You can sow them outdoors in covered containers right now -it is a method called wintersowing - I have been doing it since January - no need to try and find places in the house and chase the sun and it works GREAT - many gardeners in your zone are planting right out in the garden now with wintersown hardy annuals. There is a forum here on GW devoted to it. Read the FAQ first to get an idea of what we are talking about - then ask all the questions you want - these are very helpful gardeners and eager to share - it will change your whole way of thinking.... Lynne Here is a link that might be useful: WinterSowing

I think I said I wasn't going to Spring Sow anything, but guess what. I did. Today. Not anything "special" like I did last year (the Gardenia and the Bay Laurel, which are still alive and doing well as of this typing). Today I Spring Sowed: Missouri Primrose (because I think DH may have hacked up what was already there with the tiller). Bachelor Buttons "Black Ball" (just in case the ones in my Black and White garden don't reseed...yeah...right) Scarlet Flax (it's red, it's annual...I need some red fillers for the beds. Also hoping it will reseed). Calendula "Pacific Apricot Beauty". Because of the name. And it's Calendula. I might do another Datura (Yellow Angel's Trumpet). But I can't decide. Maybe tomorrow. Linda

I started my petunia's in winter and they did fine. They start out really tiny too. I agree on the painted daisy comment and yes biennials are like two year perennials. First year growth second year beauty. They generally reseed well. There were a few annuals that didn't mind the cold for me and I started in winter/snow. Dianthus, poppies, alyssum, viola's or pansies and petunias. In my z.5 I had to wait till frost was past for cosmos, marigolds, morning glories and four o clocks.

I have grown Somniferum very successfully for many years, but all but one time they where direct seeded. They do best if they are scattered, very early in the spring, preferably on snow, or so I have been told and they did great that way for me. But... If you don't have 1000's of seeds, the chances they will land and grow where you want them too may be low. One thing I did though, which may work for you, is I put the seeds into ice cubes! I missed the snow that year, and thought up a compromise and it worked. I 1/2 filled an ice cube tray with water, put 3-5 seeds per cube in the water, let it freeze, added a bit more water, let it freeze (they tend to float, or at least mine did, this helped get them more into the ice). Then, I went outside, and put about 3 cubes in every spot that i wanted a poppy, and... it worked! There is also a topic started about pipe pots being good for transplanting poppies. perhaps try searching for "pipe pot". I think that the trick to moving poppies is getting them when they are small enough, and making sure you don't distrupt the tap root, which I really think this method could accomplish. I have transplanted very small poppies with great success. You just want to make sure you leave "tons" of dirt around them, use a full sized shovel even and pretend you are moving a 3 year old much larger plant! Perhaps you could do some "lasanga gardening" in spots where you want to plant the poppies. Prepare the soil early, lay down newspaper as a weed barrier, then good potting soil on top to plant the poppies in. Mark the spots so you know to leave them when you weed the rest of your beds. Or, you could sow them with the ice cube method, and put a marker in the ground to remind you of where they are and work with much more caution in those areas. perhaps don't even weed those areas until you know for sure that they are not your poppies!!