Most of the seedlings found homes since I basically gave them away to anyone who drove up and agreed to adopt them. meadows - no photos of planting days because my hands were busy getting the sprouts out of the jugs and either planting them or potting them up to give away/grow on. I tried hard not to panic but with close to 500 milk jugs that looked like the ones above, it was not easy to stay calm. gardenunusual - I just copied the sprout chart from wintersown.org and saved it on my laptop, then tweaked it to add germination rates + first bloom dates. It's specific to the seeds I sowed and doesn't include a broader number of seed types as a result since I deleted the rows describing seed types I wasn't growing. Check out the one on wintersown.org and if you still want to have a look-see at mine, let me know. mechele211 - I know a great many butterfly bush seedlings were potted up and given away. Others were planted here and there. I'm guessing I'll be in for a few surprises this year when they start coming up in places I forgot I planted them!!! Same with foxgloves--who knew such tiny seeds would germinate at like 150% and grow nice healthy plants? One of them even bloomed first year from seed! If you winter sow your seeds and follow the instructions and guidelines provided by so many who've had success before you, there should be lots of green sprouts in many thousands of containers all around the country this year.

Thanks siichan and Andrea! OK, maybe it's OK to not to duct-tape the jugs with sprouts closed again, and just have the loose pipe cleaner closure holding the top closed, but not open up the top of the milk jug (at the hinge) yet...hopefully. siichan, tomorrow I can post a photo of my New England aster sprout along with a photo of the leaves of one of the New England asters greening up in my perennial bed. The seed leaves of the N.E. aster look different than the mature leaves...so maybe that's why the seedlings you have look strange? If they are New England asters and have their mature leaves, the leaves should look sort of pointy, kind of like a knife blade, whereas if they are just baby sprouts, the first seed leaves/cotyledons of New England asters usually are more rounded-looking...more like a spoon. The link below has a good photo of the New England aster seedlings (see the "Seedling" photo) with the rounded leaves and then the plant once it gets its pointier, knife-shaped leaves (see the "Juvenile" photo.) Hope that helps but will post my photos tomorrow anyway... Here is a link that might be useful: Grow Native: New England aster

Hi everyone, I'm in zone 4, near North Bay, Ontario and we are still getting some snow and mixed ice/rain. Although the temps are in lows such as today, its +1. My question, I would love to do this winter sowing thing as I have a huge new garden and want to just fill it in with everything. Can I still put out some containers to try the winter sowing, or is this supposed to be done in Dec/Jan??? Thanks

Okay, here's my list, minus whatever bunch I didn't feel like checking today Perennials: English Wallflower Lupine "Sundown" Ornamental Grass "Coolio" Snow-In-Summer Cantebury Bells Or-Grass "Pony Tails" Alyssum "Gold Dust" Pansy "Giant Blue" Basket Flower-Armenian Coneflower "White Swan" Coreopsis "Mahogany Midget" Cupid's Dart Dames Rocket Evening Primrose (Pink) Flax Blue Liatris (from SIL yard) Lupine "Band of Nobles" Lupine "Minarette Mix" Monarda Clinopodia Blanket Flower Butterfly Bush Mix Coneflower Purple Coneflower Tennessee Lady's Mantle Penstemon "Husker Red" Rudbeckia filagura sulivani Jupiter's Beard Aster- Trimix Alpine Rue Annuals: Carnation "Dwarf Fragrance" Carnation Enfant de Nice Blend Cosmos "Daydream" Dianthus Dble Pinks Larkspur "Galilee Carmine dble" Plox Bachelor Buttons "Blue Boy" Bachelor Buttons "Snowball" OrGrass-Black Durum Snapdragon-Tall Maximum Aster "Crego" Aster "Fireworks Mixed" Blue Thimble Flower Calendula "Lashima" Candy Tuft "Dwarf Fairy" Cosmos "Dble Click" Larkspur "Giant Imperial" Maltese Cross Stocks "Giant Imperial" Strawflower "Tall Choice Dble" Bachelor Buttons "Red Boy" Zinnias-PP Purple Zinnias-Royal Purple Snapdragon-Magic Carpet Sunflower-Pastiche Sunflower-Red Sun Sunflower-Velvet Queen Zinnias- Dasher mix Zinnias-State Fair Zinnias-Thumbelina Mix Bells of Ireland California Poppy "Mexicana Sunshades" California Poppy "Thai Silk" mix Candytuft mixed colors Cosmos "Campus Yellow" Dusty Miller Petunia "Fire Chief" Poppy- Purple Peony Sunflower- Claret Sunflower-Moulin Rouge Zinnias- Red Sun Amaranthus- Tricolor Cosmos "Ladybird Mix" Poppy Breadseed Lavender Zinnias-Anniversary Zinnias-Park's Picks Lilac Zinnias-PP Carmine Rose Zinnias-Violet Queen Alyssum "Oriental Nights" sowed 2 packets Alyssum "Rosie O'Day" Snapdragon- Labella Snapdragon- Madame Butterfly Snapdragon- Royal Bride Dahlia-Decorative Giants Mix Amaranth- my favorite burgundy Painted Tongue "Casino Black" Petunia- Dble Cascade Burgundy Snapdragon-Chimes Bronze Snapdragon-Ribbon Purple Statice "Mixed Bold Colors" Tasselflower Veggies: Lettuce- Mesclun Mix Lettuce- Simpson Black seeded Radish "Champion" Spinach-Bloomsdale Long Standing Pak Choi Carrot "Nantes Coreless" Radish "China Rose" Carrot "Long Imperator #58" Feverfew Winter Savory Basil- Lettuce Leaf And I have two containers from last year that are sprouting! Yippeeeeeeeeee!: Highbush Cranberry/Viburnum Trilobum Aubretia "Rock Cress" I'm pretty excited about the Cranberry. There are at least four seeds germinated, and there are several more in there waiting.