I'm counting the days too. My fingers are literally ITCHING to get started! I have so many new seeds, among them lupine from Acadia National Park (given to a neighbor who gave them to me), iris ensata, salvia, dwarf Shasta daisy, dianthus, stokesia, globeflower & Russian sage, lots of penstemon, St. John's wort & spirea plus blackberry lily and lady's mantle. I won't sow 500 this time but I'm really looking forward to the plants from these seeds to fill the flowerbeds that are waiting for them as well as the ones I haven't created yet!

There's a bale of Fafard professional growers mix in a corner of the kitchen and dozens of gallon milk jugs strung on bungee cords hanging from the backs of kitchen chairs as well as steel storage shelves inside the garage. The breezeway is cleared of autumn leaves and ready for the jugs to line both sides of it. My winter sowing game plan is on the computer with the seed types divided by those that need cold stratification & those that don't.

For remembrance: asclepias in memory of my mom & my neighbor Theresa
Mother Nature: pansy
Life: Echinacea
Leap of Faith: apple & pear tree seeds (for my neighbor), St. John's wort & Russian sage

Whooooooo hooooo!! I am pretty excited!!

Gardenweed I have no idea how in the world you sowed 500. I would be crazy!!

I am still in debates on what I am going to sow. I revamped my entire list and cut some of it out. If it doesn't have a botanical, and I have no clue, it is not getting planted. Except for this phlox I have that I got from a trade a while back. I desperately want some tall summer garden phlox of any kind, I am going to grow that in hopes it may be it. I am crossing my fingers!!

For the rest of my cuts I am going to do searches and find out what I really really want. All of my berries are must have!!

Honestly, I would go nuts sowing 500 too. I just do a flat, put in a tag and out it goes. I have no idea yet how many containers I will sow--I haven't even yet thought much about the solstice seeds I will choose. This year I will be sowing some unmarked packets, and I'll be sowing some older packets, and where it goes from there who knows ;-)

I do have a lot of containers ready to go, except for the slicing and dicing of new foil pans. I went to the dollar store and bought several long green plastic boxes which I drilled holes into for drainage--I hope they'll get through the winter without cracking and I can use them year to year. Some plastics don't hold up well to a hard freeze and become so brittle they snap but this plastics looks promising. Hope so. My leap of plastic ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Solstice Sow

I also haven't started cutting holes in everything or slicing, ugh. I will get it done though. I plan to knock it all out in once that way I can clean up one big mess and not several smaller ones, lol.

Another cut I am making is if it is hybrid no matter if I bought it, I am not growing it. I have found that I bought several packs of hybrid seeds. Oh well trial and error!!

My solstice sow, I have some planned as for the shrub I am either going to do the beautyberry or the strawberry bush. That is as far as I got. :o

CC,

I have a long galley kitchen. And when I WS, I line the edge of the floor with paper towels, and as I WS, I sit the filled and watered containers on the paper towels after they have drained a bit in the sink. When I have a full conga line of flats I take them outside--it can take a few trips up and down the back steps. Then after that I roll up the paper towel and put them in the garbage.

And what's the matter with hybrids?

Hybrids are nice--they have minimized growing problems with a reliable outcome, and often if flowers, very pretty too. Growing hybrids and saving their seed is a lot of fun. Usually, they have seedlings which are so close to the parent plants you can't tell much, if any, difference. I am completely for growing hybrids and saving their OP seeds ;-)

Aren't most if not all named cultivars hybrids? Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy,' gaura lindheimeri 'The Bride,' Rudbeckia hirta 'Autumn Colors,' and so many others I could name--aren't they hybrids of the original plant species?

Here's the definition I found on Google:

...the offspring of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera, esp. as produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics

I harvested and grew or will grow dozens of hybrid seeds with stunning results as you've seen from the photos I post. This is peony 'Sorbet' which I assume is also a hybrid:

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And stokesia 'Mary Gregory'

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Like it says on wintersown.org, there's no such thing as a Frankenseedling.

I feel as if they are a tease. I don't know I may end up changing my mind one day. I am so horrible, I am a major seed saving addict, I tend to get mad when I grow something and I can't save the seed cause it is sterile. I tend to resent the plant. So I just have made up my mind not to even be teased.

If I was going to grow a hybrid I would grow this one bush I purchased seeds for. I fell in love with it before I did any research on it. The picture was so pretty I could almost smell it through the computer, lol.

I have such a small confined border gardens that I got to figure out how I can be picky. I guess I could grow it and give it to my sister, she isn't that picky. If it is pretty and it smells good she loves it.

The bush is Viburnum x burkwoodii.

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Monstroflora trudimakus

Hehehehe. Oh the joy of clipart ;-)

Gardenweed has so kindly & generously shared all her organizing tips on WS 500 containers & I may be close to that! This is my 1st year WS & really 1st year to gardening & my yard is a blank slate!!! 3 of my kids are in school & my 4th (youngest) is in preschool 5 days per week so I have easily 2-3 hours per day to WS & tend to my seedlings.

I have soooo much I am sowing thanks to the WONDERFUL swaps & trades & just the AWESOME generosity of members sending a newbie like me seeds!! As of last eve my database/list of seeds I have was at 450 & I still have the wintersowing swap to come & I am still receiving seeds from the Christmas card swap!! So I think I will hit close to 500!!

I am trying so hard to get my Christmas work list done by end of this week so next week I can prep my jugs & START GETTING MY HANDS IN THE DIRT AGAIN!!!! My kiddos are off of school the week before Christmas so they are going to get their hands dirty too! LOL

Gotta get back to my Christmas work list......
Peace & Love,
Jodie

I can't wait to see pictures!!! I tell you what jodie I have a close idea of some of the seeds you have. Not just in the swap but I have seen your trade list, and I can't wait to see it all growing and blooming.

Wow, I think this is the first year I haven't figured out my solstice sowing months in advance. All I know is that I will sow Shasta, Silver Princess, for both my Mom & my daughter. My Mom gave me the seeds when I moved a thousand miles away from her, and my daughter is arriving from the UK on solstice. Sweet connections.

I have no idea what I'll be sowing! But I'll probably sow a lot of the old seed I have and see what happens.

Of course, I still have to clean up the terrace from the last storm that blew through here. But it's so cold!

PV

Shasta daisy silver princess is one of my favorite shasta daisies!! It takes forever for the seed to ripen. I have let mine all go to seed for 2 years in a row, and have managed to hand out all of them but just a few. 2011 I am not saving any seeds from it, I am just going to enjoy my blooms.

My other favorite is becky. She is wonderful and well behaved!!

A good thing about being in the south is that shasta daisies are evergreen here.

Pvick I know it was on another post but thank you for the botanical name of the lobelia. I submitted my post and I was like how rude carolyn not even saying thank you.