Hi PrairieClover: I seem to recognize you from the 'mother forum'. I try to sow my native seeds and perennials in early January but last year, due to family illness, some of them were left until March and did O.K. This year I am trying to grow some roses, and according to my 'advisor' from the mother forum, the recommendation was to sow them at the Winter Solstice for stratification purposes, so you can probably sow them whenever it is cold enough in your area. Hope this helps.

Welcome Prairie Clover!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a suggestion to you. I've been winter sowing for a few years and have found much success and filled gardens happily.

My suggestion is to sow and place outdoors when temps are not in the -20C range, but rather when temps are above -10C or so. The reason is the 'shock' the seed will be submitted to in the deep colds which we get here in Canada. There has been some question as to whether the embryo of some seeds can take the shock of going from your nice kitchen temp of +20C to such a shocking cold, and I must agree that my successes have been increased by watching what the temps are, and making the change in temps for the sown containers happen more progressively. Especially since I start in mid-February.

One thing I do when things are deathly frigid outside and I still want to winter sow is place my sown containers in our basement where things are around +3C in the winter. Then I wait for that day when the temps outside will rise above -10C, and place them on the deck and forget about them until the spring. Here on the east coast, those cold spells don't last too long so the containers usually get moved outside within three days.

As said, this is my experience and it works for me! Have fun!

I totally agree with yah Nicole!

I too donÂt start my WSÂing till the last week of February or the month of March, making sure its a nice mild day, not when its Â40C! In my experience this is usually fatal to the seed embryo if you stick (moist seed) outdoors when itÂs freezing cold; in Nature temps donÂt go from +20C, then all of sudden with no acclimatization to an extreme temp like Â40C. So what I do is wait till itÂs around Â10C (this is mild in my climate). Or if itÂs any colder I will acclimatize my flats in the fridge for a couple of days then pop them outdoors when its mild. Once outdoors, locate them in a protected area, also shovel snow on top of your containers so that they will be protected against the harsh blowing winds.

I also should mention that I only sow the hardy perennial types that need a stratification period first, followed by the regular perennials that donÂt need a cold period and then the hardy annuals are sowed around April/May. Tender annuals are sowed indoors as usual, my climate is way too short to be winter sowing tenders so I like to start those early to get a head start... plus with our unpreditable late frosts its usually damaging to those particular seedlings.

Sharon

So far this winter in Ontario and most of the east has been so mild compared to our usual below zero temps. Can we start now?

You can most certainly start now if you wish Sprout. Some folks have - I think Sue in NS has something like 24 containers out there.

My first year I did start in January, but since then I've made it a ritual of starting in mid-February. Just the way I do things. :)