Here's a brand new bed started spring 08.
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My favourite rudbekia.
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And..a visitor to my echinacea..

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I'm glad to see some of the same seeds I'm planning to use this year. Castor bean, Cosmos, rudbeckia, coneflowers. Are all these wintersown? Did they bloom the first year?

These are Unwin's Dwarf Dahlias
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This is a bouquet I made for the folks at Starbuck's who give me coffee grounds. All wintersown, it includes marigold dwarf Bolero, Sweet Basil, Hibiscus Red Shield, Dahlia Unwin's dwarf, and Zinnia Envy.
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This is from my Red Bed, started in 2007 and to be continued 2009. Crepe Myrtle Dynamite, Hibiscus Red Shield and Red Castor Bean:
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I put both cypress vine (wintersown.org) and Purple Hyacinth Bean (neonposey) on a cattle panel arch this summer. It was a nonstop hummingbird show!
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Here's an Admiral Butterfly on winter sown Dwarf Sweet Williams growing next to winter sown Artemisia Stellariana aka Beach Wormwood aka Perennial Dusty Miller which happens to be the host plant for American Painted Ladies.
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Mrs. Bumblebee on a winter sown Double Decker Echinacea.
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A Fritillary Butterfly on a winter sown Asclepias next to winter sown Poopies.
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Winter sown Lynchnis Lumina Red Shades with Lumina Salmon and winter sown Astilbes.
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WOW...wow....your photos of all your gardens are stunning. Thanks for sharing.

I've never seen salmon or pink Lychnis. Do they grow as annuals for you?

~Tj~

Hi Token.. the rudbeks and echinaceas bloomed 2nd year. That's the thing about perennials..they take some patience. Cosmos and castors are annuals..they have to do their thing in one season.

I started some rudbeckia hirta and autumn colors this past fall. They're tiny, but I've got them in a semi-cold frame. Even with temps in the teens, they're putting out a new leaf about once a week. I hope they bloom this summer. I also started some shastas after realizing they take a couple years to bloom too. I have a feeling my garden is going to be mostly white and yellow until my cone flowers produce. I guess that's what annuals are for.

Thanks for sharing. :) It's beautiful.

The pictures you all have shared are just so pretty!!!! I'm thinking we have some great photograghers here as well as great gardeners.

I am going through a foliage phase right now as I shop for seed. That Artemisia Stellariana will be added to the list!!! Thanks!

Nancy

Sigh.....
It's 12F this morning and will not be any warmer tonight. I am longing for summer too....
And I am looking at all the pictures above with pleasure.....
But WS will help me get through the winter....

This is my backyard last year. The Prairie Smoke was WS and bloomed for the first time this spring:
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Great, inspirational and warming pics! Thanks so much.

Pitimpinai, I had to look up "Prairie Smoke." Striking and very cool. How you fit all those healthy looking plants in there is a true marvel.

Your pics are beautiful! They are so welcome on this very chilly day. They have also given me more ideas for things to winter sow. ; )

I love all the pictures everyone has posted! Just wonderful to look at on this bitter cold day! Looking at them sure helps to remind me why I should get my butt in gear, sow another lasagna pan, then bundle up and get that pan outside! Brrr!

Wow, that Prairie Smoke is beautiful! I had to look that one up too. I don't know how I ever didn't notice that, since I've been to several of the websites that came back in my search (High Country Gardens, etc. )

Anyway, I agree with Newbie, Pitimpinai - it never ceases to amaze me how you pack in those plants in your yard and how absolutely wonderful it always looks!

Thanks, everyone, for the photos.I'm actually not missing summer yet, lol. Still too busy trying to finish up my fall chores - which should hopefully be done by January, lol - to miss any gardening work, although some blooms would be nice. But in a few weeks I'll start WSing and hey, if we didn't have winter, we couldn't have winter sowing, right?

Still, always nice to see those summer blooms!
:)
Dee

I could spend the day walking down that pathway, Pitimpinai. The first picture with the deep red clematis and the equinacea makes me drool.

Beautiful gardens and amazing pictures.

GORGEOUS pics! I'm gonna sound dumb I'm sure but I have a few questions.
Wendy, All those different shades of foliage are beautiful. I have some castor bean seeds. When do I sow them?
Pit, Now that is the way to plant a path!!!!! What is in that last picture? How did you wintersow the poppies (containers or direct sow?)
I'm itchin to get started although I haven't even bought the dirt, yet. Nik

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words.
lol.I love to stuff my garden. I cannot stand bare soil. It always cries for my trowel to insert a bulb or two. I then scatter leftover seeds over the area for good measure. Therefore, every inch is planted with at least two things. That's why the garden never looks the same twice.

Nikki, I find it easier to direct sow Poppies. I need all my spring time planting Dahlia, so I don't have much time left for planting seedlings.

The last picture is Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum). It is a native that I absolutely love. It's gorgeous, isn't it?

Tj,

The Lynchnis Lumina is a perennial in my USDA Zone 5. In this garden, it grows in part shade is is more pink than salmon, but in the full sun gardens it is more of a salmon colour. There is another Lynchnis in my gardens which is a salmon and is also a perennial, namely the Lynchnis Chalcedonica. You can see a photo of the flower on my exchange page. It actually grows to 5 feet and is quite striking.

Everyone's gardens are so nice!!