Great news! I hos'd everything this year (some bigger than others) and lo and behold everything is thriving. I will be dividing some in the fall that i may have planted in bigger hunks than necessary (rose campion for sure!).

Not only does it work, but in my garden its better! Most of the things that I divided and potted up became leggy or didnt thrive like the HOS. It's probably my lack of experience with seedlings. Using HOS they didnt even seem to notice the move.

The flowers are pretty! Congratulations!

Tracy, I do agree with you. Last year, because I had promised some perennials to a neighbour, I divided them and grew them on through the summer and they looked rather leggy. Of course they came through the winter OK, but I spend many hours each spring separating each petunia seedling, growing them on in flats, and then planting them out. I am realizing how much time I could save now I have discovered this process. For example I potted up my first basket of petunias yesterday, all in bloom, and almost all the plants in my flats are already blooming and it's already mid-June. This will be a great help to me.

Thanks for your comment Ladyrose. Every year I have a new favourite in the garden and this year it's Sweet William. So many variations, and so intricate.

Ok I have to ask...what is HOS?
Is it like winter sowing?

Planting out as a Hunk-of-Seedlings from a thickly WS container rather than dividing them into individual seedlings. The stronger seedlings will survive but not 100% of the seedlings will. You will also have a thicker grouping of plants as they grow.

Thanks BookJunkie.