When to start sowing?

I am going to try winter sowing for the first time this year because I have a ton of space to fill. I don't know when to start though! I am busy ordering seeds and figuring out what kind of containers that I will use but can't find any info on when I should plant and set my containers outside.
The main things I want to WS are ornamental grasses, agastache, penstemon, ice plant, chocolate daisy, echinacea, rudbeckia, heuchera, lavender, and salvia. Are any of things extremely difficult to WS? Anything that you would just buy as a mature plant at a nursery?
Sidenote: I do have a set of grow lights in the crawl space of my house. The previous owner of the house was using them to grow "god only knows" down there, tee-hee! So, I don't know how to use them but I could drag them out, set them up in my garage and try them if any of these seeds do better under lights.
So, any advice on when to start sowing and pointers on my individual seeds would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

dirttiger: You can start sowing anytime after the winter solstice. I usually begin with perennials in late January, after the holidays and my winter vacation are over. For my zone, it's better to wait to sow annuals until around March or April. If an unusual warm weather spell cause the perennials to sprout early, they're generally fine when the cold returns. But with tender annuals, if they germinate early, they're lost in the inevitable return to cold weather.

In Portland you are probably in a warmer climate zone (7?) so your schedule might be a little different. Folks closer to your location could help with that.

Karen

I am Zone 8, sorry I should have included that info! Is there anyone out there that is a zone 8 that can tell me when they start to sow?

You can definitely sow perennials in winter. Some people plant their annuals then, too. I will do a few then which I know to be pretty cold hardy, like petunias, poppies, bachelor buttons, and snapdragons. It's just the tender stuff, like zinnias, that I don't sow until closer to spring, around April.

For you, it would be much the same. Perennials and hardy annuals in the cold winter months. Whenever the weather breaks for you, starts showing signs of spring, start thinking about those tender annuals.

Karen

It is my understanding that you sow the seeds any time after winter has totally set in and early enough that they will go through the freezing process. Here is zone 4 I plant in late February. It seems that many people use the winter solstice as their date.

If you haven't already found this site it will answer just about any question you may have.

http://wintersown.org/

Sounds like a good excuse for a winter solstice 'pot' party...

Maybe I should rephrase that...a winter solstice potting party...

That is probably a safer way of saying it. You never know who is lurking out there.

LOL!! lurking;-)

Hi All:
Seven years ago I bought a house that was empty of perennial plants. That following winter to spring, I sowed 54 varieties of perennials indoors under light. I had 4, 4ft long shelves with plant lights. As soon as they were ready and the warm weather came, I transferred most them into my coldframe that I built. I gave my daughter some of each and others I planted in their permanent spot. Never again for lack of space.

Last fall I planted Oenothera, Aster alpinus, Echinacea paradox in the coldframe as a trial. To my surprise, they germinated the following spring. A few other varieties didn't. The Asters bloomed this past spring. The others will bloom next season.

This fall I intend to sow more seeds of those that require a period of warm and cold---stratification. I'm waiting for the weather to turn colder before I sow the seeds. I will sow seeds between now, up to March. I came across an article here that had links to sowing outdoors, by variety. Here is the address for those of you who want to sow seeds outdoors. An excellent site that gives germination temperature for many plants, including trees and shrubs.

http://tomclothier.hort.net/

I replaced the upper 4" with good garden soil to make a nice bed for the seeds. The photo is of my 7 year coldframe built from scrap lumber I bought at Home Depot. It is all ready to use. I also root cuttings in it during the summer. To keep animals out of the seed bed, I bought a piece of metal netting, the kind they use in cement. It will lay on top of the coldframe. I made a frame and attached shade cloth on it, then hinged the frame to the back of the coldframe.

I generaly start WS perrenials ,shrubs and trees in my unheated greenhouse in mid to late Dec. Ornamental annuals I wait until mid March. Edibles,such as tomatoes,peppers,eggpIants and herbs,I start in the house on a heat mat early to mid Feb. to be ready to move out to unheated greenhouse by 2 or 3rd week of March.

Peggy

Do you need to start them in a green house there? Mine just go out in a snow drift.

LOL...zen -- mine too. Just plunk'em out in the snow.

Milk jugs are my cold frames

I don't have to start them in the GH but I'm in a rural area and I've had trouble in the past w/ critters in my containers.

Before snow.


This message was edited Oct 28, 2008 6:46 AM

Guess I need to do that again.

After it snowed.

I want to try winter sowing this year but am not sure when to start in my area, Zone 8-9. I want to do perennials and native plants. I am saving pop and milk bottles. The place I want to start them is on the south side of my house. Here in the Houston area we never know how cold our winter is going to be or how long it will last. It has been known to be in the 80's in February! And, we have also had ice and snow in Feb. Anyone have any suggestions?
Bonnie

Check out this site.

[HYPERLINK@wintersown.org]

Winter - Jan. or Feb.- is a good time for anyone to start perennials, regardless of where you live. Actually, Trudi, the guru of wintersowing, says to start anytime after the winter solstice. She starts everything then, I think. I have come to wait until closer to spring to sow tender annuals. That's only because I have had them sprout in an early heat wave, then freeze when cold weather returns. For perennials, this is not an issue.

Fluctuating temperatures are good for those perennial seeds. Not an isssue. But if I were you, Bonnie, in Tx, I'd consider putting them either on the north side of the house or in a spot with dappled shade. In sun and 80 degrees, the temp inside the covered container gets much, much hotter. I've measured it with a thermometer, and it is amazing how hot it can get, and how fast.

Welcome to wintersowing, and I look foreward to seeing pictures of all your successes. This will be my 4th year at it.

Karen

Karen has good advise about waiting until January or February.

This will be my 4th year as well.

My first year of winter sowing I was sure I would get maybe 25% germination. Was I ever wrong. I had so many more plants than I had room for I was trading and giving away lots and lots of seedlings. I also had to do a lot of thinning in the containers to avoid tall spindly seedlings.

take your extra plants from WSing to your local farmers market,sell them then you'll have more money for your gardening O/C disease...LOL...it happened to you...it can happen to you*G*