Your more ambitious than me Marcia.
But soon, I should start to think about it.

Shelley

I thought I'd give it another try this year. Soon I will be sowing some hosta seed from Big Daddy and an unnamed blue variety. Is it to soon to start winter sowing Dianthus? I saved some seeds from 'Firewitch' and want to try them. Marg

Hey all,
I should try clems next year, that sounds like a great idea!
I did some OP hardy roses last month, this month I'm doing Pines, Oaks, Pears, Sea Buckthorn, and Russian Olive.
I saved pits from my dwarf sour cherries and they already germinated in the fridge. So far they're quite vigorous, large seedlings. I hope I get some alright ones!
Koren

Hi,

I'm a newbie in WSing. I found the Far North Gardening Forum very informative. If certain plants are growing in your zone, then I should be able to grow them too in my zone 4.
IÂm almost done with perennials. I left clematis to see when you guys are sowing them, but now if you Marcia started, I will sow them too.
{{gwi:783879}}
This is what I sowed so far:

1. Columbine - 7 different varieties
2. Shasta daisy
3. Yarrow
4. Silver leaves plant, donÂt know the name from my garden
5. Pink foxglove
6. Pale yellow foxglove
7. Goldstrum
8. Aster lilac color
9. Gaillardia 2 different varieties

10. Balloon flower
11. Tellima grandiflora (Fringe cup)
12. Monarda beebalm
13. Butterfly weed
14. Foxglove Penstemon
15. Chive
16. Lavender Munstead
17. Trollius (Globe flower)
18. Geranium Cransbill - 2 different varieties
19. Anemone Canadensis
20. Liatris Blazing Star
21. Achemilla (LadyÂs Mantle)
22. Canterburry bells
23. Rudbeckia tritoma
24. Echinacea
25. Calendula officinalis (Pot marigold)
26. Poppies - 3 different varieties
27. Monkshood, or I think is monkshood
28. Coreopsis sunray
29. Forget-me-not
30. Hollyhock  3 different colors
31. Astilbe
32. Money plant
33. Crocosmia

You've been busy, Mariana! And you have a lot of snow too - great insulation for all your winter sowing!

The only thing that I have sowed so far is "Clematis Lake Baikal species" from Gardens North. Two years ago I started
"Clematis tangutica" in February and it was almost 1m high before it was warm enough to plant out and I had quite a time trying to keep it supported.
Leo

Good to know about "Clematis tangutica", I will treat it like an annual, sow it late spring.
Yes Marcia, I was busy. I was trying to sow them in a slow motion to extend the sowing moment as much as possible, but not many perennials left.
My mom sent to me some seeds mostly annuals, two of them I couldnÂt translate their name in English common name or botanical name, and I will treat them like annuals. She doesnÂt know anything about winter sowing; her recommendation is "sow outdoor in spring". I have a dumb question about snapdragons and cheiranthus cheiri, are they going to be strong enough to be winter sowed, considering they come from zone 8 East Europe gardens ? She said snapdragons are evergreen now in their garden. Oh well, they donÂt have so much snow and low temperatures like here. When should I sow them?

It will be a good WSÂing year with all the snow weÂre getting. I'll probably start at the end of February like I have in the past years.

Sharon

Where on earth did you get all of your seeds? Sowing clematis...that sounds cool.

Nathan, my seeds are either my own or from trades - haven't done a bunch of that yet, though.

I've sown Clematis tangutica before - and if these seeds do well this year, the resulting plants will be my grandchildren, awwwwww! LOL But i've never had any luck with any other clematis seeds, so we'll see about Ville de Lyons (my own) and Guernsey Cream (from a trade).

Nathan, I got some of my seeds from a few generous ladies, members of this GardenWeb site for a SASBE, some are from my garden, some are from my mom, and some from parks and neighbors.
Hopefully next summer I will be able to collect lots of seeds and offer them for a SASBE too.

Did I miss something...what is a SASBE? I am so confused...

A SASBE is a Self Addressed and Stamped Bubble Envelope.
Check out the Exchange Forum and if anyone offers seeds for SASE and you see something you like just ask.

How to respond to a SASE offer you can find details here:
http://wintersown.org/wseo1/SASEs.html

Check this post from Winter Sowing too: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/wtrsow/msg0112401229641.html?7

Did some more yesterday:
5. Tricytis (Toad Lily) 'Blue Wonder' - seeds courtesy of an online friend in Germany
6. Gentiana andrewsii (i keep trying with this one - i had a plant from winter sowing but it died, and last year no germination. Trying again this year)
7. Alcea (white)
8. Delphinium 'White Galahad'
9. Delphinium 'Pacific Giants'

10. Physostegia virginiana 'Snow Crown'
11. Dianthus deltoides 'Vibrant Pink'
12. Echinacea 'Sunset' - no idea if this will come true, just trying it to see if it does or not.

I've run out of milk jugs again, but since my son consumes at least a gallon or more a week, i should have good collection again fairly soon!

Just popped in to visit and I see you folks are way ahead of me in this department!! :O) Just bought my soil today and plan on starting this weekend. Usually I start in mid-February but we just had this heat spell melt all the last three snow storms away and it gave me the fever to start.

I planted up 21 milk jugs yesterday. I would have done a few more but I ran out of milk jugs (one good thing about living in this house is that I am almost guaranteed a empty jug a day) and the unthawed dirt as well.
The bag of dirt that I brought in was still partly frozen after sitting in the house for 40 hrs.

I put all of the jugs in the greenhouse for now and covered them with a blanket.Once it warms up, I'll have to move them out.

Shelley

I know the question was ages ago, but Mariana if you're still around, snapdragons are a very hardy annual for us; perennial where it's a little warmer. They wintersow great. Some white ones even self-seeded in my planted last winter.

I'll be doing a little wintersowing soon... waiting for it to warm up a little though. And I have to buy soil. And drink a lot of cranberry juice.

Oh I had an absolutely evil thought... I can get free milk coupons from the govt' now that I have a child under 6... I should get milk and dump it out (hate it) and use the containers, LOL. OK no I would never waste food like that but the thought crossed my mind.

Get the milk, put it on the bus and send it to me. Adam will drink it all.

Oh wait - bad idea for you because i'll use the containers! LOL

Thanks Gil, I've already planted the snaps a while ago. Now that I have the Growing Guide from Vesey, some gardening books from library, and planting instructions from Stokes and J.L. Huston seems to be a little easier. Still, with all the informations I searched including the internet, today my husband and I couldn't decide which way to plant Iberis Umbellata Candytuft. Finally we planted two containers one winter-sowed and one for indoor. This plant must sprout since it's his plant for a rocky spot he wants to cover with it.
One more question about marigolds regarding blooming time. If I want a decent blooming time what way should I go with it, winter-sowing or indoor? The year before in fall time, I put some Calendula Officinalis (English or Pot Marigold) seeds in the ground and it bloomed at the end of August, it's true it was strong and in bloom till November even with snow on it.

Candytuft is really easy to wintersow or direct sow. If you indoor sowed them already they will germinate very soon and will be too stretching/weak when time to plant them outdoors.

I like to start my Marigolds indoors around May for early bloom, they are tender and don't like frost. Calendulas are good for wintersowing and can take light frost and cool weather.

Sharon

Thanks Sharon,
Candytuft went outside, and I'll start Marigolds like you said around May.

Well, I got my perennials planted and out on the weekend - only 19 milk jugs. I'm trying to cut back, because I'm running out of placed to put them! (Need more flowerbeds, I think). I'll do the annuals in mid April. I had washed and cut the milk jugs as we emptied them - it was really nice to have them ready to go.
Connie

I did 14 more containers on the weekend too. I'll have a few more to do when my seed orders come in, but i'm cutting back too, this year anyway. :)

I'm late posting...but a week or so ago I did some lupins (pink, blue, yellow and white) and a couple Rudbeckia hirta. All in pop bottles.
I can't believe the beautiful weather we're getting and its hard not to sow everything up...must..have...strength! :)
The buds on my Thunderchild crab I planted last season burst last week and are looking rather fuzzy. We were getting temps in the low teens...mother nature does like to tease us doesn't she! I love it when my face gets sunburnt in February :)

Has anybody sowed Strawberry Temptation? indoor or winter-sowing? The seeds are from Veseys, they are described as alpine and hardy. Are they hardy enough for winter-sowing in zone 4?

Sorry mariana, I've never grown strawberries from seed before...sounds like fun though :)

Last week I did some

Armeria 'Maritima Splendens':
Candy Tuft 'Snow White' Iberis semperviriens
Cheiranthus 'Allioni'

Yesterday I did up:
Sweet Williams 'Forerunner Mix'
Asclepias 'Butterfly Weed'
Perennial Phlox 'Hybrids Mix'

The rest I think I will leave for a couple more weeks or so.

Perfect day for it, so i did six more containers. That's all for now - well, depending on what's in the mystery seed box! Next month, i'll start working on the annuals.

It's supposed to be below average temps all week (lows of -5 to -12)...was wondering if it would be enough to stratify 'Clematis tangutica' if I winter sow it right away?

I'm not sure how much stratification it needs - others may know better than me - but i think seeds need a period of stratification, several weeks or several months. So if C. tangutica needs a longer period of it, just a day or so wouldn't do it.

I just checked my WS records and i sowed C. tangutica on March 6 and it germinated in May. Were these seeds from the box? I might have put them in! Hope they germinate for you. I tried some again this year, just to do it, and they haven't sprouted yet.

TC suggest.....Sow at 20ºC (68ºF), if no germination in 3-4 wks, move to -4 to +4ºC (24-39ºF) for 2-4 wks

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom Clothier's

I planted Clematis 'Guernsey Cream' on December 29 and there was a sprout in the container today. :)

Marcia, yup they were from 'the box'. Thanks :) It will be my first clematis.

Sharon, thanks for that link. Handy :)

Well, the info seems a little conflicting. So, to avoid too much delay later in the growing season if they didn't germinate at 20 degrees without stratifying, I WS'd some and I will stratify some in the fridge for a few weeks. At least I know it won't hurt the seeds if you WS'd them in March last year, Marcia.

Thanks, ladies.