are your hollyhocks doubles? I have salvias and columbine but I'm looking for doulbe flowered hollyhocks. :-) Pam

Congrats! It's so fun to see how resilient Mother Nature is, isn't it? I have been surprised several times by old seeds. I still have some tomato seeds left I got for free from Trudi's site three years ago. I didn't have a lot left, but had several Chadwick Cherry seedlings came up. I remember these from my first year, and they were so prolific right up until frost. I have some old Thai Bottle Gourd seeds that were a couple years old when I purchased them on sale, a couple years ago. The two I direct sowed into my raised beds are no shows, so I planted almost all the rest in a container. I am really hoping to get at least one, preferably two. I will report my results later. I let a few of my cucuzzi gourds cure outside over the winter, and I think I might be hooked. I haven't tried any crafts with them yet, but I think it could be fun.

I've wintersown Aquilegia canadensis, A. chrysantha, and A. caerulea, all native Columbines, using fresh seed and get lots of seedlings. I've got lots of little A. caerulea sprouts this Spring. Columbine can be sporadic to germinate sometimes. It reseeds a bit in the garden and I discover little seedlings here and there. Longevity of the seed depends partly on how the they are stored. I store mine in a drawer in the fridge and throw dessicants in the seed bags and the drawer. I've had excellent germination on some old seeds, much older than listed on the website above. I've germinated tomatoes, basil, parsley, savory, zinnias, sunflowers, and other seeds that were more than 10 years old. Not sure how yours will germinate, but it's worth a try if you're curious.

You can test seed viability by putting them on a paper towel then covering them with another. Use a spray bottle to keep towels moist. Btw. There are numerous on line seed companies that will deliver to your door. You should consider ordering ASAP to get what you want, especially now.