I was quite surprised to have Lupins and Baby's Breath sprouts on April 1st...we just had night temps ranging from -15 to -19 this past week, so they sure are tough!
And I still have 2' of snow in parts of my yard too boot.
Debbie

Good going!! Everyone seems a bit earlier than me this year. I usually have sprouts by the end of March, but it was too cold. The warmer weather is coming though. :O)

My containers are frozen solid every morning till noon at least, and they are placed in full sun. It's amazing how they spouted in this kind of weather. Today I've gotten the first sprouts, not from poppies or lupines but from Cheiranthus allionii (Siberian Wallflower).

I hope my head is clear enough to go out for a better look today. It was too hard to bend over and take a good look the other day. :) We have been above freezing and so I am expecting good things. I will check my Siberian wallflower. It should be doing something if yours' is Mariana. Debbie, I haven't planted baby's breath, but do have lupines planted so will make sure to check those too. I got some dwarf ones that I haven't got planted yet, so I hope it isn't too late to get those out.
I have so much more that I want to get planted but with being off work sick the last couple of days, I really haven't had what it takes to even do anything but sleep. Feeling a little perkier this morning so maybe today will be the day to get more out there! :)
gg

Reporting from Zb. I have Bachelors button sprouts

I have sprouts!!! So far this morning, I see poppies, godetia, calendula, flowering kale and sweet pea.
Yeah!!! Wendy

I also discovered sprouts this morning. YAY!!!
Poppy
Godetia
Lupins
Candytuft

I was out this afternoon to have another look. The BBs are looking a little bigger (although still tiny), but now I see a few impatiens balfourii just starting and my lasagna pan of sweet alyssum is looking like it has a lot of green in it--hard to see clearly through the condensation on the plastic. :)

Like I said, my pots get dappled sun in the a.m. and total shade from late morning/noonish. What conditions are your containers in? Do they get more sun than mine? I wonder if I should move them to a warmer/sunnier spot. hmmm!
gg

So far, I only have godetia sprouting. It's nice to see a little green!

It snowed here all day on Friday, but today it was warm and I was able to retrieve some of my containers from the snow that has accumulated on our deck. Most of them were filled with snow so I have put them out where they can get some sun but there are no sprouts in any of the other containers. The only green around here is in a small bed I have in front of my house - facing south and sheltered by the overhang of the roof. The bed is completely snow-free and I have sprouts of tulips, daffodils, daylilies, sedum, and a pink phlox. The geranium and carnations are also coming alive. I wonder what kind of gardens we will have this year - my journal shows that on March 23 last year my snowdrops were out. This year, they're still under 2 feet of snow. Not very encouraging. I still have to sow my annuals - hope to start them tomorrow.

Well this morning was ugly!! 4 degrees, dark and cloudy and kind of misty...it poured rain over night.
Not much has been happening with my pots out there, so this morning as I was waiting for the 'girls' to do their thing, I thought I would give another look. I found several more pots, beside the other ones from the other day, that have sprouted!! There were over ten, but it was so cold and they were done so I came in and can't remember all of them, but I will go out in a bit and write down what is up.
I was very shocked because it really hasn't been all that great out there except for a few days ago (Tues. I think) when it was nice and balmy.
One that really surprised me were the cosmos (tall pale yellow)that I only put out there on April 5!

Tiffy--All three lychnis are up and it was nice to go to your pics of them and see what they will soon look like! :)
gg

p.s.--WOOHOO!! :-0!

gg,

You just made me go out and look at my Lynchnis. I owed more this year since I liked the Luminas so much. Not a sprout, but that's OK because I discovered sprouts of an Echinacea which has been growing in my gardens and which I really like. It's only about 18 inches tall and the brilliant colour of the flowers is so nice. I winter sowed it originally about 4 years ago. The original seeds were of unknown origin, I hope I get some which will be the same!

Like I said, quite the surprise as these usually sprout much later than April!

This is the plant.
{{gwi:429610}}

This is the true colour of the flower.
{{gwi:377784}}

Nice coneflower tiffy! and nice colour. I love coneflowers, they are such sturdy reliable little plants. I had one flower last summer that was the deepest rose colour, and the flowers were so big. I saved seeds so I hope it will come true for me.
All your pics are such an inspiration, tiffy! I am determined to get a decent camera and record my garden this year! :)
gg

I've got a Lupin sprout justing trying to poke out of the dirt... I think I'm a bit earlier than last year. It's been very cool here until yesterday, but it sure doesn't take much to warm up inside those mini greenhouse (pop bottles).

Tiffy, that is a very lovely coneflower :)

It's my first time WS and I do have sprouts. What are the next steps? When do we do transplants? and do we transplant direct to garden bed?

Ianna

I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I still have no sprouts of snapdragon,Lobelia,Salvia,and a couple of others I forget the name of,obviously nothing I was too concerned about.This is probably my 3rd attempt at Winter sowing and I have never managed to get anything viable from it. I have loads of seedlings from indoor starting,but I really hate the hardenng off process,which is why I wanted to try Winter sowing, I feel like such a loser,I don't think I will be doing it again, it's too frustrating for me although it would appear to be such a simple process.

Thistle, maybe outline what you are doing, how you prepare the containers, etc. and then we could see if something you're doing might be causing your seeds not to germinate. I know i've had varying success rates with winter sowing, and a lot of it depends on the containers, the seed starting mix, whether they get too wet in the spring or dry out too much. Yesterday my sister-in-law gave me some containers because she decided she wasn't going to winter sow anymore as she hadn't had much luck with it. Mixed in with her containers were used ones, and she had no vents or drainage holes in them. That would definitely make a difference - anything she planted would rot or cook!

I found two little sprouts today as well - dianthus and solidago. I'm hoping they're "real" and not weeds!

I have sprouts of carnation, lupine, zinnia, and candytuft. I think my other contiainers are drying out too much.

Hey, I've got green!!! My Asters have sprouted! : )

A few more for me today - Oenothera lamarkiana, Dianthus 'Strawberry Parfait' and Cheiranthus cheiri (wallflower). :) Great to be seeing green!

Way to go everyone! Isn't it fun to see all the little signs of green in those containers?
Thistle I am so sorry that you are disappointed with your attempt. Surely there is something that you can figure out. I hope so anyway, so that you can stop having to deal with too many inside seedlings.
Our temps are predicted to be in the mid to high teens for the next couple of weeks!! YAY! I want to list my signs of green that I have so far because I have a feeling that I will have a big wave in the next few days to tell you about. :)
So far I have green, in different stages from just barely starting to put out a start of a sprout, to some that look like they are trying to start the next set of leaves(BBs for ex.)
catchfly
tricolour daisies
black peony poppies
single pink poppies
lychnis-flo jovis peggy
lychnis lumina-salmon
lychnis lumina-red shades
siberian wallflower
hollyhock creme de cassis
red peony poppies
lauren's grape poppies
bachelor's buttons
magic carpet thyme
china asters
alyssum carpet of snow
lavatera
mignonette
cosmos-yellow garden
lupine-minarette
impatiens balfourii
larkspur delphinium sky blue
maltese cross
sweet william sootie
yarrow cerise queen

I fully expect to be reporting SO many more in the next few days
:)gg

One more today - gypsophilia paniculatum. :)

Yay!
Wild Thyme
Siberian Wallflower
Iberis Perennial Canytuft
...but that little Lupin sprout is sure shy about opening all the way up. Supposed to be lows of -12 and highs of -4 in my area this weekend...I think I'll throw a blanket over them if it comes to be.

Thistle...don't give up till we have a shot at trouble shooting with you! Last year was my first attempt and I had pretty good success, but ended up getting excited over a few weeds! LOL! Why dont' you start a thread...?

Well the temps are soaring and the sun is wonderful, but the sprouts don't seem to be popping like I expected. Still it is nice to go out and watch over the little sprouts that are out there. I watered them today by just holding them in a bucket of water for a few seconds and then letting them drain.
I do have a few more to report:

gaillardia-goblin
verbascum--'hoping that it is white blush' (looked like it anyway)
snapdragon-pink
rudbeckia hirta-autumn colours
echinacea-sunrise
butterfly bush-'purple prince'
verbena bonariensis
agastache cana
blue flax

there were a couple of others that I was unsure of--I think my eyes were getting all squinty from looking into the small opening of the pop bottles, so since I wasn't sure, I will give them a bit longer until they become obvious. :)

gg

As of last Wednesday, I had sprouts in 30 of 74 milk jugs. Friday night a deep freeze descended on us. Snow snow snow and more snow, but even worse, nights at -12 and daytime highs around -7. Last year's wintersowers keep assuring me that their sprouts survived several dips to minus ten last spring, but I am losing my optimism, because the forecast is not promising any relief for at least another four or five days.

Betty Jane, the snow is an insulator - your sprouts should be fine. :)

Holy fish GG!!! You're way ahead of all of us. What did you put in those containers? Steroids? LOL!!

Off the top of my head...
Red Lupines - YES!!
Lynchnis Lumina both red and salmon.
Alyssum Snow Crystals.
Buddleia Purple Prince
My Echinacea
Bachelor Buttons
California Poppies Mission Bells
Rudbeckia Burpeii
Digitalis white
Digitalis Apricot
Digitalis pinks
Digitalis unknowns
Snapdragons
Echinacea Pallida
English Wallflower
Helenium Red Shades

Way ahead of the game for these parts - at least for me.

Hey tiffy! I am totally amazed by the success that is happening outside in my little containers, believe me! I am not sure why I am having success, but I'll take it. They are in a sheltered area as far as location. I have them in a SE exposure on the little sitting area that we have where the addition (sunroom) comes out from the house. They receive dappled morning sun from the branches of an Ivory Silk lilac tree until about noonish and then total shade for the rest of the day. As they germinate I have been trying to put them out from under the tree a bit so they get just a bit more sun. Not sure of the soil that I used. It was just some that was sitting outside of WM last fall and there were different brands I think. I have been dumping them to gether in a big rubbermaid tub and mixing them up as I need soil....nothing else. I guess if just wanting it to work can make it happen, then that is what did it. I REALLY wanted to be successful, not just to be able to have the plants that I wanted, but to show the people standing back and scratching their heads while smiling politely that it actually would work (I had FAITH!! :))
anyway I am so happy with it all and am certainly a big convert. I didn't get a chance to look at them yesterday and I work until three-thirty today so I will be out there first thing after work to check out what more has come up, and let you know about the new arrivals. ;)
gg

Pots were slow to start but I'm seeing lots of seedlings now. Seems someone turned on the summer tap last week, here in central and southern Ontario. I've had to water plants in my plunge bed twice! Only because they haven't had a chance to produce deeper roots. They were plunked in there last November a week before the snow arrived - the snow that didn't go away until 2 weeks ago!

Yep, Ontario finally has Spring! I have a bunch of winter-sown pots starting to sprout.
- various hollyhocks
- various malvas
- verbascum
- dianthus
- sea holly
- salpiglossis
- cornflowers
etc.
The ones that I'm not seeing yet are the Columbines. Are these usually later sprouters than other seeds?

gg,

Whatever works!! This is what germinated for me in the last couple of days. It's a great year.

Joe Pye Weed YES!!
Buddleia Pink Delight
Buddleia Black Knight
Ascelpias Incarnata
Potentilla Hellen Jane
Dill
Verbascum Olypicum - sowed April 13th!!

Cziga,
I have lots of Columbines and none are up yet. Having done them in the past, they can be late risers and sporadic too. Well worth it though!

Hip hip hooray!! Spring is here!!
Tiffy~ How did you sow your Joe Pye Weed? Surface or covered? I'm hoping to get some sprouts from my JPW too. It's something I'm really hoping for out of all my containers. I lightly covered mine(meaning barely at all) on March 23.
Yay for you and everyone enjoying their sprouts.
I can share your excitement as well. My containers are just starting and so far I'm enjoying the arrival of poppies, lupins, rudbeckia hirta and the tiniest foxgloves. This is "so" exciting!!

35 containers left to sprout out of over 100, don't know exactly how many I did. It's such a joy the whole WSing thing.

The ones I started inside I'm trying to harden them off but some of them I burned them in the sun. Well, before I went to work I took them outside and didn't left written instructions to be taken inside or moved them in shade if will be too much sun. Of course a few got burnt. Now I put them only in the shade.

Winter sowing it's so easy compared with indoor sowing, but indoor one kept me sane during this long winter.

When do you direct sow Scarlet Runner beans, cosmos, nasturtium and morning glory?

Tiffy, thanks for the info. I'm glad to hear that Columbines can be late and/or slow. Mine are sure taking their own sweet time. Just about everything else is sprouted, except the columbine bottles.

I'm thrilled. Last year, I didn't have a very good success rate with the winter-sowing. I figured I'd try it again this year, just to see, and everything looks really good. I wonder what the difference was. I did the exact same thing as last year, set them out in the same spot, using the same containers. I put them out a little later, maybe that made the difference.

Kanuk,

In terms of the JPW, I pressed them into the soil and just mushed around the surface a bit, resulting in some being under the soil and others on top. Very primitive. :O)

These were the first to go out on January 16th. I've never sown anything so early. Usually I wait until mid-February, but this year got the bug and couldn't resist.

I do have mature plants in the gardens which grow to 6 feet which were winter sown in 2004. It had been my third year trying and I wasn't going to give up. The seeds which germinated are from my 2004 babies. YEAH!!

Tiffy
Thanks for sharing the info. 'Primitive' seems to work for me too. Last night I just remembered a 'baggie' of seeds I placed in a dark cupboard to test viability!! (outta sight-- outta mind)
Two weeks later to my surprise every seed(chili peppers) had germinated and there I was planting last night before bed!! lol
JPW is on my most fave list this year!! By the sounds of it I didn't get them planted early enough(March23). Well all I can do is hope. BTW I planted Eupatorium fistulosum but have Eupatorium purpureum from Gardens North that will wait to winter sow for next year.
Are Joe Pye Weed plants available at nurseries?? Anyone know.

Yes, Kanuk, nurseries are offering Joe Pye weed. I bought a Eupatorium purpureum at an "Independant" Grocery Store garden centre in Bracebrige, ON I believe, last summer.

Thanks Sharont.
I'll continue to hope my seeds will germinate & grow but if all else fails it's nice to know I can still 'splurge' and get a plant (or 10 ... lol) if need be.

I got the Eupatorium Coelestinum (sp?) from GN. I sowed them on April 13th and hope that the cold nights we've been getting will be enough to spark some life in there. If not, I'll have to re-order as I really want this plant.

Well, after a good start in the middle of April, I'm more than a little worried our cold spell last week did some damage. The coldest was -14 C for two nights and a few nights of -8 or so. Everything was froze solid again. I'm not just worried about what had already sprouted (nothing showing anymore) but at what stage the seeds still in the dirt were at...if they were almost ready to sprout it may have killed them. Nothing new is up after three good warm days...but my fingers are still crossed.
I'll do some spring sowing tomorrow to sooth my tortured soul :)

A number of casualties from the cold weather here as well. In spite of a good covering snow on the milk jugs, a week of nighttime temps of minus 10-12 wiped out most of the sprouts that had emerged. Alyssum, scarlet flax, zinnia, four o'clocks, stocks, shirley poppies, calendula, are all goners, but I'm hoping there may be some seeds in those jugs that hadn't germinated yet (and I do have duplicate jugs -- planted several of the same seeds but at different times) and will surprise me. The few that did survive -- sunflower, sweet pea,pansies should be off and running now that the warm weather is back. But only for a few days. Another round of "wet snow" coming later in the week. So long as the temps don't drop down too dramatically, shouldn't be too disastrous.
The lesson I'll take from this. Freaky weather isn't all that freaky in Calgary, so play it safe and don't plant annuals until mid-April.

Fingers crossed 'xtreme gardener' that your seeds experiencing another temperature shift will germinate. But if any consolation, those conditions are what some seed species need...alternating temps.

I'm reporting winter sowing successes from 2007!
Last week I peeked into my bags with pots left over from 2006/2007 and I found these sprouts:
Dictamus alba - gas plant
Anemone hortensis from France
Hamamelis x intermedia Jelena' Witch-Hazel
Andosace carnea 'alba'

These obviously needed two winters!

Thanks sharont...my fingers are crossed, too !
What a nice bonus to have last years stuff sprout. Way to go!

Bettyjane, good thinking to duplicate your sowing at different times as an assurance. I think I got lazy and overconfident this year and never did...this spring has definately been a good reminder that its better to be safe than sorry!

Hey Sharon,

Congrats on your two year sprouts!!

I had Dictamus Alba sprout last year in July. I had sown it in March. Unusual to have same year sprouts on this one. Trying my luck again on the pink version this year.

I checked the sprouts from last year's Dictamus and they seem to be doing well. There was no growth above ground and I had to dig one up. The root system is good. I'm surprised since the heaving this winter was horrible!

Last year I tried a bit of w/s and didn't have much luck.
This year I did better! Here's what I have to date:
-Parsley
-cosmos, both pink and purple
-white obedience plant
-astrantia 'Ruby Veil'
-penstemon 'Scarlet'
-poppy 'Angels Choir'
-lupin, pink, purple, blue and white, dwarf fairy pink
-foxglove 'Apricot Beauty' and 'Excelsior' pink
-sweet william
-hibiscus 'Simply Love'
-maltese cross
-coreopsis 'Early Sunrise' and 'Sun Ray'
-malve 'Zebrina'
-white Jacobs Ladder (hopefully but then it was open pollinated!)
-carnation 'King of Blacks'
Marg

Well it seems that my containers are sprouting, but I am only running out between the raindrops to look so my records are not up to date. It wasn't raining this morning (just cloudy and threatening to start any minute)so I was looking while waiting for the dogs to do their thing, and I found a SNAIL in my container of hibiscus 'red shield'....nothing else just the snail!!!! Good job I planted another container of them and have three sprouts in it.
My container of cypress vine is totally mush...I guess that got hit by the cold, but I thought that it would be hardier than that as it was really cold when it germinated.
This is sure an interesting experience. :)
gg