What have you wintersowed so far #4

I sowed just a few Gaillardia Arizona Sun, a new one for me. I had 4 sprouts as of yesterday.

I try to save some space for some new things to try each year. Every fall I give away a lot of plants (or compost them if I can't find them homes) just to make room for new things. If something doesn't perform to my expectations, it's outta here! And I have to have quite a few annuals too, for the long bloom time. I haven't done any zinnias yet but plan to do some soon. Profusion zins have become a favorite, partly for their resistance to powdery mildew.
I have a pack of "pinwheel zinnias", which, in pictures look a lot like the profusions. Anyone ever tried them? Are they disease resistent as the profusions?

Karen

Yippee, I'm a plant mommy! I am relieved to announce that my 7 yo DS's container was the first to sprout (so much for his doubt that this would work!), and he has about 25 baby sprouts of gaillardia, monarda, echinacea, and achillea. I also have evening scented stocks and English wallflowers sprouting.

There is nothing so wonderful as the first WSing sprouts of the year. Sigh. I love gardening.

Angie

Angie -- that's great!! I bet your son is so happy.

Congrats to you and DS! I've been so thrilled by this WSing thing, I can't believe it works! My own garden club is so impressed that they've asked me to present a program on it. Ha! I'm so new to this I wouldn't know where to begin, but I'll be glad to give it a shot. I'll have to really have some support from you guys who are better at it than I.

Other Angie

Congrats, Angie.

Karen

Congrats Angie! I, too and am an ardent WS convert! Will sure be doing it again next year!

Tonya

Hurray I have sprouts! just 2 itty bitty sprouts of Crazy Daisy, and 2 of Red Burst Aster. Hurray!

Someone please reassure me that my delphiniums will will will sprout .... I have been struggling with growing them from seed since last year, with very limited success. I currently have about 10-15 jugs with about 6 different varieties of Delphs out on my deck --- Has anyone had success winter sowing Delphiniums? The ws databases say it can be done.

sand... sorry - i can't. 2 yrs in a row i've had duds. BUT my seed pack did say OLD SEEDS, so i wasn't expecting much.

No, I have new seeds that I kept in the freezer until I was ready to sow -- some I bought online from New Zealand ... I've invested a lot in this endeavor :) ... I feel for you with those duds. I've had plenty of Delph duds in the last year and it's so frustrating.

Oooh, not happy to hear that, as I have delphiniums out there in jugs, too. I've never grown them before, and was really looking forward to them!

Angie

here's what I borrowed from Clothier's site

>>Delphinium exaltatum, and zalil , Sow at Max. 5ºC (41ºF), germination irregular, often several months

by looking at that... i could put mine in the back of the frig. for a long time.

This could explain why so far none of my delphs have germinated. Dang. I wanted some so badly, too. I'll try again. I'm not going to give those retail prices for delphs!

Angie

I think i also read somewhere that they like it "dark" -- so i'm guessing that means, cover the seeds, not surface sow.

Well, I completely successfully got some Delphinium seeds to germinate using the method described here: http://www.delphinium.co.nz/GrowFromSeed.htm

I've attached one pic of my little seedlings -- PROOF that it worked! These were Pacific Giants, but I also had Butterfly Blend going.

It was very easy. However, I started them in July, went on vacation and had to have a friend look after them, and I think I didn't plant them soon enough. I had about 30 itty little sprouts, but only a few with true leaves and was only able to plant 2 or 4 in August. I doubt they will come back up again this spring.

I am going to try the above method again, and take better care of them. However, I was so hopeful that winter sowing would work b/c I think the above method failed due to "dampening off" that people talk about so frequently? Not sure ...

I'm wondering if I cover a few of my Delph jugs with a dark towel for 2 weeks if that will help things along. I may give this a try since I have so many delph jugs out there :)

TCS -- thanks for the link to the Tom Clothier site. I will take a long look at it!

I put some delphs out on 2/15 with no special preparation, and they sprouted 3/15. They are Magic Fountain mix from Parks. So there is hope!

Now I guess I just have to wait to see if they survive....

GB

Edited to add that the jugs are on the North side of my house and receive no direct sun, and that temps were warm when I set them out and then we had a cold spell. Perhaps that helped? I'm too new at all of this to know for sure. Anyway, HTH!! -GB

This message was edited Mar 19, 2009 7:07 AM

I've WS Delphinium the last 2 years successfully, and have some wintersown this year too. This years haven't started germinating (I have about 20 sprouting containers out of 120, so just the early birds so far), and if I'm recalling correctly, it seems that they were among the later ones to show in the past- I'm thinking April.

My indoor sown delphs have germinated - two varieties of grandiflorum (dwarfs). I read conflicting instructions as to light or dark needed. I sowed mine in light - I think on the surface or with minimal covering - forgot to write it down.

Thanks for the info! I think I see a tiny bit of green in one cup of delphiniums I have out there -- a Dowdswell Sunny Skies. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will actually work and I'll have easy beautiful Delphs. What a luxury.

PerenniallyMe -- I used to live in West Roxbuy off the VFW Parkway on Greaton Rd. I love JP with all the historic homes. I'm going to get some delphs going indoors too, but I won't start until April, I think. It's colder out here in upstate NY.

I was successful sowing Delphinium grandiflorum and Delphinium elatum 'black eyed angels' in autumn (I used fresh seeds) and Delphinium ajacis in spring. For the ones who are interested in seeds of the first 2, I hope to have fresh seeds late summer. You can check my have list in September/October.
I WS Delphinium elatum Blue bird and Delphinium alpestre. No sprouts yet.

Anita, if I remember well, you would like to receive WS records of other DG members. I can't find the link. Will you please publish it here again?

Jonna, I put your dephinium grandiflorum "delphix blue" in the freezer for a week or two, then started a few indoors with very good germination, so I started some more. Wintersowed some too, but none of my wintersown stuff has sprouted yet, which I'm glad of, because we could still have some pretty cold temps - can never tell.

OH.. i think mine were the elatum... i got them in the firs piggy swap that Suzy ran.. and i do believe that they came from Carol in Alaska ... marked, Old seeds, use immediately... so i'm not surprised i got nothing.... I may try again with some fresh seeds.

I read your delphinium link - and found this on the same site http://www.delphinium.co.nz/Winter%20Sow%20Delphinium%20Seed.html - I've not had luck with delphs.

I'd love to have you share your info - http://www.lakehousecreations.com/dg_members.htm

Anita: I'm with you. None of my WS delphs have germinated and they were some of the first I sowed. I'm going to buy some fresh seed and start over, using the methods described in the link you provided. Thank you.

Angie

Anita, how do I share my info. I have a d-base in Lotus. I tried to convert it to Excel and I was succesful. But I can't provide the common names (english is not my motherlanguage and I always work with the botanical names).
Exposure and notes are very difficult for me to me to put in, because they are in a different d-base. I'm not that good with computers to solve that problem. I have WS more than 300 species, so too much work to fill in these things seperately. But is that really important for WS?
So I can provide botanical name, date of WS, date of germination (or no germination) and whether it's a A/P/B. All are zone 6 WS. Will that be sufficient for your records?

Question: is it too early for pricking out and potting up? I spent the afternoon doing this to some of my WS'd seedlings that have developed their true leaves. I guess it's a little late to be asking this, but I'm hoping they'll do okay. Here's a snapshot. That's Salvia viridis on the left and Myosotis on the right.

I planted out Kale today...... I don't think it is at all too early, as long as you are not putting things in the ground that will be in danger of a late freeze.......

Lookin good there...... ;-)

Thanks, Kyla. We're getting some more colder weather this weekend but not freezing and they've been outside, so I'm trusting they'll be okay. If they croak, I will have learned something else from all this!

Angie

Here's mixed Gaillardia (left) and larkspur `Giant Imperial' (right) potted out.

I WSed more seeds today. Finally got a chance to do that. Here's what I sowed today.

Lupinus nanus (Lupine) 'Dwarf Pink Fairy'
Lupinus regalis (Lupine) 'Morello Cherry'
Delphinium x cultorum 'Centurion Rose'
Lupine 'Tutti Frutti'
Lupine 'Lulu'
Linum grandiflorum (Flax) 'Blue Dress'
Lupine 'Russell Red Flame'
Lupinus regalis (Lupine) 'Band Of Nobles' mixed
Primula japonica (Japanese Primrose) mixed
Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove) 'Giant Shirley' mixed
Digitalis purpurea (white)
Digitalis parviflora 'Milk Chocolate'
Digitalis purpurea 'Candy Mountain'

Of the 24 pots I sowed back in Feb. 8 have sprouted. Those are as follows:

Hollyhock 'Peaches N Dreams'
Delph. 'Pacific Giants' mixed
Tidy Tips
Showy Evening Primrose
Papaver orientale 'Coral Reef'
Plains Coreopsis
Cupid's Dart
Achillea 'Summer Pastels'

Sandstreet, as you can see, I have had one pot of Delphinium seeds sprouting so far. Still waiting on others and just sowed more today.

GB, don't know if we'll be moving to TX anytime soon. Might have to wait a few years. Hopefully it won't be that long. Actually, I wouldn't mind staying here if I could just spend a couple months with my sis in TX for the winter. If only I could find a way to do that.

Karen

Wow, Karen, looks like you'll have some great ones! I had really good luck WSing lupine last year, but they never did bloom the first year. I just saw one coming back up today, so hopefully will have some color this time around! I'll have to go scout out the other locations and see if any more made it through. I can't remember--are they perennial or biennial?

Jonna - just email me the excel spreadsheet. I just copy and paste it into the website.

Bookerc1, most lupines are perennial, though a few (such as Texas Blue Bonnet) are annual. I hope to get a lot this year. At least one is supposed to bloom the first year from seed, but I forget which one that is. Then I have one that is annual, too.

Karen

Anita, I suppose I better wait until I have all the info. Or do you want to receive it weekly?
I think mid April the most will be sprouted. The ones that didn't, will probabely never sprout.

Waiting is fine. I am hoping that it will prove helpful to others as a resource.

Don't know if this still qualifies in our zone as WSing, but today I sowed Dianthus `Artic Fire' Ipomoea Moonflower, some more delphiniums (Pacific Giant and Fanfare) in pots outdoors. I've covered the delphs so they'll be in the dark for a while and hopefully I'll get some sprouts this time. It still is cool enough at night that I think this might work. If not, there's always next year, although I did want delphs in my gardens this year :-((

Angie

I've been contemplating my planters (that are sitting empty on my deck, right next to the wintersown milk containers) and wondering if I can wintersow directly into them with annual seeds ... does anyone have any thoughts? Perhaps I could up-end a tupperware or something over the planter -- but I would need airholes, too. Maybe one of those large Glad throw-away containers. Has anyone tried this?

Anita, I will email you my spreadsheet when I have complete info in the spring. I am very happy to provide the exact format you want ... should I just what you currently have on your website as a guide? Is Excel OK or something else?

I started Lupines (Russell mix) from seed in June last year in peat pots, very successfully (10 for 10), however no flowers yet.

Yes, you can do it with really tight Saran-type wrap, but be careful when it rains that the wrap doesn't puddle on top of the soil. You might need to use little sticks to hold it clear of the soil.

Great! Thanks! Maybe I'll try that press n seal since it is thicker -- even though it is slightly blue.