I think December is when most start their seeds, that way they're ready for planting out in March after the last frost. But after last year's short, wet winter, I am also starting my seeds this month. I just ordered some Butterfly Pea and a few Salvia seeds and I will be ordering coleus seeds for my mother next week. If this winter lasts longer and I have to keep the young plants sheltered longer, so be it, it will give me a chance to double my numbers by taking cuttings.

Here's a page from the University of FL w/ info on many plants to grow here w/ planting dates for various zones...

Here is a link that might be useful: Shrubs Fact Sheets

Hi
Generally, i had better luck with annuals in winter, the tough season was summer . There are sooo many tropicals
that love summer and the cost of seeds is so high the only ones I continue with are Lobelia "Crystal Palace " and "Old Blue eyes" Though last year I found some flowering at walmart for 88 cents lol The other is the giant pansys ,with the faces if we have a particularly cold winter they will do well if not they tend to struggle. I bought some at Walmart last year mainly because I could have the color and markings I wanted and 88 cents lol
I usually start them in Nov. in seed flats though with a bit of preparation I can direct sow marigold ,gaura ,cosmos. Zinnias no luck at all got all kinds of diseases and bugs. Usually by May they croak depending on night temps and humidity
have you found a good source for seed?? Have really went up lately and seems fewer and fewer seeds per packet. Good luck let us know how you do?? gary

Gary,
One of my favorite seed sources is swallowtailgardenseeds.com. I usually have pretty good germination rates with their seeds and any failures in sprout growth is generally due to my inexperience and mistakes. As their name implies, most of the seeds they have tend to have some benefit to wildlife, so the more exotic annuals will not be found there.

I just ordered my Butterfly Pea vine seeds from Onalee in Tampa. I also got some salvia seeds from them, nothing too fancy, just your standard Will-Grow-In-Florida varieties, but I wanted to pad my order so I easn't JUST getting Butterfly Pea. I will have report later on germination rates.

One last site I check with sometimes is everwilde.com. They deal mostly with North American wildflowers and vegetables. The milkweed seeds I got from them needed a fair bit of cold stratification to get a decent germination rate, but all the veggie seeds I have gotten from them were successful.

Okay, now I'm even more confused. I have fairly large spaces where I need to grow annuals or perennials. I can't afford to buy 50 geraniums at $4.99 a pot. I bought a bunch of seed from Burpee Seeds as they were having their 'end of season sale' so I thought I could start them now.

I bought seed I thought would be butterfly sources plus flowers to fill in between shrubs. I think I could start them now. I'm not worried about heat, but need flowers through the winter and Spring.

I'm new to Florida, but I remember buying pots of geraniums around Christmas last year and they are still alive. Kind of faded off over summer, but I notice some are still alive.

I'd like to get some Cosmos and Salvia, petunias going. I'll just take a chance on it.

Leekle, I'll check out your website. I just released two Monarchs this morning. Have one just starting to form its cocoon. I have lots of Milkweed but need Parsley and Fennel for Swallowtails. I believe they do better in cooler weather. But my fear is not enough nectar sources. Pentas and Purple Salvia seem to be feeding all the bees and butterflies around my house. Maybe cuttings of the Pentas?

Thanks all,
Jane

Released this morning-
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I think shrubs are integral for providing nectar through the winter. Many flowers can provide nectar up until that first frost, but after the frosts all the annuals are dead and waiting to germinate in the spring and the perennials are dormant. It is the shrubs that are now flowering while the competition is low and they provide that little bit of nectar for the few butterflies that are still active. Shortly after those first frosts, the native azaleas, redbuds, viburnums and blueberries start flowering (actually, my Walter's Viburnums are flowering now). These shrubs aren't necessarily as showy as the annuals or perennials and they aren't favored as much by the butterflies, but the butterflies (and the bees) WILL nectar on them.

Cuttings is my favored way of carrying over plants into the next season. Usually by fall, I have so much foliage on my Pentas plants that I could take 30-50 cuttings, if I had the room to store them all. If I ever get a greenhouse, I will probably end up drowning myself in cuttings and starter pots. The Pentas and Salvias often come back from roots for me, but it is nice to have that jump start after the frosts and fill the beds in more. I don't have geraniums myself, but I have seen them featured in Gardener's World more than once and they seem to be fairly easy to propagate by cuttings. If you want 50 plants, I would suggest looking for the pots with the thickest growth and buy them as source material for cuttings. I have done this more than once with plants in the 'Dying and Clearanced' section of Wally World or Lowe's (my Home Despot seems to lack this rack/table). From one Mystic Spires salvia last fall, I now have close to 15 salvias in my beds with another 12 rooting right now to be ready for next spring.

So start your seeds now (or next month), but also look for perennials you can get cuttings from and don't overlook those shrubs that will provide nectar while everything else is dead or dormant.

One more site for seeds: Florida Wildflower Coop, http://www.floridawildflowers.com/ Most (if not all) of these seeds are for the original, uncultivated varieties of plants and are more at home in a wildflower/meadow type bed than a structured environment, but some will work in a cottage type garden and most will provide nectar or host sources for the butterflies.

And a good resource for trying to find the overlaps in nectar sources: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw057 Tables 7 and 8 show which trees, shrubs and flowers provide nectar at which time of the year.

Great information, Leekle2ManE. I will definitely check those sites out. Especially the Florida University site. I really need more necter sources.

Thanks,
Jane