Hi Beck: I too hated waiting for the year 2 for my biennials to bloom,especially because I have limited room and nowhere for them to 'grow on' until the second year. I have somewhat of a solution but you're idea is quite novel. However, I am not sure that biennals actually go dormant in the winter because of my experience with my hollyhocks. I sow them in modified water bottles in late summer (late August), so that by the time the snow flies, they are still small seedlings. I then sink the containers in the ground and cover with some fallen leaves until spring. By then I have tossed out the old ones and replace them with the new seedlings which grow up and provide lovely blooms. Why I don't believe they go dormant is that when I remove the mulch in Spring, the leaves are still green - a little beat up but still green. We have not yet had snow, but freezing temperatures, and my seedlings from this year still have green leaves. Perhaps someone who knows why there is the requirement for surviving a winter before blooming can give you a more precise idea as to whether it will or won't work. It will be interesting to find out. I'll be waiting to see what happens.

It may actually work, but my head is telling me you should be able to do a similar process that doesn't seem so complicated.

I know if you start them the year before you can get them to bloom the next, but that also defeats your question.

How cold are your temps now?? If you started them now could you get them to germinate and grow decent before your winter set in??

Well, I am skeptical that small seedlings started in the fall will make it through a Wisconsin winter. It's also kind of fussy keeping them inside waiting for a January thaw (that may or may not happen), and then hardening them off. But, starting things from seed is so cheap and easy that it's worth experimenting, and if it doesn't work, you can try something else.

I am always impatient for the Foxglove seedlings to bloom, but that's what annuals are for. Also, sow them every year and you will have continual blooms. There are some biennial seeds that are supposed to bloom the first year, like the Digitalis purpurea 'Camelot' series.