I would sow some outdoors in the spot where you want them to grow, as you have already done. Next, I might sow a few more outdoors in a garden row or in a pot or some other place where you can watch them carefully as insurance against something happening to the first set of seeds. Any other seeds I would store in a plastic bag in the fridge until maybe Jan, then I would sprinkle them onto a damp paper towel and return to the fridge for a couple months of 'could/moist stratification.' After this, perhaps in April or May I would sow them in potting soil and attempt to grow them like any other seed. i don't like starting native plants too early indoors because they tend to grow better in warmer weather with longer days, such as you start to have in May. Growing wildflowers indoors in Feb and March is tricky and unnecessary, I think. I'd just as soon wait until later in the year, with the understanding that seeds started later probably won't bloom the first year.

I would press some into the soil and cover with mulch; OR I would put them in a ziploc bag with a bit of moist sand and store in the fridge; OR I would wintersow them in a gallon milk jug.... refer to wintersown.org for more info. Tell Trudi I said hi.

Joepye is easy to grow. People often complain that its too large and too aggressive, so its not difficult to cultivate.

Hi JPW, I was thinking of you today. I also think of you whenever I see eagles--something I'll never forget ;-)

T

I agree with all of the above but want to mention something that I just read: putting powdered milk in some tissue/wax paper and including it in the plastic bag of seeds. This is a desicant, they said. I had never heard of this so I checked in the search function of GW, and sure enough, someone had posted that along with the alternative of using a few grains of rice. I have seeds in the frig right now, waiting for winter sowing or outdoors next spring. Should I have included some rice or powdered milk? Trudi, if you are still out there, please comment.

Winter-sowing is a great way to start seeds, especially those that require cold stratification. Nature does the work for you!

I have stored many types of seeds in plastic baggies in a produce drawer in the refrigerator for years. I usually save those dessicants that come in vitamins and throw them in the drawer and put one in each baggie.

This seems to be a good way to store a majority of seeds. This Seed longevity chart indicates that Parsley and Peppers have a storage life of 3-5 years, but I had very good germination on seeds that were 10 years old for both of these!

Hi Trudi, I was looking at my old pictures and saw the pic of us at the airport!