Help!!!! I have been looking for seeds to plant now in Sep for next year... I have been thinking that since black eye susans has tons of seeds and they multiply, what other seeds can be planted now. I did a google search and all that it comes up and plants that bloom in the fall... so I need your help and experience.
Thanks!
Seeds for Fall planting!
Here are a couple of quick Google Searches to get you started. I am most eager to hear what others offer from their wealth of practical, first-hand knowledge.
Interesting question, for sure.
http://www.google.com/search?&q=%2Bseeds+%2Bplant+%2Bfall
http://www.google.com/search?&q=%2Bseeds+%2Bfall+%2Bplanting
coneflowers seeds do well - just like BES. so does bachelor button, jacobs ladder, delph's, HH. The latter two I usually start indoors. the others i just bury a bunch of seeds where i want them to come up and wait for spring.
every time I do this... I end up pulling them thinking they are weeds... then I wonder what happened to those seeds I put in
:)
Things I found out: (American Meadow website )
1- The biggest advantage: Earlier Bloom
Like fall-seeded lawns, fall-planted wildflower seed has a chance to "settle" into your site during the winter, and is all ready to burst into growth in early spring. This is why fall-planted wildflower seed is up and in bloom about two weeks earlier than spring-planted seed.
Another big advantage: More Time in Fall
Every fall-planting advocate mentions it. In the fall, the gardener has far more time to get the work done. And this works for you in two ways. First of all, there is a longer period and far more "good days" for planting in the fall than during the tricky weather in spring. And secondly, the gardener always has more time during the fall than during the spring rush to get everything done after winter. (Many wildgardeners combine wildflower seed planting with fall bulb planting, and that's always a good idea. The times for both are identical.)
Easier weed control, too
Fall planting is done after your growing season has ended. That means any weed seed in your soil is dormant, unlike in spring when it's highly energized and just bursting to grow.
This dormant situation is a real help to the gardener. For example, if you clear your seeding site one weekend, and don't plant your wildflower seed until the next, that's fine in fall, and not fine in spring. Obviously, with the weed seed dormant, you can take your time. But in spring, it's necessary to clear and seed on the same day, because if you don't, the weed seeds (they're in ALL soil.) have a jump on the wildflower seed you're about to put down to compete with them.
With a fall planting, the weeds that do grow up in your flowers are easily removed when they appear as small plants along with your wildflower seedlings in spring.
The Facts on Fall and winter planting of Wildflower Seeds.
Remember, nature plants wildflower seeds in the fall and winter, when ripened seeds rain down from last summer’s flowers, the natural cycle is renewed. These fall-produced seeds all sprout the following spring.
Northeast, Midwest, and the Rockies: For hard winter areas, fall means a “dormant” planting of seeds. This means that after a killing frost, you put down your seed the same way you’d do in spring. This can be done anytime before your ground freezes. Fall planted seed is up and in bloom about two weeks earlier than the same seed planted in spring.
This is the list of plants I have found that can be planted in the fall...
Black-eyed susans
Painted Daisy
Gloriosa Daisy
Mexican Hat Flower
Blanketflower
Foxglove
Bachelor Buttons
Cosmos
Tickseeds
Bee Balm
Columbine
Pansy
Snapdragon
Poppies
How to do it:
You'll find all kinds of detail on Fall Planting under the "Quick Guides to Wildflowers" tab on our site. These Planting Instructions will give you a detailed account of "How to Create your own Wildflower Meadow."
But here's an abbreviated guide. The actual planting of your seed in fall is the same as it is in spring. It's just that the weather's usually better, less rainy, and you can choose the time.
1. Choose your site and best planting time.Full sun is best, and a "border area" between lawn and woods or a more natural area is perfect.
Planting should be done AFTER a killing frost in your area, or after you're quite sure the growing season has ended, and your seed won't sprout until spring. In heavy winter areas, that means from late September or October up until the ground freezes. (If you don't have much frost in your area, you should plant just before your rainiest season begins. South Florida plants annuals in the fall for winter bloom. Coastal areas on the Pacific can plant anytime during the late fall or winter.)
2. Clear the ground of existing growth (grass, weeds, roots, other plants in the area.) For small areas, this means turning the soil with a shovel, and then removing all the old growth. For larger areas, most wild gardeners use a rototiller. (If you don't own one, rental stores have them, or your local landscaper will be happy to help you.) If you till, till just deep enough to remove the old growth. Deep tilling tends to bring up more weed seed into the surface soil.
3. Spread the seed evenly over the bare soil. The best way to be sure it's even is to split your seed into two roughly equal parts in two buckets or cans. Then add a quantity of white builders sand (Use the clean sand used in children's' sandboxes) to each bucket and mix the seed well with the sand.
Then take your first bucket of sand/seed mix, and hand-broadcast it evenly over your entire prepared site. Next, take the second half and do the same, walking in the reverse direction. This makes it almost impossible to leave bare spots in your seeding, and assures even distribution of the various wildflowers in the mix you're planting. The white sand not only makes the seed easier to sow, but it also shows up on the dirt, to show you "where you've been."
4. Don't cover the seed, just compress the whole area. Once your seed is sown, it's important to "squash" the seed into the loose, bare soil. To do this for small areas, just walk over it, and your footprints will do it. Just make sure you compress the entire area. (Kids love to help with this.) For medium sized areas, we often lay down a piece of plywood, and jump on it. For larger areas, a lawn roller is the best. Even without being filled with water, they do a perfect job of "putting your seeding to bed for the winter."
5. That's it. Do not cover, and forget the birds if they arrive. Once your seed is compressed on the surface of the soil, you're finished. Do not cover it, Do not rake it. Leave peat moss and especially hay OUT of this project. They're not needed. In fact, even though hay is sometimes put on newly-seeded lawns, don't do that to your wildflowers. Hay is full of weed seed, and remember, you're not going to mow what comes up here, as you would a lawn. If you've planted a slope, you can put down WEED-FREE straw if you can get it to prevent erosion during the winter. But if you've compressed the soil well, most inclined sites will be just fine through the winter.
The only thing you might notice after all this is that some birds may arrive and begin pecking at (yes, eating) your seed. It that happens, don't worry. It almost always happens to our plantings, and even if it's a flock, they are never able to eat enough to put a dent in the meadow results.
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What to expect in spring
When the weather warms in spring, you'll notice your seed sprouting early, just like fall-planted grass seed. Usually, you won't have to water, since spring weather is almost always wet enough. But if you suddenly see your little seedling area dry out, water immediately. No matter when you plant, your wildflower plants are the most vulnerable when they're very young.
Normally, they'll be just fine and bloom should begin in as little as 5 weeks after you see the first seedlings. (Some wildflowers bloom very quickly.) Pull unwanted weeds as they appear, and as the spring and summer weeks go by, you'll see more and more species, and more and more color appear in your meadow. By July, you'll be taking in armloads of cut flowers, and giving bouquets to friends. That's the great joy of a wildflower planting.
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I am going to try... lets see if it works for me....
well I know the pansy, snapdragons, foxgloves work well this way.. i have some that usually self seed along with my blanket flower, straw flowers, cockscomb, and the love lies bleeding
and the good thing is I can spot most of these now... and won't pull those
going to have to try the mexican hat this year... I always treat them like annuals... but going to plant some in the garden .. I would imagine if they self seeded you would have lots of them
2 years ago I threw some foxglove seeds under the trees behind my yard... they bloomed like crazy the following year.. and all I did after they set seed was flick the stalk with the seed pods... and they were all over again this year... just remember most bloom every other year
great thread...I know columbine and cosmos work this way. I am going to try the foxgloves. I'll direct sow some this fall and wintersow the rest. I'm thinking agastache can probably fall into this group as well.
Thanks, Kassia!
Here is another short list of seeds which like to be winter-sown from alchemy-works.com:
Here is the link to that webpage. Has an information page on each one listed below:
http://www.alchemy-works.com/fall_planting.html
Anise Hyssop
Belladonna
Betony
Black Cornflower
Black Henbane
Black Nightshade
Blue Dogbane
Calamus Root
Climbing Nightshade
Columbine, Wild
Cowslip
English Bluebell
Green Wizard Coneflower
Grey Sage
Harebell
Heather
Hellebores
Hops
Italian Cypress
Jack in the Pulpit
Old English Lavender
Lily of the Valley
Monkshood
Mandrake (Black, White)
Masterwort
Moonwort
Motherwort
Mouse-eared hawkweed
Mugwort
Myrtle
Penny black nemophila
Poison Hemlock
Pokeweed
Red Pasque Flower
Rose Milkweed
Rowan
Russian belladonna
Sage
Tansy
Valerian
Vervain
Virgin's Bower
Wild Rose
Wolfsbane
Hey, great... I have some of those... I just saw some of the candy lilly pods open today...
Its interesting ... I will definitely plant some seeds in 2 raised beds I have that are empty at the moment. my trial beds...
I have tons of seeds I never planted... I am actually going to wait another 3 weeks to do it... well, I am not sure I really need to wait. Datura is a plant that the seeds are already falling out the pods... and they multiply like weeds...
Allison, I never had luck with foxgloves... this year I got some already started from the someone at the RU and they are huge... I hope they will bloom next year! now I want flox... lol....
I planted candy lilly last year (seeds ) in May and they grew and even flowered in the fall. This year the plant grew so much and right now there are about 15 pods with several seeds. I kept them all. and today 3 pods were open. I collected them and I am going to plant those...
ah, another plant that self sowed were nasturtions - I had several volunteers this year. And the thing is I have already seen some seeds that are alredy "planted" by nature. really interesting... all the cosmos this year were volunteers also...
Cleomes - they also came back...
Kassia those might be the foxglove I winter sowed last winter.... and brought to the RU
the milk jug was full of them... and all i did was drop the seeds in and left them out till spring... they are so easy that way
they don't mind being pulled apart to thin them out when the time comes
I saw a lot of chatter about winter sowing last spring - how is this done? do you simply have a milk container cut and filled with some dirt and drop the seeds in?
There so much to learn about winter sowing. Last year was my first attempt and thanks to the help I got here I did well. Suggest that you go to the wintersown forum here and look at the stickied links. Lots of great info there.
Also this site is great to help you get started-
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/coldsow/all/
Lesson learned for me was to make sure I made big enough holes on the bottom for my jugs to properly drain. The first batch I did only had slits and ended up molding. Anita provided a great how to somewhere that has great pics.
here is another that might help... I thought it was pretty easy... cut the jugs almost in half... cut holes in the top and bottom and a few on the sides of the bottom... fill with mix..(i put polymer gels in mine) add seeds.... water.... tape the thing closed .... mark it... done
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/787474/
Today I saw the many new purple cone flowers that started from seeds from the plant last year... really a lot of them... really encouraged... ... and tons of seeds on the purple cone flowers also... I just spread them around...
and have 2 more seed pods open in the candy lilly if they all make it my garden my look really filled up for next year...
really planting and rearranging things around... of course I have several plants that were planted in the wrong place and I am having to fight with those plants to dig them up! but I love it...
thanks for the advice on winter sowing - i'll be trying this on a few that i have had trouble with inside under the lights.
This is great info. I now have to go thru all my seed packets and see which ones I can put down now.
Yesterday was another great day spent outside.... I was totally "mud girl"... but I have some areas cleaned so I can sow some seeds!!!!!! hope they grow! well they better!!!!
I wonder if 4 o'clocks could also be added to the list. My huge plants has tons of seeds already falling all over!
I heard they can self seed... mine never did... I have had them in the same bed for 4 years... no volunteers here
What a great thread this is. I'm glad I found it. Kassia, you have put a ton of infrmation here for all of us. Is it true that you can do the Cosmos this way? I fell in love with cosmos this season.
wha - here is the way I do my containers.... http://www.lakehousecreations.com/wintersowing_directions.htm
I would also check out the wintersowing forum here at Dave's
My cosmos run rampant and all I did was pull some from grandmom's garden in the fall and literally threw them on the ground in my garden. That was probably 20 years ago.
One of the benefits of not dead heading in the fall. Or, one of the curses.
Perhaps, then, I should look for Cosmos sprouts in the spring?
Maybe, hedge your bets this year .... leave some, and collect some for next spring. Proof will be in the pudding!
Anita, beautiful work, the flowers the cards all. would you share how you get more than one picture onto a larger picture. Thanks Helene
Thank you! I use this program - http://www.lumapix.com/ to do the photo collages.
I am glad this a thread that you guys like it... I think I am finally coming to that place where I really want to enjoy my garden and not work so much... I hope all is planted this year... and next year will be just sit and watch it grow.... (dream on)
My cosmos this year were all volunteers... I will definitely plant more cosmos seeds this month!
Like a gardener can sit idly by ..... HaHaHa .....
:-)
If we even get to sit, willie, it is never 'idly'! I knwo for me that it's a frustrating day when I can't get iut into the garden at least once. And I haven't been out there yet all week!
oh Candyce the only thing I did yesterday was to water and take pics... I don't really call this doing much!!!!
To me, getting out to take pictures entails a lot, just making sure that everyone indoors is either napping or being well-supervised. That's a rare ocurrence.
Ha ha - tell me when you get to that point, Kass! I've been saying that for years now. This time of year, I always shake off the seeds from my poppyseed rolls outside. So far, no luck.
maybe being baked .... no longer viable
:)
Ah what a dream!!!!
I remember when I first started gardening and I answered some survey that asked how many hours I spent gardening per week. I said about 3 hours - and in my head it was a good amount... and I honestly kept thinking "who will ever spend more than 8 hrs per week?" well, by the end of last summer I was doing at least 16 hrs per week! and this year I did about the same... with the exception of the weeks that really rained... but last weekend I spent at lease 24 hrs between Friday -Sunday... actually I when I went inside it was already dark...
I hope to at least reduce that... you know how many times I just sat down and was lazy outside this past summer???/ once... and my neighboor Russell kept teasing me! but I did sit down with a glass of lemonade and a book... II loved it!!!!! I want a swing chair... and a hammock... and a lounge chair... and of course I want to be able to take a nap one day! yes... I am dreaming!!!!
First seed order has arrived ..... ut oh!!
S-E-E-D-S!!!! Yea!!!
I have already started my journal ... didn't even make a dent in the seeds I have though... it takes a while
http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/sj/onewish1/3959/
That's an amazing layout, Allison. I love that 'Happy Ring' cosmos. It's gorgeous!
me too.... it was one of my best bloomers this year
Do you know if you can winter sow lupine?