Terese, interesting to see we have several of the same things not sprouting. My Smooth Aster, NY asters, dwarf Asters, lavender Salvia coccinea, Baptisia, and Montana cornflowers, like yours aren't sprouting. I've started Baptisia before, and recall those being slow and germinating later, but I've never had any luck with hardy asters in the past either.

Anita, that bed is lovely! Love those colorful Heucheras, so nice to have lots of color even without blooms.

well, like i said Neil.. .i'm not dumping any containers until mid-summer probably.

didn't Karen say that she left a ungerminated jug over the winter only to have it germinate THIS year?

That was me, a jug of Columbine 'William Guiness' from last year I was about to dump a couple of weeks ago, to find 2 seedlings in it. Yep, I'll be holding on to mine for a good while as well.

Me, too. Sown last summer, it's sea holly. Catalogue said it's not an alpine and didn't need cold strat, but a winter seemed to help. Now, I have 3 teeny-tiny sprouts. (unless they're weeds!)

Karen

(unless they're weeds!)

LOL Karen... i've had that happen too.

Hey, I have a lonely ungerminated "William Guinness" jug -- guess I'll keep the faith for another month or 12. :-D

I have a goofy question...once you plant your seedlings, how often do you have to water before the plants are established? One of my chunks was starting to droop a little. We had a lot of rain recently and I was so sure they had planety of water. They are sitting in a full sun spot, so even though the weather hasn't been that warm, maybe their shallow roots were dry??? Its funny, that the bigger Ruds looked okay and even the other clumps of the Cherry Brandy. Only one of the clumps of CB looked thirsty.

How often you have to water depends on a lot of factors
amount of sun
amount of wind (i.e. evaporation)
depth of soil- deeper holds moisture longer
temperature, etc.

Most hos are easier to transplant if they're nice and wet. If they're too dry, the soil tends to crumble and the seedlings fall apart.

Karen