Oh No! The seed bug has caught Brad by the seat of the pants and threw him into Dollar General and twisted him arm again, made him buy more seeds. He's becoming addictive to Wintersowing; I can tell! Join the crowd!

Woooooooooooooo,love that picture pippi21,so funny.
cAROL

I grow Tithonia and Parsley every year - for the butterflies mostly, although I eat some of the parsley and occasionally cut some Tithonia for a bouquet. I sow those in early April, with the annuals, herbs and veggies. Tithonia 'Torch' is a short cultivar of Tithonia rotundifolia, it is a tender annual and loves a warm sunny spot. Some people say the foliage on their Tithonia gets crispy, but that hasn't happened to mine.

I raised Black Swallowtails last summer for the first time, and they laid eggs on the parsley plants. Parsley acts like a biennial - it grows foliage the first year, and sometimes overwinters then flowers and goes to seed the 2nd year. Usually mine does not overwinter, I think it prefers good drainage, but last year one large curly plant overwintered. The Black Swallowtails loved to lay eggs on the flower heads. I ended up using most of the parsley including the seedheads to feed the caterpillars.

Pippi, lol! I love how you phrased it. I've been eyeing them the past two times I went in there and this past time I finally bought them. They're the only store in town that has seeds right now.

Terrene, thanks for the tips on the parsley and tithonia.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Hey Brad, I have some 'Tithonia' seeds if you want a few,send me your addy.
cAROL

Hi cAROL,

I sent you an e-mail.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I'm thinking of ordering more from Summer Hill. I am interested in getting these seeds (let me know if you've grown them):

Heliotrope "Marine" or "Blue Wonder"
Laurentia "Starshine Blue"
Linaria "Enchantment"
Nemesia "Pallida

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Tithonia torch is actually the tall one, about 6'.
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Fiesta del Sol is the shorter one.

Balsam is pretty and reseeds like crazy.
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I yank most of them after bloom because by the hot late summer they're covered with PM. Ugly
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Karen

Hey Brad, the Lowes in York had their Burpee seeds out today. They had a lot of veggies, not nearly as many flowers and nothing very unusual. Of course, I still found 6 packs I needed. :)

Those Heliotrope "Marine" or "Blue Wonder"
are pretty tender - don't WS, wait till spring. They have a great scent but do take a long time to flower here in zone 7, I'd imagine longer in your zone 8. If it is the blue that is attracting you (I know, I'm partial to blue too) try to get some larkspur, salvia, browilla, petunias in blue that get flowers faster. Most of these will be spring sown too (with the exception of the larkspur I think). Maybe someone can suggest a true blue flower that wintersows well. My brain is coming up empty at the moment!

I see you have caught the WSing bug - welcome aboard! It's fantastic - my beds are overflowing in my 5th year, but I still put up 20 containers yesterday! With more to come.

Hee hee, I bought more seeds and even pots today at the Dollar General. I got more soil at Wal-Mart too. Now all I need are more containers. Here are the seeds I got today.

Forget Me Not
Asters "Crego Mixed Colors"
Canterbury Bells "Cup and Saucer Mix"
Dahlia "Rainbow Mixed Colors"

Livsauntieshel, did you happen to see any Amaranthus "Love Lies Bleeding" seeds among them? Lowe's and Home Depot about 40 minutes from me and I don't get there very often.

Karen, thanks for the heads up about the heilotrope. I am in Zone 6 not 8. Yes, the bug has bitten me quite bad! Someone sent me a while ago some tweedia oxypetalum caeruleum seeds. I looked them up and they are a light blue color (which is one of my favorite colors). Can it (and the seeds I got today) be winter sown?

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I didn't, but their flower selection was pretty limited, I actually went in for rock salt (which I couldn't find) and walked out with 3 bags of soil and more seeds. If you're considering making the drive, call them first. They open at 6 AM and are not very busy early, so you could probably get someone to look them over for you. I didn't look all over the store either, so they may have had other seeds I missed. Was in kind of a rush. Last year they had ferry morse seeds too, later in the spring.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lowes store locator

Just to reply to your original post, I have found delphiniums (pacific giants) to ws very well for me.

Hi Brad,seeds are on their way.
Have fun.:0)
cAROL

Brad, what do you think of these? I've got buckets of seeds you're welcome to. They need full sun and a haircut the last week of May but they produce lots of flowers and a TON of seeds. I WS them last year and had one flower from a WS seedling.

Platycodon grandiflora/balloon flower
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Dirtbert, thanks for letting me know about the delphiniums.

cAROL, thank you again! I'll keep my eye out for them. I'll let you know when I get them.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Gardenweed, in our trade we did, you did send me some balloon flower seeds, but if you're wanting to pass them along, I'll take 'em :)!! Oh my stars! I forgot to send you those blackberry lily seeds! I'll get them out ASAP!!! Sorry!

So, I've redone my list of seeds that I would like to order from Summer Hill. I was wondering what you all thought about these. I have to narrow it down to four/five kinds. To the list above, I've also added these options:

Cerinthe "Blue Kiwi"
Dahlberg Daisy
Felicia
Asarina
Verbena "Peaches and Cream"

Thank you again!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

WOW! Gardenweed, those are beautiful flowers-great picture!
I've never tried balloon flowers-the pics in the seed catalogs never impressed me much-guess my mind is changed on that score! What kind of camera do you have?
Moonwolf-I think it's the season for being bit by the seed bug-just placed another seed order, I'm in a swap, Carolyn just sent me 4 new kinds, I've already taken over my neighbors share of the backyard and I'm thinking about ripping out those ugly shrubs in front to make more room for plants-I've got to get a grip!

Karen, love your picture of the mexican sunflowers, very nice. I
planted mexican sunflower in 2009, but not last year. It will be
in my garden this summer along with the yellow tithonia. I remember
deadheading it a lot, because the spent flowers are not very attractive.

Gardenweed, I will be growing balloon flower for 1st time this year,
blue and pink if they come up. Yours are very pretty.