Winter sowing in the Carolinas

Hemophobic- I wintered sowed ALOT of plants for the first time and had good success rate. Most of what died was becuase I didn't have the time to tend to so many but quiet a few made it into my mom's mother day garden I started for her on mother's day with all the WSowned plants I started from seed. Good luck and have fun WSing. :o))

r30

R30: Thank you for the encouragement. I have now a total of 40 jugs of WS'd seeds and so far only the mixed gaillardia and the Georgia asters have sprouted. I know some of them will wait until spring to really start popping, though, so I'm being as patient as I can. If everything germinates, I'll have more plants than I can shake a stick at!

Angie

We will all want to come and see your garden this spring. :-)

Ardesia: Pray that DH's patience and back hold out or that he doesn't divorce me when I tell him that I have yet more beds in mind ^_^

Seriously, if I get all the beds redone I'll have plenty of plants to go in them and some left over, I hope, for new areas. I'll post photos so you can critique my efforts.

Angie

Has anyone tried WS-ing Larkspur (Consolida ambigua) in our area? On the back of the seed packet it says,"Does best where summers are cool."

I would say that definitely we do not have cool summers. But you know that you can try something and it might do okay for you. I just wondered with your experience and knowing our climate, did it work okay? I was going to grow it on the north side in the shade away from our rabbits because Larkspur is poisonous.

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seed packets can be confusing to winter sowers.

Larkspur are perfect for wintersowing and will reseed to return the next year taller and more vigorously. They do bloom when it's still cool -- much like Calendula, California poppies, and lettuceleaf poppies.

Without looking at my records, I'd say they can bloom as early as March, but they really shine in April. By the end of May, though, they'll be finished with the show, but it's glorious while it lasts. I just yank out the finished plants.

For your markers: Have you tried using plastic disposable knives that you can buy in packs at the dollar stores ? I write on the flat end with a permanent marker (fine tip). and stick the other end in the plant. Has worked good so far.

This message was edited Feb 10, 2009 7:10 PM

BSD: I've used the knives and spoons, but I didn't use the paint pens, so the labels eventually faded, but the knives and spoons themselves worked great!

I have even used coffee stirrers to mark the spot of a plant. Sometimes the plant will end up with no foliage in the heat of the summer and you don't know exactly where it is. I will mark it with a coffee stirrer until it re-emerges if I have to.

Looks like I'll be able to sow more WS ing than I originally thought. Great!!!

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I now have bronze fennel and oriental poppies sprouting! This WSing does work! I'm sold.

Congrats on your new babies!

I've discovered that Deco Art paint pens work much better than Sharpies; they don't fade at all.

Because I don't like the look of plant labels, I try to note where I've planted the seedlings on the spreadsheet I use for tracking winter sowing dates. Of course, in the years I've been winter sowing, my computer has croaked twice now, and I've lost the dern spreadsheets, but never mind that.

Can't wait to see your garden this summer, Hemophobic!

Fleurs: Since 2 days ago, I have added sprouts of Salvia viridis and Clarkia confetti! I'm so tickled, I could just turn blue! Whee! I hope I don't kill the poor little things when I transplant them this spring.

Fleurs, Just a thought ! I don't like the markers sticking up everywhere, so I use the clear plastic forks that I wrote about and use the Sharpie markers. I will try your Deco art pens. Thanks for the idea. My smart Hubbie called me to the garden today because he said I had plastic forks sprouting in the garden.

This message was edited Feb 14, 2009 10:25 PM

Growing plastic forks? A new business perhaps? :-)

I love the deco pens; they never fade.

BSD, I'm such a hypocrite! Sure, I may not have markers visible (sometimes I bury them near a plant), but there are all sorts of plastic wintersown containers all over the back yard.

Thank heavens the homeowners association police don't look back there...

LOL, if they ever came in my yard I would be evicted from the neighborhood at once.

I successfully WS'd some species canna seeds for a propagation presentation I am doing later this month; they are looking great and will make a terrific demonstration. They weren't fazed at all by the cold weather. Now I have to add a section on WS'ing to my talk.

Update on my WS. Here's what's sprouted so far:

Gaillardia, mixed
Gaillardia, burgundy
Georgia Aster
Aster `Ocean Star'
Bronze fennel
Oriental poppy `Brilliant'
Myosotis
Rudbeckia `Irish Eyes'
Salvia viridis `Palisades'
Clarkia `Confetti'

I'm so excited! Never would have believed this works.

Congrats, Hemophobic!

Thanks, Fleurs. This is like Christmas morning every time I see some new sprout!

Congrats, Hemophobic!

Almost all of mine have sprouted. :)
Haven't taken a real inventory to see who the slow pokes ( or no-pokes) are.
It it stops raining, I may go out and take a closer look.

Deb

Good job Angie! Last year was the first time I w/s and it's just too cool to see it actually work. I just noticed sprouts in some of mine a couple of days ago, still many to go, though. I did...ahem....give them some compost/organic fert tea cause I was getting antsy...lol!

I meant to ask Deb, how have your astilbe seeds done? I sowed some but no action yet, I still have a huge bag full to sow from my plants last year.....

I love larkspur but have always had trouble getting them established from seed. Each year I have started them in December, they germinate, but only get about 6" tall. The blooms are never pretty. At Moore Farms in Lake City, their front entrance is a field of bealutiful 18-24" Larkspur. I assume they self-sow each year. So--------is that the secret ? Once you get them establshed you will have plenty ? If they can grow them in Lake City I should be able to do the same.
Got any ideas?

Self sowing seems to work really well with larkspur. I bought some a couple of years ago for barrel containers and they have come back every year, looking great

Tropicanna, did you buy the plants or did you start them from seeds?

I did buy the plants. I feel pretty confident though that if they were wintersown and transplanted in big clumps they would do well. I don't really maintain the containers so they don't get disturbed at all. Are you direct sowing in December or growing indoors to transplant?

Direct sowing in December. Our weather is so strange that I am beginning to think the poor little things (seed, bulbs, and plants) don't know what to do. It will be 60-70 degrees for a few days and then it drops 20-40 degrees for a few days.

Trop: The Astilbe have sprouted. They are still very tiny, but so far-so good. :)
Deb

Here's what my WS jugs look like today:

Mine look like that too. I feel like I should brush the snow off them because they are going to get too soggy!!! Or maybe bring them inside and put them under lights ...............?!?!? They're going to die for sure!!!!!!!!! LOL

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Karin: I believe in tough love. If they had self-seeded, they would have to live through it, so they're on their own out there. The snow as it melts will be good moisture (keeping fingers crossed).

Angie

I think the snow will insulate them. That's a good thing, much better for them than 70 degree days this time of year.

Goodness sakes, Karin...don't bring them in the house! You are making me laugh and you're not even here;)
Bev

Just checking in to say that all my WS sprouts are alive and well. Checked on them just awhile ago and they are all still safe. Okay. I'm sold on winter sowing. Great concept!

Angie

It had to happen. There's always one where the tag falls off. Cannot remember what this one was.
I don't suppose anyone recognizes these little seedlings?
:)
Deb

Some kind of Daisy maybe?

Painters tape on the container with the name, date, etc. written with a DecoColor pen works for me - but only when I remember to do it. ;-(

LOL. Ardesia that's exactly what I had used on these. I had six pots under one plastic cover, all with painters tape. I can't figure out how the tape came off, but...whatcha gonna do? :) The only daisy-like thing I did was Osteospermum. Hmmm.
Thanks!
Deb

Hmmm, do any of the other containers say Osteospermum?????

Nope, and I only had enough seeds for one container. .I had saved them from summer. All the others under that cover have tags. Soooo... I'm leaning toward Osteos. :)

LOL :-)