Congrats, Vera. I can sort of hear the "very glad" in your words.

I saw pictures of Poppy 'Lauren's Grape' a few places and they're beautiful.

I have some Laura Bush Petunia seeds. Do they develop soon enough to have blooms by midsummer from winter sowing? I'm not sure your zone 5-6 is same as my zone 6b. I remember Pvick saying the Laura Bush Petunias weren't so great and I don't know why I bought them...impulse on Ebay. Got off there quick.

I was thinking I'd have to start petunias inside to get blooms before late, late summer...even though I don't have heat mat and lights yet...LOL.

Saw a picture you posted of flowering quince a while back. Was wondering if it was from the fruit you collected from the ground on campus a couple years back. Those blooms are gorgeous.

Have fun!

Leslie

Good. You know how we look forward to your pictures, Vera. Even if you didn't need to sow for yourself, you need to do it for us!

I thought cold strat mean temps comparable to a fridge- like in the 40s. I thought if night time temps were in the 40 range, it was cool enough. But what do I know?

Karen

Hey Vera, join the late crowd!! I started with 30 containers this last weekend. I had done maybe 5 little ones before then. Can't remember if it's 4 or 5 as they are buried under an ice shield. Brrrrr!!

Last year I got a seed order from Gardens North and some seeds called for 4 to 6 weeks cold strat. Sowed them as soom as I got them in late March and they did fine. Just got another order from them and some seeds are saying 8-12 weeks strat but I'm sowing them this weekend and what they get out there is what they get. No fridge for them!!! :O)

Have fun!

I'm with the late crowd too, just sowed 16 containers yesterday. Last year I started mid-January, so I'm a month behind, but as Ohio weather goes, we still have two months of cold, give or take a week or two.

Karen

For cold strat now, be sure you keep them in the shade. My dogwoods are still in the shade and have just started to crack their shells. I put them out last fall.

Hey Vera! Glad to see you up and running -

I'm behind the times too, have only sown 10 containers so far, and half of them are for other people.

I'm trying KMOTGG too - again. I think this will be the third or fourth time for me, and sure hope this will be my year. Got my fingers crossed for both of us.

Leslie, last year the 'Laura Bush' petunias started blooming on June 25, from a March 1 sowing. I wasn't really impressed with them, but last year was not one of the greatest for my garden. I'll be sowing them again this year - and I fully expect better results!

PV

So glad I'm not the only late one! This is my first year winter-sowing and I just got started yesterday and the day before. WHOO-HOO! Whipped right through ALL my containers --only about 40. And haven't come CLOSE to making a dent in my seed stash. WHERE, OH, WHERE AM I GOING TO GET 100+ MILK JUGS IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS?! I had no idea I'd need so many!

Diana Lynn

Hi Leslie,

For me the petunias usually start blooming sometime in June.
I did post a picture of my Flowering Quince, but it hasn't flowered yet and don't know if this will be the ear of not....I can only hope!! I wintersowed those in December of 2005 so this coming spring will be year 4. The fruit was picked right from the dormant plant that December and the fruits were extremely mature; almost to the point of rotting. I had read somewhere that seed needed to come from such fruits.
Well here's the rest of what I sowed today:
1. Clarkia amoena
2. Cynoglossum amabile
3. Cerinthe major
4. Papaver 'Danish Flag'
5. Matthiola incana 'Giant Imperial'
6. Borage
7. Delphinium 'King Arthur'
8. Delphinium 'Early Guardian Blue'
9. Lychnis viscaria

10. Asclepias incarnata

Vera

PS. Decided to just keep the Lovage outside

Last year I sowed lovage on April 8. Our average last frost is May 15. Don't have the date of germination but see 2 out of 3 seeds germinated and were planted out.

Hopeful news on the Petunias! Thanks, guys.

Makes me feel so much better when I see I'm not the only one that's late. It's real easy to feel like an underachiever on the WS forum...LOL.

Pvick...when I see photos of what you can do on balcony/roof I'm ashamed of what I produce on the ground. :)

Got washed containers waiting for me today. Not enough for all the seeds I've got but we don't use large bottles of anything so I've got what I could scrounge from my condo recycling center. So embarassing with people staring while I'm perched on top of dumpster with a stick fishing out large jugs and soda bottles...LOL.

Don't feel bad Vera, I just started last Saturday, and will probably be doing a lot less than previous years. The reason why is my beds are really quite full with perennials, so mostly anything I WS this year will be annuals and a few veggies and herbs. Glad to see you back with us, :)

Alberta

Vera,
Great to hear from you :-)
So you found lovage seeds, then...that's good :=)
I put my lovage seeds out in the dead of winter when I WSed them. So I say put them out now.

Linda

Vera glad to see you are ws this year. Us newbies loved your pictuers this year. They were very inspiring for us newbs to ws. I loved your flax. It was so huge...Barb

I haven't really started yet either.
All of 15 jugs out there so far.
I'm waiting on Walgreens to do their 10 cent seed packets (I hope).