Wintersowing in your zone

I thought, I'd start this thread, since we're getting ready to wintersow.
Give us the Zone you live in, and what you wintersow.
This could prove to be useful for a lot of people.

I will start with my zone.
Zone 4. Feel free to add, if you live in this zone also.
Cransbill
Rudbeckia
Gaillardia
Coreopsis
Foxglove
Aquilegia
Clematis
Hosta
Echinacea
Hollyhock
Calendula
Sweet William
Ok,now your turn.
Butterfly weed

Good idea burn.

These are seeds I successfully winter sowed last winter in Zone 3:

Blue Fescue
Gaillardia 'Goblin'
Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'
Shasta Daisy 'Alaska'
California Poppy 'Strawberry Fields'
Clarkia 'Confetti Mixed'
Phacelia 'Tropical Surf'
Scabiosa 'Oxford Blue' (germinated, but the seedlings drowned in flat)
Lupines 'Russel Hybrid'
Fox Glove 'Candy Mountain'
Bellis 'Rose Carpet'
Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise'
Oriental Poppy 'Fruit Punch'
Malva 'Zebrina'
Malva 'Brave Heart'
Monarda 'Superb '
Yarrow 'Summer Pastels'
Blue Flax
Bachelor's Buttons 'Black Ball'
White Pampas Grass (grew about a foot tall; not hardy for Zone 3)
Purple Cone Flower
Double Shirley Poppy Mix
Dianthus 'Splendour' Mix
Marigold 'Disco' Mix
Marigold 'Starfire'
Rudbeckia 'Spotlight'
Rudbeckia 'Becky' Mox
Hollyhock 'Majorette' Mix
Zinnia 'Diablo' Mix
Dahlia Unwins Mix
Bells of Ireland
Sanvitalia 'Yellow Sprite'
Schizanthus
Lavatera 'Silvercup'
Alyssum 'Avalanche'
Poached Eggs 'Sulphur Yellow'
Stock 'Dwarf Ten Week' Mixed
Lagurus ovatus (Hare's Tail grass)
Sweet Pea 'Pink Cupid'
Scarlet Flax
Pansy 'Show Swiss Giant'
Sunflower 'Teddy Bear' (Dwarf)
Snapdragon 'Panorama' F2
Sweet William Mixed Colors
Zinnia 'Pompon'
Alyssum 'Trailing Rosy Red'
Alyssum 'Snowstorm'
Morning Glory 'Blue Ensign' (dwarf)
Morning Glory 'Light Blue Flash'
Sweet Pea 'Sugar and Spice'
Joe Pye Weed

Thanks Joanne, hope others will pop in and give us their list.

Here's my list. --Ginny

Successes in zone 5b - mixed list of 2005/06 (great WS year) and 2006/07 (lousy WS year - too much warmth too quickly, followed by more hard freezes):

Annuals/Tender Perennials
=====================
Amaranthus caudatus
Calendula officinalis 'Citrus Smoothies'
Callistephus chinensis 'Hulk'
Callistephus chinensis 'Pavlova Dark Blue'
Coreopsis tinctoria 'Mahogany Midget'
Cosmos bipinnatus 'Double Click'
Lavatera trimestris 'Ruby Regis'
Lavatera trimestris 'Silver Cup'
Nicotiana alata 'Perfume Deep Purple'
Nicotiana sylvestris 'Only the Lonely'
Papaver lateritium 'Flore Pleno'
Papaver somniferum
Physalis franchetii
Portulaca grandiflora
Viola x wittrockiana 'Ultima Morpho'

Perennials/Biennials
================
Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl'
Alcea 'Queeny Purple'
Alcea rosea v. nigra
Asclepias incarnata 'Ice Ballet'
Asclepias incarnata 'Soulmate'
Asclepias tuberosa
Delphinium grandiflorum 'Blue Butterfly'
Delphinium grandiflorum 'Blue Elf'
Dianthus plumarius 'Velvet 'n Lace'
Digitalis, Excelsior Hybrids
Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan'
Geum 'Paso Doble'
Hemerocallis - various
Illiamna rivularis (became bunny food the same day it was transplanted - grrrrrrrr!)
Ipomopsis rubra
Lychnis coronaria 'Angel's Blush'
Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina'
Mirabilis jalapa
Monarda didyma 'Panorama Red Shades'
Nepeta parnassica
Papaver miyabeanum
Papaver orientale 'Beauty of Livermere'
Polemonium boreale 'Heavenly Habit'
Polemonium caeruleum
Polemonium pauciflorum 'Silver Leaf'
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm'
Clematis tangutica
Oryzopsis hymenoides
Verbascum chaixii
Veronica gentianoide

When do most of you start your seeds? Gonna try some this year.

Ann

Thanks for contributing, It's only my second year winter sowing, but I will start in January. I liked it a lot last year. So much less hassle, and easy on the budget.

I'm going to do some this year for the first time. Joanne & Theresa (Calgary) got me hooked. Got my wish list of seeds & going to order them within the next couple of weeks. I think I will plan to start them in March. We can get some wicked low temps (-30s) into March, so I think I will wait until Mid March & see how the weather plays out.

I started winter sowing on Feb 20th and continued until the end of March; well, actually put out the Joe Pyeweed in the middle of April. I started with perennials and biennials first, then hardy annuals, then the more tender annuals. The coldest night I put winter sowing jugs outside was -17C in February (it got colder than that later on of course). I'll definitely time my winter sowing so that I'm not putting milk jugs out on -30C days...I don't understand all the science behind seed germination, but I've read some stuff that suggests setting seeds out in moist soil in really cold temperatures could cause seed death. The question of course, is what is "really cold". I'm no expert, just my thoughts.

Joanne Ü

I usually start with perennials that require cold stratification in mid-December to end-January, other perennials and hardy annuals around mid-February to the end of February, and the rest of the annuals some time in March through April as I get time.

That is, I do it this way when I'm organized, and I have my best successes that way in my zone :-) When I just want to get them done I'm just as likely to try to put everything out all at once in January/February. Of course I get pretty mixed results then too.

--Ginny

See, I knew I would learn something here, concerning the time, you girls start your seeds. Maybe I should wait a little.

I dug out this thread from last year; lists a bunch of stuff we winter sowed from lots of different zones. Thought it might be useful....

Joanne

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/681812/

Thanks for the link Joanne. I seen some use the salad bowl, from McDo and BK. I used that too last year. The dome wasn't high enough though. I also use 2L Pop bottles.

Heres what Joanne is going to seed for me:(!)( I supply Jo with milk jugs! My shed is almost full at the moment)
Anagallis
Dwarf Annual CandyTuft
Aquilegia Green Apples
Astrantia Ruby Cloud
Pyrethrum
Scarlet Flax
Canary Bird Vine
Phlox of Sheep
and some Poppies I joint ordered with another from our little group ( The Fooly Grown Garden Group!) but I cant remember what I ordered.
Of course some of this will seed just fine if I throw it around in the spring - in particular I will scatter the Red Flax and Shirley Poppies.
And although I dont get catalogues and dont much do seed I will undoubtedly find a few more packets as I roam the garden centres! And if last year is anything to go by Jo will have so much that she will be begging people to take it!
And I have some special annual plants on order for some interesting containers .

I'm mostly using 2 litre Cranberry juice containers. Milk in Ontario comes in the jugs only if you buy it at convenience stores.

I like the 4 litre plastic milk jugs the best and I also use the really big salad green containers for short plants - alyssum did really well in them last year.

Carol - you're right about the begging part - I have over 150 packets of seeds already, and most of that will have to be winter sown because I only have indoor grow lights for about 6 flats worth of plants...
Seedlings anyone? LOL.


Joanne

Our milk gal jugs are white, sun can't get through. Will have to hunt for clear ones.
Lucky you, Carol, that JO will do that for you. Isn't she a doll? :-)
And guess what Joanne, I went back to the thread, you had link me to, and stumble on a (garden store-n-more). free shipping to Canada and US !!! Couldn't resist,bought some more, seeds of plants I didn't know existed. OH where...... oh where....... will I plant these, and where will I store them for winter protection? DH will have a fit, if I put any more plants in the garage.

I ordered many perennial seeds from gardens north when they went half price this spring and so will be wintersowing many more than last year. I am interested in what perennials bloomed first year from winter sowing--can you share this information?.

Last year was my first at wintersowing-- and here is a partial list of what worked well. I say partial because-- unlike some who keep amazing spread sheets-- I keep terrible records. I reconstructed this list from various scribbled notes and seed packets!

January and February:

red flax
godetia
clarkia double mix
centaura blue diadem
schizanthus
candytuft (annual)
daisy (Alaska)
echinachea (nice plants but did not bloom yet)
foxglove several kinds (did not bloom first year)
lupins (did not bloom first year)
salpiglossis
mint
rudbeckia various, some bloomed
poppies various
linnaria
catmint faasenini and 6 hills, bloomed late
parsley
nigella
malva zebrina
marigold Mr. Majestic
sunflowers various
lavatera various
campanula various (did not bloom yet)
buttercrunch lettuce
ornamental kale
cynoglossum
cosmos
dianthus siberian blue
calendula various
spinach
convolvulus

In April:

sanvitalia
zinnias various
verbena bonariensis
polemonium (plants were small and did not bloom yet))
lychnis awrkrighti (did not bloom first year)
sweet peas various
galliardia (bloomed late)
aster crego
nasturtiums various

The following did not germinate for me for whatever reasons:
columbine
salvia marble arch
california poppy
four oclock
blue flax
kochia
larkspur
annual phlox

I am anxious to see what works this year. I tended to plant in big clumps and thin out later. It was amazing what could germinate and then survive the freezes and thaws of our chinooks here! Great fun for the winter

Theresa




This message was edited Jan 3, 2008 1:36 AM

Nice list Violist thanks.
please come and share photoes of your success, I would love to see them.

These were some of wintersowing with an overwintering fushia. Unfortunately by late summer, I couldn't see my petunias anymore.

These Amaranth grew really big, I loved the color.

Burn, did you winter sow the amaranth?! Wow!

I have not yet figured out how to post photos. Some day soon. Technology is not my thing.

Theresa

This message was edited Jan 21, 2008 1:08 AM

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Violist ,Those one velvet curtain self sowed themselves, but I did wintersow love-lies-bleeding last year. I like the velvet curtain a lot better. But that's my taste.;

Hi folks I hope you don't mind that I join you here. I am curious. I have never winter sowed but I am interested in giving it a try - this is actually the first I have ever heard of it. I am in Ontario Zone 4.....

Have any tips you could give me on how to do this? When it is time to put them out? Any help and easy instruction would be great. Thanks.

Hi DawnLL; Wintersowing is very much fun. Saves you tons of money, and not as time consuming as the conventional method. Once you try it, you will be hooked. I've provided a link where you can find lots of information on it, they show you how easy it is. If you need seeds let me know, I'm offering them, for a SASE.
http://wintersown.org/

Sorry what does SASE mean? I have seen that a few times.

And thank you very much for the link :)

This message was edited Jan 27, 2008 7:54 PM

Self-addressed stamped envelope.

Oh goodness that link was so easy to read and follow - thanks for sharing it. I am certainly going to give it a try!!!

Can dwarf dahlia's be winter sown??

Dawn,
What's a dwarf Dahlia? Do you mean short ones? I winter sowed some "Unwins Mix" Dahlia seeds and had lots of happy little plants - they're pretty short; they were great in containers.

I'm going to winter sow lots of seed Dahlias this year:
"Bishop's Children", "Cactus Hybrids", "Red Skin", "Pompone", and "Collarette Mixed". Some of these might be fairly tall though.

Picture is winter sown annual Rudbeckias and some of the Unwin Dahlias....


Joanne

Yes Joanne those are exactly the ones I am talking about!!! Yay I am so happy. I am going to give it a try! Nice photo too!

Dawn are they seeds or tubers? Joanne just proved, it can be done with seeds., but tubers, to my knowledge, they're very tender and freezes easy.
As anyone done it with tubers?

Seeds!

I wouldn't waste a tuber trying it. Surely it would freeze and turn to mush.

Dawn,
Some of the flowers in the Unwins mix were purple; hilariously I gave those all away (they weren't in bloom at the time) and kept all yellow.

I got one really decent tuber from one of the plants I kept; I'm hoping it has some viable eyes (and makes it through the winter in storage)...

Hang in there Grow_Jo. I have faith in you :)

Very nice size tubers from seeds. Joanne

Thanks! I know, Bernadette, I thought it was amazing, myself. Mind you, first year I grew anything from seed, including Dahlias, so everything was amazing to me. LOL!

Joanne

Nice to be able to succeed like that.

Hey guys, thought I would hop in here and say thanks for your lists :-)) There are very helpful, it is my first year wintersowing and I have been a bit nervous to risk my seeds. Violist it looks like you had really great results with only a few jugs not germinating.

I am in zone 5 north of Toronto, and I have just started. I am going in this order, if anyone sees something wrong or risky please let me know, and thanks again for your lists, hopefully others will post more.
- I am starting with hardy tree, shrub and vine seeds (japanese maple, wisteria etceteras) 1st week of February
- Hardy perennials / herbs hopefully 2/3rd weeks February
- Half Hardy Annuals by end of February
- I was going to save tender annuals and tomatoes for a mid march start
- I am unsure about veggies other than tomatoes, but was thinking mid April

I think Grow jo mentioned seed cold shock. I was wondering about this myself, as I keep my seeds in a cold cellar at ~12C, but have pulled them all out to sort for sowing at they are probably closer to room temperature. What I am doing is putting the seeds I want to sow back in the cold cellar for a few days, then wintersowing in my garage as I find the tiem and leaving them there for a few days to a week before setting out, particularly if the weather is fierce. Not sure if this is of any value or if I am just adding extra steps for myself, but would love to hear from you all. Thanks again, all great information. KD