Amanda I'm in 6b in CT, and I've already wintersown all my cosmos, marigolds and zinnias. In the past I've sown everything on your list except strawberries and fuschia. I don't have my records with timelines, but I've also found that as the years go by, and especially as I'm sowing fewer perennials (sow them once and you've got 'em, lol) that I am doing my annuals sooner and sooner, still with good results. You are, of course, colder than I am but I think you would be okay with sowing most of those.

I sow only a few containers at a time, so my wintersowing stretches from January to April, and I do my veggies last, probably end of March into April. I would say at the very least, start with the snaps, alyssum, and bachelor's buttons. And I think marigolds would be fine too - they are pretty darn hardy and self sow. If you are the type of person who does all their sowing at once, I think most of those would be fine sowing now. Except, again, for the strawberries and fuschia - and those may be okay too, I just can't advise on those.

Good luck! Sounds like you are going to have an explosion of flowers this year, if your greenhouse is already full and you are going for a second round AND wintersowing!

:)
Dee

Dee

Yes I am going for an explosion of flowers! I'm working on renewing overgrown gardens and a lot of that has been tearing out undesirable plants so I have a lot of room. There are 8 gardens on the property and after ripping out the stuff that isnt wanted there is a LOT of empty space. Honestly I'm considering expanding or creating a new garden if I run into space issues.

I'm worried I wont have enough plants! I am definitely leaning towards doing mostly annuals this year though since I wanna play with the gardens year to year.

I'm glad to hear that because I've started with the snapdragons, petunias and some bachelors buttons. I was worried about sowing zinnias, marigolds, cosmos and dahlias early so I'm glad to hear you have experience sowing most of that early.

Should I be worried that I dont have enough time?

I think you have plenty of time! I sow well into April, some years up to the end of it. And for some things (lettuce, other greens, some cutting flowers) I use the container method for successive sowings. Obviously you have to watch more carefully due to the higher temps of spring and summer, but I do sow things through the summer. But even without those successive sowings, you have another full month to six weeks to get things sown, so you should be good!

Good luck with your new and improved gardens!
:)
Dee

Amanda, many annuals can be sown very early, even in February. The issue with some of the ones above, like zinnias, is that they germinated SO QUICKLY. If a tender annual takes 10-14 days to germinate, I sow early. if it's like zinnias, and they germinate in 1-5 days, or even up to 7 days, I'll often wait. I've had fast-germinating seeds sprout in February during an unusual warm spell. Now I look at how long they take to germinate and plan for quick ones to be wintersown later. Don't know if that helps, but thought I'd mention.

Okay good to know!! I'm going to be sowing most everything this week if I have time. Sowed somenstuff about two weeks ago. Got tiny little bachelors button sprouts but no petunias or snapdragons just yet.