First of all, I have never heard of a montana clematis that has purple flowers. Are you sure it is a montana and if so, please find the name of it since I think a purple montana would be marvelous? If the seed were still green I would be a little leary of them being mature. Generally speaking clematis seed start turning from green to yellow and eventually to brown. If still green, I would assume the seed was not mature. Once the seed starts turning yellowish, its connection to the mother plant is being lost, hence the color change from green to yellow. I have picked plenty of pale yellow clematis seed for others to germinate and they haven't had any problems with getting them to germinate. Assuming the seeds are viable, you can start them at any time. The herbaceous clematis seed are warm weather germinators however most of the others prefer some sort of cold stratification to get good germination. The ones I have started in the past were potted up in the fall and kept in a cool area over the winter and either germinated during the winter or in the spring. If you do pot them up now, don't be surprised if nothing germinates until next spring after they go through a cold stratification period.

You should wait till spring because even if your frosts are rare it only takes one to kill the plant. They are VERY frost sensitive. According to NOAA's freeze/frost data the University of Arizona in Tuscon has a 50% chance of frost on Feb. 20th and a 10% chance by Apr 1st, so around the beginning of April would be the earliest you should plant. On the other hand unless you have a particularly large yard you have many more seeds than you will need from that pumpkin so it couldn't hurt to experiment and plant a few now, just don't be shocked if you get a rare frost and it kills the plant. I plant my pumpkins May 15th. I would love to have ripe pumpkins in July! Mine usually start to ripen around mid-August, just in time for the State Fair. This weekend is a sad weekend for me because everyone will be getting rid of their pumpkins till next year. One final note is that day length is important to squash. Plants grown now won't be as vigorous as ones grown during the summer. However if you can keep off disease and pests as the days shorten your plants will produce more female flowers. I have some ornamental gourds still going and EVERY flower is female.

Do you know about when the average last frost date is? That's a pretty good guide for when to transplant seedlings that like warm weather - tomatoes, peppers (though they do well in the cooler fall too), eggplant, summer and winter squash, cucumbers, etc. Soil temp is helpful to know too. You can stick a meat thermometer into the soil to get that. Different vegs like different temps. When you seed packages say "as soon as the ground can be worked" it means it. If you aren't expecting a lot of rain or unusually cold temps, and you squeeze a fist full of soil together and have it crumble apart, the soil is ready. Peas, tatsoi, bok choi, spinach and other seeds like cool ground. I plant my peas when the forsythia bloom. Some of the cool weather transplants are broccoli, cabbage and kale. I try to get my warm plants in the ground when they're six weeks old. Their roots aren't so big and compact that they're disturbed much. It reduces something called transplant shock. I try to get my cool plants in the ground when they're around five weeks old. If you have a forecast for unexpected frost or even snow you can cover the seedlings with a sheet to give them a little protection.

Thanks for posting that Brandon! This is my first year with a veggie garden and I was just telling my husband I needed to research when I needed to plant for my fall crops. Much appreciated!!