Last year was the first time I have done lisianthus I sowed them on Jan 22 the first to germinate was Jan 31. I had blooms open by June 16. This year I sowed the rest of the packet on January 22 again and have the first one up today, one day earlier then last year.The lisianthus I have are the "Echo" ones and I was told they are a little quicker to bloom..savona

I started Lisianthas last year around the end of January. They bloomed late as well. I was planning on bringing a few in the house for the winter to see if I could keep them alive by my south facing window. But that never happened.
I was going to start them myself again, but I have fungus gnats in the house that I can't seem to get rid of. I know how much they like these flowers, so I asked a employee of a local greenhouse if they start them. She says they do and in 6 packs, so I'm opting for that route this year.
Good luck with yours and good luck on having earlier flowers.

Shelley

I've thought about starting them, several times, but in the end decided against them. I think if I ever do try them, I'll order plugs thru a greenhouse friend of mine.

There's this thread from the cutting garden which is quite informative.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lisianthus at the Cutting forum

OHOH..I unintentionally told a fib. I had forgot I had started them 2 years ago. They came up nicely but quickly became fodder for the gnats. Guess I didnt have them long enough to remember right away....hahaha..Lisianthus germinates easy enough, its the keeping them alive that is the hard part. The gnats loved them plus they tend to suffer from damping off. All I used was cinnamon sprinkled lightly on the soil to ward off damping off.They grow very slowly the first few weeks and then take right off..savona

I bought seed last year from T&T , 10/25 came up pellets were crushed
here's what they looked like. I think the flash made them look more purple, they were bluer

Some I started early this year
{{gwi:730728}}

Wow! What a profusion of blooms! My seeds germinated OK--but they don't seem to be as far along as yours. If I recall, the T & T variety was a smaller version--looks like worth trying another year.

How early did you start yours?

I was testing the seed after Christmas & didn't have the heart to kill them.The pic is about 3 weeks old , so bigger now. It was seed I save from them and it had better germination than T&T's. I got another 50 pink -50 forever blue I started on March 15. I found they like a bit of sandy soil, to keep then from being to wet around the roots

Edit I meant to say Feb. 15 when I started the 100