Some people would go ahead and sow them now. They will not germinate until their soil temperature is consistently in the 70s, so the seeds will be sitting in a moist pot for quite a few weeks. I worry about large seeds like those rotting, so I wait until the weather is much warmer. But, tons of people sow tomatoes in the dead of winter and have excellent results. I hope others chime in with their experiences.

Martha

I've had salvia (victoria blue) out since the beginning of January in zone 6b/7a. It germinated almost a month ago and has done fine even though we've had a few nights down to high single digits and many in the teens.

If you sow in Jan or Feb, and have a warm spell in Feb - as has happened in NJ, altho not this year - or a warm spell in March, your Salvia will germinate. Then if you have freezing temps, you will have to either cover them or they will all freeze and you will lose them. I had the latter happen to me one year, another year I was able to protect them thru the freeze, but I finally got smart - there is no reason to sow them until a couple of weeks before you're going to put them in the soil. And in my zone, (6) the soil will not be warm enough til April/May.