I would like to try direct sowing some flower seeds in the Fall to assure that I get blooms in the Spring from them. Here's my dilemma..For the last two years,We have paid somebody to do our Fall maintenance and put down mulch. My husband insists we have mulch spread both in Spring and Fall. How can I continue to have the fall mulching session and direct sow flower seeds where I want them to grow? I feel that the Fall mulching keeps the soil too moist or wet. The soil is very rich, I think it needs to be lighter if that makes sense. Hubby wants the flowerbeds to look neat, even in the winter. I feel that there's still mulch left on the flowerbeds from the Spring Mulching..why pay for adding more? If I direct sow before Mr. B comes to do the Fall mulching, won't the mulch smother the seeds and they not be able to germinate? If we do have Mr. B to Fall mulch, can't I just pull the mulch away to sow the seeds and not put the mulch back where the new seeds are sown? This question seems so long but I need to work this out in my mind. I have never sown any seeds in the Fall.

Susan, Oh, okay, I don't know what I was thinking that you had started them indoors. I'm hoping that I'll get a head start on them this way. I didn't plant quite all of them yet because I wasn't sure if I was starting them too early. Now that our last frost date is about two months from now (April 15), I suppose that I could start the rest inside. My problem is that I ran out of containers and will have to go get some more. I have all of my individual one and two-gallon ones used with my swamp milkweed started outside, and the smaller individual ones have butterfly weed and tropical milkweed in them. Then I also have 3 flats (72 in a flat) with swamp milkweed in two of them started outside and butterfly weed in the other one. Then I also have butterfly weed and tropical milkweed started in cups. I probably am up to close to 300 milkweed plants here, assuming that the seeds all germinate (I put two in each container), and I'm not even done yet. lol Of course, then there's the Chelone glabra, Zizia aurea, Zizia aptera, Heraculeum maximum, Foeniculum vulgare azoricum, and Angelica atropurpurea seeds from you that I have winter sown. I started some snapdragons inside, Blazing Star Liatris, also Agastache foeniculum and Blue Fescue (I suppose I could have winter sown those last two). I'll direct sow my lupines, zinnias, cosmos, and dill. There, I think I remembered everybody. :) I want to try to locate a small spicebush around here. I wonder if there'd be any harm in digging one out and relocating it here at the edge of our yard next to the woods? A sassafras tree would be nice too. Of course, I'm thinking about other plants for next year...I'd even plant a paw paw tree if I knew that I could get ZST up here, but my Butterflies Through Binoculars book shows their range ending around the southern border of PA. There are so many different kinds of butterflies that I'd like to attract here, but I don't think I want to dig up our whole backyard. :) It's snowing a lot here right now. Schools let out at noon today and have already cancelled for tomorrow. I suppose the weather will soon clear up out your way. Come on spring! Cathy

Bronze Fennel n the back for color, texture, butterflies and can be direct sown. Dill and Parsley also have that umbrel type flower that attracts beneficial insects. Parsley is Biennial but starts easily from seed with patience, you just have to wait until the second year for bloom. I planted seed every year for awhile, so I always have some seedlings getting ready for the next year and bloom for that year. I use mine mid border. Try wintersowing Hollyhocks when your house is finished. I gave up on Hollyhocks due to rust. Maybe you'll have better luck. They are gorgeous. Delphiniums are a great cottage garden plant, but not easy to start from seed and germination is low. The newer Millennium varieties are the best, and if you find seedlings for sale somewhere, you would probably be better off. I am talking about the perennial. Not sure if there is an annual? I grow my 4 oclocks in pots rather than the ground because they produce tubers that can keep coming back and I'm overly cautious about anything that can become a pest. They are very fragrant but open around dinner time not during the day. On a warm summer night the fragrance can really travel. I wouldn't be without them. Calendula is very easy and good for front of border. And easy to save the seed from year to year. Cosmos 'Double Click', I had this briefly, but it didn't stay upright Other single cosmos are great and do reseed in a mannerly way. I found that once I planted them, I was never without them again without any need for me to start more. Love Verbascum, but have not tried to grow hybrids from seed. It can be front of the border or mid border Achillea will spread a lot and quickly. Echinacea is a wonderful perennial addition and some varieties will reseed for you once established. I have a lot of seedlings this year. Some people find Verbena bonariensis a pest eventually. I have been growing it for about 3 years and this year I am starting to see it pops up in a lot of area that requires my attention. Still liking it though. Columbines are very easy but they reseed a little too vigorously for me. I still like them, but I deadhead carefully now. Dianthus is easy from seed, but I have only winter sown them not direct sown. I think they may need a cold period? They are a nice cottage garden plant for the front of the border and will give a good period of bloom if you don't mind deadheading them. They are another plant whose seed are very easy to save and start for year to year. Wintersowing them is as easy as it gets. There are perennial and annual versions. Some are fragrant. Four years, your Butterfly Bush should be performing well. Is it growing in full sun?

Hi Dawna! So excited to see you online today. Haven't seen much of you lately, and I assume you are still busy with getting everything resettled from one home/landscape to another. Thanks for the tip on the iochroma. I guess it is one of those plants that looks better in a photo than in an actual garden. lol Dawna, I guess the Pink Texas Star was a sport or a mutation? I'm not sure of the correct terminology. The leaves were exactly the same as the Red Texas Star. I guess it could have been a cross with the white swamp mallow, but it didn't otherwise resemble the white one, and they are several hundred yards apart. If I ever have another pink one show up, I'll be sure to save seeds and share them. Glad to hear your hummers are back. Mine have been back for several weeks and we have had a lot of nights in the 30s since they returned so I have worried about them. I have filled the feeders but they are spending most of their time so far at the American Crossvine and 'Pink Lemonade' honeysuckles. I've had mostly ruby-throated ones and a couple of black chins. Dawna, have you hauled the gravel out or what???? I think I would shoot anyone who ever suggested to me that I should mulch with gravel. Please tell me it was on top of a fabric or plastic mulch and not directly on top of/mixed into the soil! Now, I like morning glories but I mulch heavily and am always careful to pull up the volunteer seedlings as soon as I see them. The vine that reseeds everywhere for me, including all kinds of places where I don't want it, is the black-eyed susan vine. Merry Heart, The only work I have done today is to run over to care for the neighbor's animals, run a couple of errands in town, stop to pick up milk at the store, and only a very small amount of housecleaning and laundry. I have been unable to step foot in the garden and you know it is killing me. I haven't actually ordered plants on line, but I have been looking at them. I already have so many flats of plants started that I can't get into the ground because of the weather that I'd better not acquire any more. :( I would love to be outside either planting or making new beds. I will have have to rototill up some bermuda grass and make a new area to plant all my winter squash, summer squash, muskmelons, cantaloupe, honeydews, watermelons and pumpkins. The tomatoes have taken over the spot where I used to grow melons. I am going to hate losing that bermuda grass (OK, not really!) but that's just how it goes. My ultimate goal is to eventually get rid of all the bermuda grass, but I don't know if DH will go for that. When DS called while on his lunch break I told him I was going to make fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner and he perked right up and then said "must be raining there too". See how well he knows me! Today at the fire academy they have been OUTSIDE all day practicing extrication of victims from crashed vehicles, so he is wet and tired. I hope they enjoy dinner tonight, because tomorrow the weather should be good, I'll be outside all day, and dinner will be something from the crockpot. Dawn