Winter Sowing Biennials.

15 years ago

I have to admit that the majority of seeds I've winter sown have been perennials. A small minority have been annuals and an even smaller number have been biennials.

Even though the biennials have been sown the least, they have made an impact on my gardening practices and since beginning to winter sow them, some, such as Dame's Rocket (Hesperis), Common Bugloss (Anchusa), and Foxglove (Digitalis), have made permanent homes of my gardens. They reseed themselves throughout and fill holes saving me a bit of work. :O) Definite bonus for a busy gardener working 40+ hours a week with a family on top! (Oh, and yes, there are perennial Foxgloves but they are not as striking as the biennials.)

Three years ago I winter sowed Verbascum Giganticum and this year it finally flowered with a stalk growing to 9 feet. I really enjoyed it and am crossing my fingers that it may come back since another florette of leaves has formed at the base.

Last year (2009) I winter sowed Verbascum Olympicum. I realized this year that although the basal leaves were HUGE - 10" wide and 2+feet long which means it's covering 4 feet of garden space - it was going to wait for a third year to show-off as did the G., but with their beautiful silvery leaves that was no issue. This one is reported to grow up to 8 feet in height and flower like a candelabra and there are 7 placed around the property. I've posted a link so you can see this statuesque plant. (Note: That is NOT my garden, although it would be nice...)

This year I will be trying out a much shorter Biennial, Rosularia Sempervivoides, a small growing (7 to 20cm) Sedum-like plant which in it's second year blooms a scarlet red.

Yep, I think I'll try something short. :O)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:448293}}

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Comments (10)

v1rt
15 years ago
I am drooling with your posts!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Send me seeds of all those you mentioned! My body is shaking! :D hehehe.

Honestly, I was literally visualizing what you were saying. Thanks for this posts. It is awesome!!! :)
PVick
15 years ago
Tiffy, you really need to stop showing me these BIG plants! You know how I am .......

PV
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tiffy_z5_6_can
Original Author
15 years ago
PV,

Is there a rooftop on your building?? :O)

Neil,
I gathered stems of the V.G. when the pods went to seed. Haven't peeked into the bag yet but if I see viable seeds, I'll get in touch. :D

The seeds of these plants are as small as those of Digitalis. Go figure!
countrycarolyn
15 years ago
I agree the seeds are tiny, kinda like lobelia. We have the common mullien pop up all along the country roads. It looks like it reseeds heavy around here. The bloom is pretty on the common. I am going to try Verbascum phoenicium, this year. Your pictures have me excited but I am also sad it is a biennial.
tiffy_z5_6_can
Original Author
15 years ago
"Your pictures have me excited but I am also sad it is a biennial."

Why sad that it is a Biennial? Because it normally/sometimes dies after flowering?

I think we need to look at biennials differently. We all grow annuals and they die after less than one year of growth. In addition, we all wait for perennials to flower in their second or sometimes third year. So why pass up biennials?
countrycarolyn
15 years ago
Sad to wait 2 years for 1 year of bloom. I have figured how to keep my dianthus blooming each year, but it takes way less room than mullein. That may be what I do still with the mullien though. I usually just direct sow my dianthus each year when I collect the seed. I always have the foliage in my bed. To be honest first time I did that was by an honest mistake. I was out collecting seed and droping them everywhere, next year I had more plants. So now I figured a way to collect without it going everywhere, but now I just toss it. I don't press it or cover it. Each year I have a wonderful display of dianthus barbatus cherry parfait.
gardenweed_z6a
15 years ago
I WS for the first time this year and was thrilled to get sprouts from foxglove. LOTS of sprouts--the containers looked like Chia pets! I grew them on & planted several out, gave them away to neighbors & friends. Not only did the ones I planted out bloom first year from seed, the ones I gave away did as well. I don't know if that means they won't come back next year but they were worth the effort to grow. Had I chosen to plant them together, a one-eighth teaspoon of seed produced enough plants to fill an entire bed. I will sow them again and plant them in groups of at least five, just for the WOW! factor. They are definitely worth having, even if it means growing them every year. Ditto for gaura/wandflower. Both had exceptionally long bloom times, as did alyssum.
tiffy_z5_6_can
Original Author
15 years ago
Gardenweed,

"... but they were worth the effort to grow."

"They are definitely worth having..."

Ditto! Ditto! Ditto! :O)

{{gwi:202461}}
merrygardens
15 years ago
I'll put in a word here for Canterbury bells. I haven't grown them since I lived in B.C. Zone 8, but they are really spectacular, and very long-blooming. The flowers look unreal, those big bells. The plant gets quite big, 3-4 feet high and equally bushy, and if they're deadheaded, bloom for months. Think I'll seed some this year.
ladyrose65
15 years ago
Awesome Pictures! Merrygardens, I can only dream of Canterbery Bells. I don't know what it is about them, but I've bought flats in past years. They would die. I'm WS alot of seeds in hopes of getting some to live until bloom.