Hi Barb,

I'm planning to W.S in a big way for the first time. I'd be interested to know of any other seeds you've found very successful here. I'm near Madison, so on the border of zone 4/5. Most of my yard is dappled light shade. I LOVE poppies, but haven't had a lot of luck with them. I have a book on Monet's gardens at Givereny and had visions of tons of poppies, but it hasn't yet come to fruition:). I have had luck with some perennial poppies I bought as plants, but when I tried to direct sow annual types from seed packages, I don't think I've gotten so much as one plant. Any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong? Eileen

I only grow one variety of poppy (an annual) and just broadcast the seed in late summer. It always comes back.

tj

Here is a link that might be useful: Lauren's Grape

not sure if I will or not. As a rule I don't do the 'real' winter sowing thing as I don't see the need to subject seeds to freezing temps in most cases (yes, I know there are those that need a freeze period, but I don't grow any of those).

Generally I start many plants from seed every year. The ones cold hardy in our area I may 'winter sow' and this might mean a container left outside in a protected area or in the case of lettuce it might mean sowing it on top of snow knowing it will survive and sprout as soon as weather allows.

For the warm season plants though, I still start those under lights indoors as I have not had any success with winter/outdoor sowing.

I'm holding tight waiting for freezing temps so I can wintersow. Supply and seeds ready. Then I'll be going to Vegas on vacation ;)

I tried just a few last year, columbine came up beautifully! I actually kind of forgot about it until I saw it come up in the spring. For some reason I've never had luck with poppy in my yard (wintersown or regular).

Hi Barb,
How are ya?
I'm addicted to winter sowing. I'm a little late this year, but I put out my first 15 containers today. Mostly perenials, a few annuals and a few trees. Have you done poppies that way before? That's one that jsut dosen't work for me to wintersow. They come up, but then they seem to get stunted and don't transplant well. I have better luck just broadcasting them onto the snow. I do it during a snow storm so the birds don't eat them. LMK how they work for you. I have some special ones (apple green) that I'm afraid to just throw out. Pretty soon I'll start the peppers, eggplants and basil indoors.
TTYL,
Catrina

This is my second year to WS in Wisconsin ( Dodgeville).
Last year was very successful. I did Snaps,marigold, yarrow, cosmos, Bach buttons, foxglove, lupine, coreopsis, Black eyed susan,viola, grasses, herbs. That's all I can remember right now! This year I am going to WS tomatoes. It's great because saves my window space for the two I will sow indoors ..peppers and eggplant.
I too have never had ANY luck with poppies. I had some beautiful ones when I lived in Seattle, but I didn't plant them! They came with the house!
Betsy

I'm not doing any wintersowing. It's been too successful for me and I now have no room left. Lupines, foxglove, columbine, and snapdragons all did very well for me. Others (agastache, lavender, etc...) all did okay and I got at least one plant out of it. The tomatoes germinated fine but were several weeks behind the store bought plants so I gave up on ws those. I've never tried poppies so I can't comment on those.

I tried WS for the first time last year. Only two came up, grew and blossomed. One was Rising Sun Coreopsis and the other a Heutchera(sp?). I am going to stick with seed starting indoors instead.
Pat

This is my second year winter sowing, and I am a convert. I have neighbors and friends giving me milk jugs, so I have a steady supply of containers.

I sowed Meconopsis (Blue) poppies last year, which did not germinate. I sowed Flanders poppies which grew like gang busters, and did great when I transplanted them and they were on second and third sets of true leaves. I am trying the Meconopsis again this year because I am such a sucker for that Himalayan Blue, and I also have Hungarian Blue Poppy started that I got at a swap.

I have over 40 jugs sown right now, and I think I will be over 80 when all is said and done with annuals, veggies, etc. I winter sowed tomatoes last year, and they ripened and even surpassed some of my nursery plants. I did order tomatoes this year, but my intention is to collect seed and try winter sowing them next year.

In addition to my poppy success last year, I had delphiniums, sun flowers, snap dragons, rudbeckia, nicotiana, 4 o'clocks, butterfly plant, cone flowers, yarrow, marigolds, zinns, agastache, chamomile, primrose, achillea, cosmos, melons, basil, dahlia, wall flower, cupid's dart, ???

Lot's of fun and so many options. :)

cheers,
Nora Belle

Any Wisconsin wintersowers seeing sprouts yet?

Hi, Lisa,

I found sprouts this morning! Kale, lettuce, broccoli, bachelor buttons, and polka dot mix corn flowers. Yay!

I also found WS babies from last year including holly hocks, poppies, malva, snap dragon, and butterfly plants. I am excited to see what the next weeks bring.

Spring is here! I am in Neenah, by the way. :)

cheers,
Nora Belle

I just recently discovered the winter sowing forum and put out a dozen containers this weekend - all perennials. I've been germinating indoors for several years now and have run out of room in my basement for any more racks in front of my windows. I'll be delighted if the WS works.

I see some of you have sown tomatoes - around what date do you put them out? Being new at this I'm afraid to do any annuals. Most of the members of the WS forum are in warmer zones than my zone 4 and the germination databases don't show a date when it's safe for this area. Any advice from the veteran WS'ers out there?

Thanks! EJ

Norabelle I'm in Neenah too but no sign of sprouts. I'm afraid I may have done it wrong (can you tell it's my 1st time). They're sitting in an Eastern exposure with only AM sun (obviously not today). Can't remember everything I sowed, hollyhocks, delphiniums, columbine, hostas, black eyed susan, marigold and a bunch of other stuff.

Yea Norabelle! You have babies :) None here yet...Lisa dont worry it is a little early yet..Noras are cold weather lovers....Ej I wouldnt put out any maters until your last frost date...Just my humble opion...You could try sooner though and see what happens...It might be fun..Barb

Thanks, Barb. :) Yes, the kale, lettuce, BBs, etc. are cold weather lovers. I also got some wormwood sprouts--sooooo tiny. :)

Lisa, my Columbines took a LONG time to sprout,--June and July, I'm talkin'.

The delphs take a long time, too, and they love DARK and COLD to germinate. According to my journal last year, I sowed some delphs on 2/29 and they sprouted 4/15 (these were Magic Fountains). I also sowed some delphs on 4/13, and they sprouted 5/6 (these were Pacific Giants), and I put them in the freezer for a few days before sowing. I read they need at least 21 days of dark to germinate, and if you don't WS them, they need to go in the fridge or freezer before planting them and make sure the seeds are completely covered. Check the perennial forum for some threads about delphs. I learned a lot about them there.

You might want to plant another round of marigolds. They are tender annuals. I got enthusiastic and planted some tangerine and lemon gems on 3/31, which sprouted 4/5. I also had harlequin marigolds. On 4/26-4/28 there was a patchy frost/snow cold snap. I brought in many of my annual jugs, and I still lost many marigolds, zinns, basil, morning glory, and dahlias. It was pretty easy to replant more jugs, but I am going to try and save myself some extra work this year. :) I purchased two 25' row covers that I plan to use to drape over my containers when we have a late frost. I have four wall-o-waters, but they aren't big enough to contain 50 or more containers. :)

EJ--I sowed Black Krim tomatoes last year on March 31. I sowed them in a four inch pot, so I just had eight or so seeds. I kept it covered in plastic wall-o-water. When the tomatoes sprouted on 4/18, I started adding more soil as the seedlings grew to get them to make strong roots and stem. (I got this idea from Trudi on the WS forum.) I thinned the 4" pot to three seedlings and kept adding soil as the seedlings made leaf sets. I planted them out in May--around the 15th--and I put wall-o-waters around them at night until last frost date. My Black Krims produced at the same time as my nursery ordered plants that arrived much larger and mature. I am not winter sowing any tomatoes this year. However, I ordered nine heirloom varieties, and my plan is to save the seeds from these tomatoes to use next year, and the year after, and the year after . . . :)

cheers,
Norabelle

Guess what?? I peaked into my jugs not expecting anything since it's been so cold and crudy, and I had sprouts in 2-3 jugs (so excited I forgot). By sprouts I mean literally 1 sprout per jug, but still, compared to how I was fearing it might be going about a week ago, I'm thrilled. Let the warm weather come!!!!

Congrats, Lisa! That is awesome news! Isn't it amazing that this winter sowing thing really works? I had two more jugs sprout today after such cruddy weather this week. Yeah! Come on spring!