I too have noticed that Bells of Ireland like a lot of stratification, but I have yet to remember to plant them in the fall. I promise this year I will do it! ;) I have also noticed that Alliums germinate much better with a full winter of stratification. Unfortunately the nice big Alliums take several years to grow to a useful size bulb. :( By the way, I just did a search and found another thread that discusses fall sowing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Direct Seeding of Annuals in Fall

I've tried winter-sowing them twice, but not with much success. Last year, I had pretty decent germination, but they didn't survive the wet, cold spring. (I think I had two of them grow and bloom.) I don't have any germination yet on this year's batch.

Maybe I'll try direct sowing this fall.... if I remember!

Dee

I have some Bells of Ireland coming up because of my own failure to get their bed cleaned up last Fall. What is nice is that they are about four inches tall while the ones I sowed this Spring are about half an inch tall. Glad I will have some early and late bloomers. My orlaya also self seeded and is starting to bloom despite our very cold and wet Spring.

Teresa

I was just reviewing the literature and it says that Bells of Ireland need both cold stratification and light to germinate so this does create some extra challenges. I surface sowed Bells of Ireland on March 5 and I got some germination but not nearly as high a percentage as I planted. I think many of my seeds washed away or got covered too deeply in some heavy rains we had. I think Thinman's idea of protecting them with row cover is a good one. I'm going to sow a second planting a little later and I think I'll see if I can get the seeds to begin germination indoors and then plant them out when I see a radicle appear. (I've got the next batch of seeds in a damp container in the fridge now.)

I found a few sprouts in my winter-sown Bells container yesterday. Hoping for more!

Dee