Hi Kriskin, welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure how European hardiness zones relate to U.S. zones. But if those you mentioned are not reliably hardy in your zone they might be damaged by late frost if they sprout early. However, I sowed verbena bonariensis in the dead of winter and it thrived. It even overwintered fine in my zone 6 yard though it's only supposed to be hardy to zone 7. I think you'd be safe with that one any time. I think the others would be too, though I'm not sure.

Lavenders and agastache families generally like very well drained soil. So if your garden soil doesn't drain well you might want to ammend it to improve drainage.

Generally speaking, winter is a fine time to sow anything that's hardy in your zone or that reseeds well there. But no seeds are damaged by freezing weather, keep that in mind. The only risk is if they sprout in an early warm period, then they can be damaged when cold weather returns. Again, that's only for frost tender things. Hardy annual and hardy perennial seedlings are fine at sub-freezing temps.

Karen

Thank you, Karen, for your answer. The greatest fear of every first-time thread poster is that she gets no replies...:)

5/6 should be the exact equivalent of U.S. zones, according to my UK-schooled landscape architect friend.

I have a sandy soil, so lavender and agastache should like it, anyhow, I plan to build raised flowerbeds, so I could tweak the soil conditions to match the plants. All of my roses and nursery-bought lavenders live in large pots and overwinter in an unheated cellar.

But this winter I would love to try to ws some lavender. I researched the forum to find the approximate sowing times for my zone, but failed to find any...

K.

You can sow the lavender now. You should be able to sow allium as well. Verbena is a rather well known reseeder, so I've already done mine as well. The agastache is considered a half hardy annual. I'll be sowing mine in late February since it has a tendency to germinate quickly and a hard freeze could potentially ruin it. However, established plants can handle really cold temperatures.

Welcome to the madness. We're glad you came. :)

I've wintersowed agastache purple pygmy and loved them. They're beautiful, hardy to zone 5, and a little shorter than some others. Unfortunately I think most are dwindling now, i.e. going to be short-lived for me, only a few years. Here's my purple pygmy in 2007
{{gwi:344260}}

Lavender munstead has also wintersown well for me.

Never fear that we will ignore you. We're a friendly group and we're delighted to have you join in.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: purple pygmy

Karen, I know mentioning that VB plant without pulling your hair out wasn't easy. Does that mean you think you've finally gotten out your last seedling?! Sure hope so. Haven't gotten mine in a container yet, but I will soon!

Thank you for your reassurance! :)

I will go ahead and sow lavender, verbena & allium now and leave my agastache for March.

Karen, Purple Pygmy is beautiful! Such a wonderful colour!

Besides those, mentioned above, I have already sown: papaver orientale, monardas, scabiosas, Shasta Daisy, several echinaceas, achillea, perennial lupins, eryngium & dianthus amurensis.

Plus annuals are waiting for their turn.

So it is going to be an exciting spring for me! :)

Kristin, nice choices.

deanna, I doubt that I've seen the last VB seedling. I expect to find them for years to come.

Karen