Upstate New Yorkers? I'm in Albany and would like ideas

Hi - getting ready to move into a new house in mid-April. I am more excited about starting the yard than the house :) I am relatively inexperienced with most of these, except the MG's.

I have the following in my "box of stuff to start" and would welcome any suggestions or ideas:

Tiger Lily
Cardinal flower
Bells of Ireland
Morning Glories
Irises
Hostas
Cleomes
Cosmos
Gladiolas

Any other ideas? My yard is pretty much sunny except the north side which is hopefully going to be hosta heaven, nothing started yet. Which of these are better for starting inside?

What flowers are other people in the area successful with?

Are these all seeds you plan to start? Some of them are not very easy for a beginer. I'd get the hosta going ASAP. The seed doesn't stay viable for very long. The plants take a couple of years to gain any size too. I planted some last year from seeds and they were still real tiny by the end of summer.

The Tiger lily and iris might be difficult to germinate depending on the species. Many lilies require a warm-cold-warm stratification period. And when they sprout it could be a few years before you'll see flowers. The same with your iris... some species sprout easier than others but they will be probably 2 years before flowering.

Bells of Ireland require a cold stratification. You could plant them now and place the container outside for it's chilling period. They should sprout when temps get warm enough.

Cardinal flower seeds are very tiny. Don't cover them with soil. I think they will benifit from a couple of weeks of cold too. When I grew them from seed they flowered the second year.

Cleome was a big stickler from seed for me. I know some people say they have them come right up ... but I could not get them to germiante after several years of trying. When I finally got them to sprout it was with fluctuating temps. Cool nights and warm days. I put the flat in the fridge every night for about 2 weeks. Then when I left them out they sprouted nearly 100% in just a few days.

Cosmos is very easy. Just plant them and they will grow. I'd wait until 6 weeks before your last frost date. They grow fast. Same with the cleome... about 6 weeks early.

sbarr, are you sure you are a zone 4? That is pretty cold. What is your average low temperature?

Your best bet first is to check out the "plants database" here at DG and see what the pros have to say. If the list you gave are all seeds and I am assuming that, you have your work cut out for you. I don't know about all the seeds but you best get going on some of them like the cleome, morning glories and even the cosmos. Be sure to soak your morning glory seeds in some warm water overnight, I then place them in a damp paper towel in a plastic bag till they sprout then plant the sprouts. Check out the hosta forum, use this wonderful site!!

I live one quarter mile west of Beautiful Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes area of NY and am blessed with a zone 6 garden because of a southern exposure. I'm not sure if you are as dry "drought" as we have been the last couple of years, if so you might want to think of plants that will not need a lot of water. Cone flowers, lavenders, yarrows.

Have fun!! as hard as this is to understand don't try to do to much to fast you will just frustrate yourself. Been there done that. Let me know if you need more help.
--Joy

poppysue: Sounds like I'm an overly ambitious novice! :))

Hostas are 1-2 eyes, luckily not seeds
Irises are rhizomes (probably an inch across).

The lilies were ones that I collected in the park just before they tore down the plants, so I have no idea if they will work.

Bells - Weather here is ranging from about 32-50 right now, so it might be a decent time to start the bells outside in a pot, keeping the pot near the house, and bringing in if it gets extremely cold. Sure can't trust the weather here!

cleomes - I did purchase a small packet of yellow ones, so want to have good luck with them - they seem to be the hardest to find. I have the little peat pellets that swell, so that might make good candidates for storing in fridge, then transplanting. Plus I also collected hundreds of the whites and pinks from the yard of a friend.

Joy: Thanks for the encouragement. Maybe I am wrong about the zone - perhaps it is 5. The maps I have seen show me to be right on the edge. Or maybe it's that I am originally from Austin, TX and still think of this as the tundra. Average Low temp here is ...probably 10-15 - doubt this year is a good indicator.

Have had pretty good luck with MG's - collected a few hundred Grandpa Ott's from last year and hoping that will go well.

Everything is seed/bulb except the hostas and iris, hopefully have a fighting chance with those.

Seneca lake is lovely - drove out there last fall for the wine tastings, had a great time!!

I will go check the plant database.

Oooohhh yellow cleomes! How exciting! You will have to let us know how they do. Those peat pellet thingies can stay kinda soggy. Don't over water them. I think the yellow cleome is a prairie plant and would rpobably prefer to be on the dry side. Check out the coke bottle method on the propagation forum. I've had very good success planting seeds in these bottles and just letting mother nature do the stratifying. You might want seek out Trudy's Winter Sowing instructions if you've never seen them. I know they've been posted here a few times but on Garden Web she's got quite a following.

This is getting exciting. I can see it now - only having three bottles (I just checked), I will have to start competing with the homeless people in the neighborhood who scavenge for 2 liter bottles when recycling containers go out each week. *grin* - have been going through the journals, and starting to get an idea of how I might accomplish getting more organized.

sbarr,I live north of Syracuse and we are zone 5 so most likley you are 5 or possibly 6.it all depends on what area your in.There are tons of plants you can grow there.Just different from Texas.