I've been sowing them since fall. Last year's seeds came up fine. Just don't bury them deeply. Press them into the soil and leave them alone.

You can sow these almost any time of the year.

Hi Token, You are in zone 7b, would we here in zone 5 be the same for sowing now?I still get confused,thanks.
cAROL

It's native to the Eastern US. I would think anyone from Texas to Florida to New York would be fine.

USDA PLANTS PROFILE

Gosh, these are one of the best wildflowers to WS.

The essence of a wldflower is that it reseeds in the wild. WS is based on any plants ability to reseed in a Temperate Climate. You'll have a lot of success if you just keep it simple. If it reseeds you can WS it.

Oh, OK, thank you! Token, thanks for the tips on seed depth, and Trudi thank you so much for the overall info...it makes winter sowing sound much simpler than those descriptions on the seed packets!

I have about 24 containers of various perennials sown so far... I'm excited I can sow the Echinacea now too...

Thanks again.

I've sown echinacea two years in a row. Now, I have so many plants I don't even bother to collect seeds. And every year the plants I have double or triple in size. These are great plants for wintersowing. But remember, they might not bloom the first year.

Martha

Martha's right. Out of about a dozen plants, I had two that bloomed the first year. Magnus was one of them. The rest just formed little clumps of foliage that sprouted huge leaves. Those leaves have died off this winter. I'm not brave enough to go searching for the basal growth this morning. It's 16 degrees.

That's so good to know the echs take to winter sowing. I have some seeds that I collected myself from the echs in our garden, and then some packaged seeds I'll try too. That's good to know the stuff I'm winter sowing right now won't bloom the first year...had that feeling...I'm planning to "cheat" a little and sow some annuals like marigolds and zinnias in the spring, just for some color until next year.

Topie,
I used to garden with only perennials, because I wanted a garden that would come back each year without constant attention from me. However, after trying a few annuals, I now love them for their season-long blooms and the variety you can achieve from year to year. A mix of both is definitely beneficial to a diverse garden.

Martha

Just as an aside, I'm in z5 as well and I started about a dozen echs last year by sowing them around now. Go for it.

With regards to anything that reseeds being able to be wintersown, and this being my first year, I'm under the impression from the info I've read that not only do reseeding perennials do well with wintersowing, but an annual that reseeds will also do well. Since I'm on the 5/4 zone border often those "annuals" are plants that may be hardy only up to zone 6 or so, sometimes even zone 7, so the plant may die each year but the seeds will still germinate after the colder winters. Floodthelast, you can go to the FAQ and get a list of "hardy annuals" that do great wintersowing for that reason.

If I'm wrong, please correct me! Still learning...

Deanna

New to winter sowing??
There is really only two bits of information on a commercial pack of seeds that pertain to us. Annual or Perannual and height. jim

Even though it means waiting a year for blooms, I'm WSing lots of E. 'White Swan' and purpurea seeds I harvested from my own plants. I checked and 'White Swan' comes true from seed. I need to plant lots and lots of them--the bunnies love 'em. Even stripped of their leaves by marauding wildlife, they still produce blooms. They're native, beautiful and tough, plus the bees and butterflies love the flowers.