I thought I would feel the same but I only want to plant my baby WS seedlings. It wouldn't cost me anything for annuals and perennials, we have a nursery side business and are fully stocked this time of year. I go to our greenhouses and see all the gorgeous flowers then go home and plant my little seedlings. I almost had to force myself to bring a couple flats home the other day to fill a few window boxes. I would have used my seedlings for those but it would have looked kind of bare. lol I'll replace them with my WS plants as soon as they are big enough and showing some color. Most of our nursery stock is purchased in bloom or plugs that we finish though I do start some plants from seed but it just doesn't seem the same. Maybe it's because WS is new to me and I'll feel differently next year.
Karyn

I also succumbed to the pretties. Bought just enough to plant one large container so I could have some blooms now.
These are varieties for which I haven't found seed, Laguna trailing lobelia, diascia, trailing verbena and some snapss that I got for 25 cents from Lowes' reject cart. Those snaps were out of bloom but look great with buds now.

Last year I was away the month of June returning to blooming ws annuals. This year I will be here and am grateful for my blooming spring perennials to get me through the annuals' early growth. The ws imaptiens still looked very nice in the fall when others' impatiens looked a bit tired.

I always get a flat or two each year. This year it was a flat of peculiarly colored purple petunias. Their weird color immediately struck my eye and they jumped into my shopping cart.

T

I use store bought annuals for the front of my house and then tuck a few here and there throughout the gardens to tide me over until my ws ones bloom. My beds are too large to refill every year with flats. I ws'd some forget-me-nots in abundance this year. They seem to be the earliest to bloom around here about the time when I really want to see some color. The flowers last for quite a while and by the time they start fading out, my perennials take over.

We also get several flats of bedding plants for early color in the yard to attract and hold the hummingbirds as they are migrating through.

Phyl, I think the operating phrase is "first-time experience". I'm a 5th year WSer, and though I will sometimes buy a flat or two of pansies (didn't get around to it this year), I have found my WS annuals to be well worth waiting for. Petunias and impatiens I have bought at this time of year in the past wimp out in the summer heat - they're done by early July. OTOH, my WS petunias & impatiens start blooming mid-late June, I think - but they are gorgeous through the summer heat and last for a looooong time. Wait 'til you see the difference - bet you won't buy many annuals next year.

Another thing that helps me last without too much color is that I have so many WS perennials, now, and every day that I go to the garden, something new is either coming back (today, lilium concolor strictum), or putting on exponential growth (amsonia this week). I get a kick out of seeing all the new foliage.

My daughter always gives me a flat or 2 of some unusual looking pansies that do the job for me. She's learned over the past 4 years that buying any plant for me is a "no, no".
She sees what starts to happen by the first week or 2 in June. WS perennials from past years start there blooms.
Before that the forsythia is as bright yellow as can be and the japanese cherry starts to open around now, followed by the 2 different lilac bushes. Following those start the annual poppy blooms.
Then Mom is too busy getting 100's of WS seedlings in the ground to care about any further color for a few weeks. By the time I sit down and start to look, there is life in the gardens.

My WS petunias started blooming around July 4th, many of them where still in WS containers. They where the healthiest ones I ever had.

Fran

Trudi,the purple and those pale yellow petunias jumped right into my cart.Also 2 red Niobe,A ms Markham red clematis and a white one.I have bought alot of things so far but I call them my seed stock plants.Still have my eye on a few must have for seed stock.That makes them investment plants since I am going to start selling seeds,veges and cut flowers at our farmers market.Will be small but hope to grow some each year.
moonphase

Pure white pansies jumped into my cart yesterday as I was walking around wally world's garden center shaking my head at the tender annuals they just brought in to their outdoor garden center. Just one little flat of six plants. They had some really nice pinks that might make it to my house later. Have to hang around for the satellite TV guy today so we'll see.
Bonny

I bought some trays for color, too. A tray of Panicum amarum 'Dewey Blue' and a tray of Miscanthus sinensis v. purpurescens 'Autumn Red.'

Yesterday's UPS truck brough me this:

{{gwi:394730}}

A tray of 12 assorted Heaths & Heathers from Rockspray. It's easily the cutest little group of colorful plants I've seen in quite awhile.

LOL - Donn - for such a "manly man"... I had to chuckle when you said "the cutest little group ...." - that's why we love you!

I buy two flats of light pink impatiens every year and just found a place that sells them for $10.00 (no tax)... my new favorite place

Carrie

Phyl
that is exactly reason I was not doing much of ws annuals in our zone- I wanted instant gratification of spring blooms and it takes until mid summer for many ws annuals to bloom.
Now that my gardens are establised a bit and full of perennials and bulbs I am going for annuals, mostly for multiple containers though- no space in the ground...
Anyway, for those who does not like tulips dying foliage, there is great amount of small bulbs that give you amazing amount of color during the spring and then disappear for the rest of the summer giving space for perennials.
For those first several containers on dispay early spring I grow some annuals indoor- this year it is annual asters- I love them and want them to bloom in the spring and maybe through the summer. Also I did many primulas, incuding annual ones so hoping for good show.
My perennial primulas- elatior, cortusoides and denticulata blooming now. Also I have pulmonarias, some heucheras, solomon seal, brunnera, forget me nots, perennial groundcover flox, ephimediums, trilliums, hellebores in bloom right now. Columbines will start bloom in a week or so.
Still I am finding plenty of annuals that ws well and start blooming early enough even for our zone. I am challenged by my shady garden to grow many annuals, though.
Impatiens balfouri- poor man's orchids- ws very well for me and will probably give bloom pretty soon.
Mountain flox ws this year also and getting ready to bloom as well.

I am too cheap to go get annuals when I have a gazillion Petunia seedlings waiting for me to plant out. As everybody said above, WS Petunia blooms and blooms and blooms for the longest time. Plus, I don't need them for early colors, because I have been filling my garden with bulbs and shrubs that give me colors practically year round.

I have tulips & Daffodils & Fritillaria, Leucojum, Apple, Quince, Forthegilla, Helleborus, Primula, Lamium maculatum, Phlox subulata, Forget-me-not, Merrybells, Variegated Solomon's Seal, Bleeding Heart & Lily of the Valley in bloom right now. A lot of Hosta and shrubs are leafing out. The garden is full of colors. I just trimmed my Redtwig Dogwood. Will need to prune down my Coral Embers Willow.

Pretty soon Allium, Lilac and Peony will bloom. Bleeding Heart will go on for a long while. The perennial Geranium will pick up. By the time Clematis & Lilies open up, WS petunia & Johnny-jump-up will show their pretty face. On and on and on.....

Fill your garden with perennials & bulbs and shrub. You won't have to resort to buying annuals while waiting for you WS babies to bloom. :-)

enjoying reading how everyone deals with this late w.s.ing annual situation ... glad to hear i am not the only one who felt the urgent NEED to buy a flat or two of pretty annuals! (grin)

i get the feeling the annuals, (again, petunias, for just an example)probably won't be in full bloom in z.5 til the first part of july ... wowee, that's two whole months from now!!! and petunias are so inexpensive, i just am not *getting* why we would wait that long ... and, also, the petunias i plant the 1st of May still look wonderful in october ... also, the vinca i planted yesterday won't need to be replaced either ... i really don't *think* when my w.s. annuals are at the blooming stage that i will have any annuals planted yesterday that will have faded & need to be pulled out ....

drippy, i scrolled back to your post to see what zone you are in ... my impatients and petunias don't fade out the entire season, which makes me wonder even more if there might be *just enuff* difference between z.5 and all the higher zones (???)

none of you in zone 5, (as opposed to z7 or z8) think
that maybe just doing perennials is the way for us to go? ..lindalana, it sounds like that is pretty much what you do ... and, piti, i guess if i had all the pretty things that you have blooming, i wouldn't need the annuals ...

hey, i just thought of something else, i have 8 fairly large containers for the back-yard deck and also on a front-yard bricked area ... none of my w.s. seedlings will do much good for that purpose either, unless i am willing to wait 'til july ... yikes ... thanks to everyone who posted, phyl

I'll also buy a few flowers for my front bed for early color. I'm also planning to put a few WSown babies out there but the nursery plants will provide a little early color. I had planned to do this because I know I can't wait for the WSown annuals to bloom. It's also for the butterflies and hummers. I saw my first hummer of the season at my feeder yesterday. I have columbines in bloom now but haven't seem the hummers on them yet.

Karen

Phyl,
My answer to early color are bulbs. I have never been crazy over tulips or daffodils, but I put in several of them last year because the early color they bring does kind of lift the heart.

Even if I bought annuals from a nursery, there's no way I could put them outside now. It's usually still too chilly here to put them out.

What I DO have on my list (and probably will for a long time to come) are Impatiens Wallerina and Ivy Geraniums. Neither WS for me and I love both of them.

I tried overwintering Ivy Geraniums, but I haven't been successful yet. I have overwintered Impatiens successfully, but so far I've only tweaked one extra outdoor growing season out of them. I filled the bed with 4O'clocks last year (or rather, the bed filled itself with several reseeders)

The only nursery around here that tempts me is Oliver Paine Greenhouse. They have annual plants and versions/colors of typical annuals that are outrageously beautiful and different from any I've seen even online. I have reserved a date with them this month. But I won't be buying much. Just enough to cure my Impatiens and Ivy G fix.

Linda

I buy several flats of annuals for a couple of reasons - first and foremost is it helps a local cause. There is a local greenhouse that employs the handicap and teaches them gardening and greenhouse skills plus therapy. They have the healthiest and most reasonably priced annuals around and I feel I am giving back to the community. Second is for me - I too love that instant gratification of full window boxes, hanging baskets and planters. I rotate my container planters about 3 times a year and the ones in mid summer thru fall will be almost all WSown babies and then the winter flowers I buy from from the same greenhouse again. Their selections of violas are just fantastic and that will give me color all winter......

Lynne

Yup, instant gratification. I mainly did it for my hummers; needed that salvia for their arrival!

I have pics of mine/theirs. Who in their right mind can resist?

1 flat Salvia "Lady in Red"
{{gwi:394732}}

1/2 flat Salvia "Coral Nymph"
{{gwi:394733}}

Tomatoes:
{{gwi:394734}}

Going out sometime this week for my favorite petunias and a morning glory or two. Had a baaaaaad year with the MG seeds :(
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I plop in sunshine impatiens and begonias to give me that little boost between the tulips and the perennials/ws annuals. Doesn't take much to add a bit of colour.

{{gwi:394735}}

Here's a little begonia tucked behind my w/s poached egg plant.

Well, you know...it has been very strange. Usually, I go out and lose my mind buying new plants for the beds. And then they look good for two weeks (if I'm lucky) and then they droop.

Well, this year. I go to the garden centers and (excuse me) turn up my nose!! What are these mundane little sprouts they are selling? And for what price??? Have they no variety? Have they no pizazz?? Evidently not.

I have sprouts for things they can only dream about. But they are only an inch tall. (Oh, Lord. Will they live??)

I feel so conflicted! I used to get such a charge out of going to the garden center and blowing the bank on plants. Now...not so much.

I think I'm ruined.

This is my first year wintersowing, and the thing that has stopped me are the cute little flowers that are beginning to bloom on my allysum. That will hold me over to wait for all of the rest. I love it!!!!

Linda,
That's the same with me. Every garden center or nursery I go to, I walk around saying, "I got that...I got that...don't like that...I got that..."
I don't want what I can grow myself. I want something completely different!

Linda

Its funny how things work. I'm in zone 7 and have been thinking the complete opposite of you. Maybe next year I'll WS annuals only and no perennials. Almost none of my perennials are up. The ones I did inside are all good. But almost none of the WS ones.

I really wanted Baptisia, a perennial native of NC. I bought the seeds for $3.99 and WS'd 3 containers. None are up. I went to the nursery and found it in a gallon pot for $6.00 plus they had a yellow variety as well as the purple. They went home with me. I'm still waiting for the containers to do something. No Siberian Iris, Peruvian Lillies, Kolkwitzia etc have come up. I'm not really sure how much longer I'm going to give them before they get put into my dump pile.

Reading here that the WS annuals do take some time, I did some petunia's etc inside as well as WS. I figure this way when my inside ones are pooping out the WS ones will be going into gear.

I will say too that once they go into the ground it doesn't take them long to catch up in size.

I'm pretty much done planting out, except for anything that comes up after this. Tonite I'll be taking pictures to share with you all before I mulch. You'll be able to see it in the pictures.

I love color, too, but what thrills me more every year is the slow motion opening up of perennials, especially hosta, and the clean(ish) look of an incipient flower bed in spring. A few daffs, crocus, grape hyacinth among other small things, and the unfurling hostas keep me happy. Also the discovery of self-sown seedlings. Not to mention the wintersown seedlings.

Carrie-
You forget he said that with a cigar sticking out the side of his face :)

Phyl,

I'm not in the north but I am able to resist most plants in the store when I look at the prices! And since I had such a successful first time at WS it's been even easier than ever for me to walk away.

I have bought a few plants this spring. But next year if something can be grown from seed I'm going to try it. I've already started seed hoarding for next season.

I am hoping not to have to buy any plants from retailers next year save some irises and a rose that I've had my eye on but unfortunately the company is sold out of for now.

But that's how I do it, sticker shock and just too proud of myself when I grow something from seed.

Hi all.

Just thought Id show what can be done to get colour without annuals in early summer.

This was taken this weekend.
I cant plant out annuals till late May/early June.
Im in zone 7, but basicly it works like zone 5 when it comes to late frost etc.

In this bed are therefore only hardy things.
Perennials, bulbs, and biennials. The biennials I sowed last summer with Summer-sowing and planted them out in autumn.
The biennials in this bed are: Wallflowers, Forget-me-nots, pansies.
In a few weeks early flowering perennials will take over:
Aquileggias, oriental poppies, paeonies, iris.

{{gwi:394736}}

{{gwi:394737}}

Just thought Id add that not all my garden looks this neat :-D
This was my first bed, and it will be 5 yrs old this summer.
I always give this bed top-priority, no matter how little time I have... this way I always have at least one spot to look at that looks really nice.
When I feel that my mess takes over, I look at this bed, and then I know that in yrs I will have the garden that I like. :-)

Have fun,
Hanne in Denmark

Very beautiful, Hanne - Kiss the bunnies for me! Carrie

LOL - mmq...

Carrie

My woodlands provide a ton of spring color, so I'm fine. I am thinking about purchasing some annuals for my front porch containers. This might end up being a future thread because I need ideas.

all wonderful responses .... but ... i can't eliminate all my decorative containers and i can't think of any appropriate w.s. seedling that would work(?) keep the z.5 thing in mind ...thanks, phyl

Phyl,
I just saw one of your posts waaaaaaaay above this one.

There is no WAY that I would WS just perennials.
Zinnias Zinnias Zinnias...
I have them well into October! That wouldn't happen with a nursery plant. I did more than 18 varieties of Zinnias this year (most of them Elegans, some of them dwarfs).
My annual list is still way longer than my perennial list.

Calendulas I can't do with out. As many types as I can find, I sow.

Bachelor Buttons are great for early color and its painless to rip them out when they start getting on my nerves

Dahlias...just like Zinnias to me. I can start new varieties from seed and sometimes the bees give me a new twist on a color--then I dig up the bulb and overwinter it to start the next year.

Pansies and Violas. Love them. Can't get enough.

Petunias. I never cared for them much...at least not until I found out the hummingbird likes them. Now it's Petunias galor.

Stocks...they actually were still alive until I lost my snow cover and it got cold. One of them has definitely started growing again, though.

4 O'clocks. Dependable. And great fillers in those spots you don't know what to do with.

Baby's Breath. Early sprouter, nice for bouquets.

And last, but certainly not least, Breadseed Poppies...those things are fantastic. Hard to believe an annual flower can be so large, lush, and beautiful.

Remember, I live in the place that got 7 feet of snow...even 5 feet isn't unusual here in an average Winter storm. And it gets in the low teens for a good part of February (sometimes longer, unfortunately). I'm a firm Zone 5 (unless we slip down to 4, which, with the lake, I don't think will happen). And I will WS annuals every year. No nursery can beat the price or the hardiness of the plants.

It isn't for everyone, but it really is the best way to go for me.

Linda

PS
I did see a Sweet Potato Vine at the grocery store yesterday that is tempting me. I just might pick some up.
:-)

thanks for your response linda, ... BUT ... what about *right now* (???) i have all these pots on my deck and on a bricked area in front yard that are empty .... my w.s. seedlings would look pretty goofy in them now ... they are an inch tall! ... and planting them now & then waiting almost another 2 months for blooms sounds ludicrous to me .. gardening season is too short ... (i *will* plant in the garden when they are larger, and it *will* be nice to see their blooms in a couple months ... but my *pots* ... what do i do *now* ... sigh, long, long sigh ... oh, dear, oh, dear, what shall i do ...

when do the flowers you listed have blooms? (my poppies, for ie. are barely visible ...

b.t.w., the zinnias i have planted in May in the past years last right up to first freeze ..... thanks, phyl

Hi Hanne,

In your top picture left hand side, is that a cut leaf weeping birch (a favorite of mine) or another tree? Your beds are beautiful!

Phyl, go ahead and transplant them now if your temps allow you to. I'm telling you - you'll be amazed me how quickly they get bigger once their in a new home. The first few days they look tiny but they get bigger quickly.

Phyl.

For future plans:

Maybe you could plant bulbs in your pots in autumn. With ei lateflowering tulips you would get colour almost right to the point there the ws seedlings would be ready.
And I would also plant biennials in pots.

Thanks Carrie :-) Buns are great - The 3 'babies' are almost 2 yrs now, and still living happily at home with mum and dad :-)

Arrdvark, the birch is just a regular birch. Its in my neighbours garden. But I like the nice background for my garden ;-)

Take care all,
Hanne

I'm in my 1st year & what I'm seeing is that you need to pick your battles. I know that I will never buy Marigolds, Morning Glories or Cosmos again because they are way too easy to WS and they grow like crazy. $2 for a half dead cell or Marigolds I don't think so! $3 for a 4.5" container of Cosmos yeah right! As for my slower growing WSed sprouts I plan on putting them in the ground with some store bought plants around them. This way I can get the best of both worlds instant color along with a stronger plant that can take over in case my store bought plants peter out.

Strouper

LOL Strouper.
I just purchased:
a 6pk of marigolds (which, normally I HATE, but wanted some orange)
a 6pk of cosmos (my one container sprouted one which promptly died)

I would've purchased a MG, but the nursery only had Heavenly Blue, which I've already done and I need something different. I only have 1 sprout of Chocolate; no Scarlett O'Hara, no yellow MG, no common pink, very few cypress vine, Mina lobata sprouted and died. So, I purchased 2 Cardinal Climbers & a Moonflower.

I'm shocked how bad I did with the plants I really really really wanted this year; vines & Yvonne's Salvia, which also, 5 containers, not one sprout.

Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I think WS is absolutely great for a lot of things, but around Chicago, if you want windowboxes overflowing with annual color by June 1, you either have to buy plants or start a few things inside, under fluorescent lights. (And even if you do the lights, the plants probably still won't be as immediately lush as the ones grown in professional greenhouses.) Not all tools are right for all jobs. Find a nice little local nursery that grows their own stuff, and don't feel guilty!

My WS stuff is basically perennial; most won't bloom for me till next growing season. So I grow my annuals inside under lights--and many are in bloom! Probably not cost efficient with the expense of the electricity, but I love the puttering in my greenhouse. The great thing about WS to me is that I save so much inside space~~

I do, however, have the advantage of an inside greenhouse thus giving me a place to work and more room for those annuals.

WS is a good thing, but certainly not a new idea. It's pretty much little cold frames, after all, and that's been around for a l-o-n-g time...

lots & lots of good suggestions still coming ... thanks so much ... i will definitely save this whole thread to reread again next january ...

i like the idea of late blooming tulips bulbs in my planters, any suggestions? believe it or not, i have never planted tulips!!!!

elvis, yes, i know that w.s. is not something new ... just resurrected and given a new & positive spin ... my mom always grew things in the upper pennisula in late winter in a cold frame, as did her ancestors before her in bohemia...

it is kinda funny when i think about it ... i have sunk nursery pots into the ground in november for years, put in perennial seeds with a little dried grass clippings on top ... & never thought about them again until spring when i removed the grass & saw all the (a little on the yellow side)sprouts that were at least 1" high already, growing under probably 2 to 3 inches of dead grass! .... i didn't even make the mental connection until the last few weeks that i was already doing a type of w.s. DUH!

this year i am going to go back to doing some of that, as well as the rectangular juice bottles (my favorite; they line up so nicely & are stronger than milk bottles)

thanks so much everyone! ... phyl. a former youpper

Dirtdevl and Strouper,
You bring up very good points. It definitely is about "picking your battles" and "not all tools are right for the job".
Phyl,
I was never that fond of Tulips, but I bought some Viridflora a couple of years ago and I really like them. I'll try to get a picture of them for you (they are starting to blooming now). Also, I have several types of Daffodils and it's nice that they are different from the regular types...one blooms with two to four flowers branching off of one stem.
If I had to do baskets, I would be going to a nursery too, because there isn't a flower I've found of that type that will bloom before Mother's Day. But even then, the purchased plants don't start to branch out until it warms up too. So I'm kind of use to waiting.
I do like seeing the earth open up to green gradually.

Some perennials WSed from last year and the year before are blooming now:
Saponaria, English Daisies, and the Money Plant is starting too (although I cut back two of them and moved one). The Lamium is blooming now, too, along with the Hellebores. So, with the bulbs, I'm getting my early fix. I'm just happy to see green instead of white snow. So even the grass and the dandelions make me happy...lol.

Linda