Do you mean Lychnis coronaria 'Alba?' This is the white version of rose campion, with velvety silver foliage blooming June-July. Hazzard's sells the seeds 1,000 for $5.45. It's on my list of things to order from them later this year to winter sow. I'm already growing rose campion from seed I winter sowed last year and it bloomed this year (second year from seed). The flowers seem to just go on forever. I'm keeping notes of how long things bloom--the rose campion started blooming second week of June and shows no sign of stopping.

That's the one. I've never winter sown before but I'll give it a try.

Thanks for the information.

It's a short lived perennial. If you want to have it continue, it has to be allowed to seed around a bit.

Whitegarden,

Had I been able to attend the plant swap this year I would gladly have shared some plants. I have plenty, so if ever you find yourself coming to my area (perhaps on your way to Logees?) let me know and I'll be happy to dig some up for you. If you'd prefer, I would gladly send you some seeds from this year's crop. They do self-seed freely.

eric, could you make a fall plant swap this year? I think someone is already planning one. I certainly would take seeds though.

Whitegarden - I have a white flushed light pink if you'd like seeds of that. Just email me your address - it's probably going to seed some now already. You could just sprinkle the seeds where you will want them to be.

I will keep a watch out for a thread on the fall swap and see if I can attend. In the meantime I'll be sure to collect plenty of seed for those who want it.

nhbabs, thanks for the kind offer, but I want the pure white kind.

Thanks eric. I'll take the seeds when you have them. I'll email you my PO box.

Also, I am going to be up to my ears in seed after touring through the Hazzard's web site. WOW!!! I wish I had a greenhouse! I am going to pick a few that are direct sow or some I can start in the early spring next year.

I also am looking into winter sowing. I have never done it before but this might be a good time.

Thanks everyone.

nhbabs - I'd be interested in the blush white coronaria seeds since whitegarden doesn't want them. I have plenty of fresh Dianthus barbatus 'Sooty' seeds to trade as well as mixed columbine.

whitegarden - Hazzard's is well named, isn't it? It's dangerous to start a wants list while visiting their website. Mine is already 3 pages long! I've ordered from them the past couple years and been very satisfied. I have wintersowed and am busy stuffing my flowerbeds with the hundreds of new perennials I've grown from seed the past few years. You're in for a HUGE surprise!

gardenweed, I would love some advice/information on winter sowing from someone with your experience (what?, when?, in what?, how much room does it take up?). Any chance you could start a thread about it?

whitegarden - I'll be more than happy to share my experience but recommend you check out the winter sowing forum right here on GardenWeb. There's all kinds of newbie threads with tons of answers.

In addition, the originator, trudi, has a winter sowing website called wintersown.org where you can read about the method and check out the FAQs.

The "official" start is on the winter solstice, December 21, but folks adjust the schedule to suit their individual lives & schedules.

What - perennials, annuals, vegetables, fruit, grasses & trees

When - as soon as you need a sweater in the evening until you no longer need a sweater in the evening

In what - any sort of recyclable container that will hold 4" of growing medium (potting mix). I use translucent gallon milk jugs.

How much room does it take up - as much room as the number of containers. I winter sowed over 300 milk jugs that I set along both sides of my breezeway.

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Everything in the photo above is either planted out or potted up to grow on. I WS apple trees, pear trees, ornamental grasses, Siberian & Japanese iris, penstemon/beardtongue, Russian sage, globeflower, hypericum/St. John's wort, spirea, lavender and baptisia/false indigo among many others.

I use Fafard Professional growers mix that I blend with MG potting mix. I buy the growers mix in compressed bales in August & store them in my garage so they're not frozen when winter sowing rolls around.

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OMG, that is an unbelievable operation you have there! I don't have even half that space. As it is, my barn and screen porch are pretty much stuffed during the winter with hoses, lawn furniture, etc. Also, I'm a hibernator in the winter. Not sure I could get out in the cold and keep the process going.

Maybe I'll just start small with my coronaria.

There isn't much to do once you set them out in the cold/snow. They don't sprout until the temp/light/moisture triggers their genetic code and if the mix in the container is moist, they do their thing without much human intervention.

You can winter sow as few containers as you choose--I started with 5 and when I saw how successful it was, I just kept sowing more.

There can be a lot of effort involved once they start sprouting and the spring rains come since they can drown (or rot) if the drainage in the containers isn't sufficient. I haven't had that problem but it's because I work hard to make sure they're protected from heavy spring rains by keeping the tops on the containers longer.

Growing from seed is always a gamble but winter sowing allows you to have fantastic success with a little effort, creative imagination, minimal cost, perseverance plus that gardener's secret weapon...patience.

...and don't forget to use recycled materials. I get milk jugs from the Starbucks kiosk where I work but they can be harvested from the recycle bin at the local landfill or the neighbors' trash cans as well.

Whitegarden, send me an email about winter sowing anytime.

All those seedlings, including the tomato seedlings, you've brought home from my plant swap, the past 2 years are all wintersown seedlings.

Just think about all those containers, inside my fenced in yard in the back and those are all wintersown seedlings.

Though, the term winter sowing implies that you "must do" this during the winter months, it really is a misnomer to think that.

Unless you are sowing seeds that truly need a long cold stratification, you don't really have to start sowing seeds, even perennials until April, if you don't want to.

I've been wintersowing for 8 years, year 9 is coming up this year and I've found that the overall germination of the seeds doesn't change much. That is to say, depending on the seeds, they will germinate at the same time each year, regardless of when you sow them.

Seeds sown in January, February, March, even starting in early April, will germinate when the time is right for them and the conditions are right for them to germinate.

So if the seeds would normally germinate around the second week in April, getting them out in January vs April 1st will not make a difference, they will germinate around the same time each year.

Some seeds germinate earlier than others, and nothing but mother nature will change that.

All of the seedlings that I had for the swap, the ones in my back yard that where not for the swap, all where sown from April 8th on.

Just lots and lots of things well out of my control prevented me from doing any Winter sowing before April 8th, and the results where no different than if I had started in January or February.

ONe other thing, the containers for WS must be outside in the open to get the snow/rain, etc directly on them. inside will not work, such as a barn, covered porch etc.

Fran

Thanks Fran. Guess I will give it a try in April.