I have done this and it has worked out ok but I would say that there is not much to be gained starting them indoors vs direct sow. If you start them too early they will produce a big intertwined mess. You have probably observed that the starts in garden stores are pretty small for this reason. I also had the feeling they really hated being moved from seed starting tray to the garden. I felt like the time they spend sulking from this is about equal to the time for them to germinate and get going when direct sown in May. Maybe you know this but they germinate much better if they are soaked overnight prior to planting.

I have purchased the HBs in pots at the nursery, but to me they bloom late. And like jackied says, they don't like transplanting very well.

in my zone 5 .... they have been coming up next to the same fence for 8 years ....

which means the seeds are winter hardy....

which means.. you can probably go out and plant some where you want them right now..

the seed casing should be nicked or scratched on MG .... if they didnt spend the winter outdoors... i found a good old fashioned emery board laid on the table.. much easier than trying to cut them ... they seeds are large enough to hold ...

and i would just put them in a napkin.. wet it on a saucer.. cover it with wax paper or plastic ....and within a week they will sprout/open within a week .. and then plant shallowly in a pot immediately ...

i would probably wait until may 1st ....

the ones outdoors come up very late ... which leads me to believe they dont like cool soil.. nor frost freeze ...

dont forget to harden your plants off to both temp and light levels when you take them out ... you cant just take a house grown plant out into full sun ...

i would put half out now .. and fool around with the other half in the house for an experiment ... one or other of the methods will end up working..

a napkin folded in quarters.. inside a baggie works too ... just to maintain the dampness on the seed ...

plant them as soon as you see anything unfolding from the pod ....

and.. fear your success... one of the easiest ... and if you succeed beyond your wildest dreams.. dont worry about having to get rid of some of them ...

ken

I,ve always just planted them into the ground where i want them to grow......for me, it,s on one side of our arbor...they germinate quickly if kept moist.
Then just sit back and watch them take off! The blue variety doesnt bloom until mid to late summer....although there are other varieties that bloom sooner.

carol

Carol,

Do you just direct sow them? I would like to grow some too.

I direct-sow mine, too, although I have done them 'winter sowing style' in milk jugs, and if planted out when they get their first leaves, they do just fine. But since they are SO darned easy, I simply toss them in a luke-warm bath overnight, and toss them in the ground at the base of my vine-poles on my way out the door to go to work. Nothing fancy there.

I try to get them in the ground NLT June 1st for later-season bloom. Both of these pix were taken on July 28, so you can see that mine do get that late start. Not sure why the short one didn't take off so well that year (07)...it's only about 30' away from the other pole.

No blooms to show off, but here's the poles. I have 3 of these around my yard:

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