When I need advice about seed sowing, I refer to this germination database. Hope it will include some of your seeds.

https://tomclothier.hort.net/page02.html

I guess you want sowing advice? Unfortunately, I have never sown any of these. I have sown Penstemon digitalis becuase it can handle moister conditions than most penstemons. As a side note, I had two types of sea holly, Eryngium gigantium and Eryngium planum, and did not notice that ONLY E gigantium needs a warming period. Sowed both types in jugs, have a few sprouts of E planum and will see if they survive winter. They are hardy to Z4 and I'm on the northern border of Z6 (literally, it's a two-minute drive to zone 5). It will be my own experiment this year!

Heya, Deanna, I have also got some e.planum poking up. I'm not really certain I am asking for specific advice, tbh...just looking for company. I know how its all supposed to work (although there is an uncomfortable gap between theory and practice). Burying teeny seeds in a pot for weeks and months on end always feels a bit contingent.mysterious and out of my hands. I am still seriously amazed at each appearance of hopeful sprouts. I always sew far too many seeds so the pricking out and potting on gets sketchy and onerous. I always run out of space. I forget why I needed this or that plant. Or have no space for one, never mind 47 seedlings.

But this is actually pretty normal and reasonable for most of us isn't it?

Most require cold stratification, some few warm before the cold. Many are irregular germinators and may take six to nine months (remember callirhoe discussions?).

You can look up as you have pointed out, but (err this works for me..) the basic rule is what does Nature do. For instance the penstemon seeds mature early, and probably would appreciate a short (six weeks) warm season before cold stratification. The grasses don't mature till frost, so immediate cold stratification should work there, though they probably won't sprout till it gets warm. Most prairie flora is warm-season.

Just don't water log them, don't let the dry out, and don't stop taking care of them till July while waiting for late sprouters.

I love my milk jugs. They do SUCH a great job except for seeds that germinate irregularly--if the top of the jug restricts air too much then as things warm up it gets...funky.

I'm here for company! I've done a pretty good job of controlling impulse buying, but "pretty good" still means I have too many seeds. Do you have "dumping grounds" in your garden to put seedlings that don't have a home? I do, and I hate that it requires more work later, because moving an established plant to the "right" spot is much more work than sticking a tiny seedling in the ground. How did you pick your seeds? Yours are mostly new to me.

Also, how successful have you been with seeds requiring two cold-stratification periods? Me, not so good.

Ah, surprisingly, I seem to get on really well with hypogeal and double dormancy germinators (lilies, paeonies) but not due to any great care on my part. I suspect my mild and dryish climate is perfect for this. I stash deep terracotta longtoms at the back of the japanese anemones, next to a north-facing wall, and more or less forget about them until when I come to do a spring clear up and surprise myself when I uncover the leaf litter to see little reddish leaflets or perky spikes. Any pots still lurking in the greenhouse run the risk of being poked about, losing labels and often ending up being tipped out into the compost.

I keep most of the bulbs stored in this way as some of them are going to be living in their pots for years but rarely need any faffing from me. However, if I try to do this intentionally (keeping notes, moving pots around, using fridges or heat mats), it all falls apart pretty quickly. This is all the evidence I need, that nature knows far better than my witless bumbling...so as a rule, I generally sow seeds as soon as I get them and don't really stress myself. It is only when I feel compelled to take some responsibility...and things get a bit sketchy and random. And yep, most of my fails are, I think, due to overwatering in winter. Or, because there are so many small square pots, I never manage to be consistent, so some are waterlogged while others are too dry.

I have split most of the seeds this year. I am sowing half of them according to various germination methods - so a few are undergoing a warm damp phase while some have gone straight into the fridge, while the other half get the more usual cavalier treatment of sow, water in and ignore. No heating, lighting, covering apart from a quick sprinkle of chick grit to fend off liverworts and mosses.

I do consider this to be excellent testing for the tough life ahead. My plantlets never have to deal with the stress of being bought home after an easy nursery life of food and warmth...cos I follow the principles of 'treat 'em mean and keep 'em keen (like what I should do with the offspring).

I have tried milk jugs and didn't really like it very much. Couldn't see what was going on. Found it quite hard to assess needs or thin out.. I totally admit that a large part of surviving dreary winters is the daily delight of seeing tiny sprouts. I have been known to scrutinise my pots with my magnifying glass. The irony of this is not lost on me since I tend to do better when I don't continually poke about and meddle...but hey ho. I also work on the principle of sowing shedloads so will probably be quite grateful that not all appear.

heh heh. I also share in that early spring ritual of nose to the grit of a pot, searching for any evidence of green. It's anyone's guess if they ever get planted out, but it's a cheap thrill to see a potful of promising sprouts.

The talinum and penstemon should be quite easy. A friend has the talinum in the cracks and gravel of her driveway and I plan on throwing the seed in a similar spot here.

A pot full of P. ostii seed looked so promising this spring with all those roots sprouted, I had visions of a wooded glade filled with a thicket of huge white blooms and then all but one failed to sprout their first leaf. Probably not the calamity you'd think since I might actually be able to find a spot for a single tree peony.

Well yes, a single p.ostii would be a win indeed! I have grown a few paeonies because they are actually easy, thriving on neglect. I never touch them until they have grown a few true leaves, so they can be in the same pots for 3 years before I risk tipping them out. I have a right struggle growing them on though (they are unhappy on the allotment) - I mostly place them in other people's gardens where they have a chance of thriving (although I do have a bloody gigantic 10ft x 10ft p.delavayii lutea). I am risking a couple of 4 year old p.mascula in the sandy allotment soil (p.veitchii was desperately miserable and never flowered). I would be overjoyed if I had even 1 bloom. I have some p.obovata seeds in pots and am going to try a few more woodlanders.

Like primula and meconopsis, I have had to admire paeonies from a distance...but mostly because I had been looking at garden lactifloras and named cultivars, without really exploring the species. I have high hopes for another mediterranean paeony - p,cambessedessii. Such a lot to learn and so little time to do it though.

Oh that's really nice. I doubt it would be hardy for me, but no harm in trying a few seeds... if I were to ever come across them...

I thought I would be satisfied with two p. daurica plants, a pink and a yellow, but now I've decided if I can ever get a p. wendelboi I'd have to make that three plants. I'm worried the first two will self-seed though, they set a good amount now that they're blooming well. Four or more will really be too many unless they're grown ridiculously close to one another.

The worst thing about planting them in other people's gardens is the likelihood of missing out on the (fleeting) blooms. I enjoy the early paeony foliage at least as much as the the flowers...which is just as well since mascula is in bloom for about 4 days.Same as mlokosewitchii (sp?) Even the massive delavayii only has a 2week show of flower.

First callirhoes up (2). I was sceptical but the seed is still clinging to the cotyledon. These are not the Jellito quick germinating ones, just ordinary seeds from Chilterns. Yay. 2 lots of apiaceae started to sprout while still in warm stratification so quickly dumped seseli and cenolophium in pots. Hedysarum, penstemon and a whole heap of fast germinators all doing their sprouty thing, along with a robin which appears to regard the greenhouse as home.

I have little cyclamen hederifolium that have sent out their tubers and the first ones are starting to send up little leaves. Coum has done nothing yet (but that's the expectations). 12 more days till rotating whats getting 'warm' treatment and whats getting 'cold'.

I haven't done winter sowing in awhile. I was here in the Winter Sowing forum when Trudy first started the forum and taught and encouraged everyone how to do it. I did it for 3 years and loved it! I did like the milk jugs. I seemed to have an easier time collecting those than the small containers from the grocery store that some people used. Just the other day I was eyeing my daughter's container of baby spinach from the grocery store and thought, why didn't they have those when I was winter sowing? But maybe they did and I just don't buy lettuce that way. [g]

We also used Tom Clothier's site for sowing information.

I doubt I will be able to winter sow this year, but I will be interested to hear how you all do. Back in 2007...

rosaprimula, Trudy was adamant that to keep the process fun and relaxing, that people should plant chunks of seedlings, and not do any pricking out and using every seedling. I remember resisting that idea. I didn't want to 'waste' a single seedling, but in the end, when I had about 200 milk jugs to plant out - I took her advice and broke the rootball from the milk jugs into about 5 chunks and planted out that way. It worked fine and I still have plants in my garden that I started that way.

Another place for germination and sowing instructions is the PrairieMoon Nursery.

Prairiemoon Nursery

No personal connection. [g]

They have detailed information about a lot of American natives and meadow plants.

It depends on what it is, but I tend to favor the small clump transplants too *lol* because it's just tedious teasing out 1 vs what comes (like 5). I think of it as producing instant clumps and allowing selection of the best...and also avoiding empty pots when a seedling passes on to the great sowing bed in the beyond.