I don't worry about how many are in a bottle. I plant them out in a HOS manner and let the strongest fight it out.

Last year, which was my first year winter sowing, I separated all my foxglove seedlings. There were so many because the seeds are so small and maybe I should have used a bit of a lighter hand. This year, I plan on using the hunk of seedlings method. Separating all those seedlings was very time consuming.

You usually get great germination on foxgloves, campanula's, balloon flowers. If you do have the extra container's I would spread them out so you won't be pressed to plant them in spring/summer/fall? I forgot about mine this summer and only 1 survived out of the container. I will be planting a lot them this season. I hope this helps.

Thanks so much you guys! I think I'm going to go for the survival of the fittest. i'm worried i'll do more damage trying to separate them out. on a side note: my husband is enjoying this project: I had "banned" soda from the house a few years ago but those 2liter bottles are perfect so I turned a blind eye at thanksgiving to the soda. Well, those bottles went fast and I haven't nagged him about the fact that he sneak purchases coke/pepsi here and there ever since. he says he's doing it to help me out. oh sure!!!

gardentherapy - I am in a similar situation with indoor sowing! I am starting from seeds for the first time under some grow lights and the seeds were so small. I kind of lost track of how many I put in the container but figured only a few would germinate... I was wrong! This was last week and there are even more that have germinated since this photo was taken.

I plan on thinning them out and then once they get a bit of a root system going trying and transplanting them into their own planters. I was hoping for maybe 5-6 foxgloves.

The worst part is I also put some foxgloves in 2 liter bottles outside for winter sowing. I'm going to be begging people to take some foxgloves in spring....

{{gwi:2121197}}

I hope you have lots of success with your winter sowing!

Michaela

wow Michaela! talk about good germination! I'm going to try my best to sow a little lighter moving forward. I'm a total newbie and I'm just finding it tough working with such tiny seeds. Perhaps I will take a few moments to group them into batches of 5 or 6 before I start sowing? just seems a bit tedious and time consuming.

I'd be curious how you do with foxglove under lights vs winter sowing. be sure to update us on which you found more successful. what type did you sow? I'm trying excelsior because I need some height at the back of a somewhat shady border but curious to see what types others enjoy or find successful.

Good luck and happy sowing!

Thank you! I agree. I generally put way too many seeds per container and will try to sow lighter as well.

I will definitely let you know! I am shocked at how well my germination has been... the only factor I can think of is that I'm sowing them in our spare bedroom, and we keep the door closed so its nice and toasty in there... maybe having it warmer is helping? I have tons of delphiniums as well which I thought were on the difficult side to sow.

I am growing Foxglove Digitalis Purpurea. If you'd like any seeds let me know. I have a lot of seeds still and will never be able to trade them all away. :)

Good luck to you as well!

Michaela

VERY interested in hearing your results. I'm a first time wintersower and also planted a bunch of foxgloves. I'll do the HOS (hunk of seeds) planting method if I get such good results. I am hoping for good germination in mostly all of my WS'ing (dare I hope!?) and if all my seeds germinate, I'll be looking for more area to plant and/or giving some away. But what a "dilemma" to have vs. only a few plants from sowing!
:0)

I'd love to see your foxgloves as they continue to grow inside, Michaela!

I agree I'd rather have too many than none at all! I thinned them out a little bit yesterday so there are probably 20 now. I don't have a ton of space to put them in individual planters but they aren't growing very fast so they may not outgrow their container before I can get them outside?

I will definitely let you guys now how it is going! :)

Michaela

Michaela-how are your foxgloves doing? My winter sown ones have not sprouted yet. yours? what did you thin to????

I usually do the HOS method too. I'm too lazy to thin everything out! It's worked for me so far with petunias, foxglove, larkspur, rudbeckia, nigella, and others.

One fairly easy way to thin is to use manicure scissors and snip off all but a few of your sprouts. This way you don't disturb the roots.

A common practice when sowing is to mix those tiny seeds with sand and then spread that mix. You can see where seeds have fallen, since the sand is paler than the mix. That helps to prevent over planting.

Martha

They are doing good! I will try to take a picture of them tonight. I've been transplanting some of the bigger ones into their own pots but their little root systems are so small I've lost some so next year I think I'll try to plant them in individual pots. My winter sowing didn't work. I think with the lack of snow and rain we have they ended up just drying out and I forgot to water them. I'm anxious to hear how yours go!

caryltoo & docmom, those are great ideas!

Michaela,

Are you saying your wintersowing didn't work this year? If you are in zone 5, it will be a few months before you could say your Wintersowing didn't work this season. Your containers need several weeks of consistently warm temperatures before they will start to sprout. The folks who are showing us their crowded containers full of sprouts come from much warmer climates than you and I live in. Please give it some more time. You could water them to improve germination, but I think you just need to give it more time. I don't have a single sprout, but I'm not concerned.

Martha

I was thinking the same thing. none of my perrenials have sprouted yet and I'm zone 6. don't give up on them yet......

Me too...mine have just thawed out this week, I think! I'm impatient too, tho...can't wait (this is my first year)

Agreed! Don't give up on them. I am in zone 7b, and therefore have sprouts in lots of containers, but also many that have not sprouted yet. They will come up when conditions are right. This is my second year, so I know it does work.

I'm in 7a and the only sprouts I have are things I would expect like lettuce, kale and stock. I was surprised one shasta daisy and a couple of carnations sprouted earlier this week. So far they've held their own through our cold nights.

Here's some pictures of my indoor foxgloves... I had success transplanting a few of them into containers by themselves... I need to do it again because they are a little cramped.

The original container from before.

Two of them growing in a slightly bigger container.

Aw, I just saw everyone's comments. I threw the containers away before I had even posted that so I can't do much now! They had actually blown all over the backyard and the soil had spilled out and such. So next year I will have a better plan for them. :)

Michaela: my wintersown foxgloves FINALLY sprouted. they are def. crowded in their containers. I guess I was even heavier-handed then I thought. I think I will be separating as you did(although I may wait a bit as they look so tiny & fragile). glad to see you were successful!