I WS-ed those for the first time a few weeks ago because the seed pack said to sow in EARLY spring and said that also, they would re-seed next year. That kind of information indicates to me that Ireland Bells will like the cool days of February and March and will survive snow if need be.

I winter sowed them successfully in 2005 and 2006. I sowed them on 3-07-05 and 3-31-06.

My old "Parks Success with Seeds" book says to not cover Bells when you sow them, they need light to germinate. I have much better germination now that I don't cover the seeds. I do wait until the end of March here in zone 5.

Yes, I have wintersown them and got a few volunteers the following year.

Karen

I'm trying them for the first time this year. Thanks for the above info.

:)
Dee

Oh, No. I guess I will have to go out and try to uncover my WS Ireland Bell seeds. I don't bury seeds very deeply, but I do mix them in a little bit with a fork.

I planted mine 1/8 inch deep as directed on the Value Seeds web site. In my WS experience, most seeds seem to rise up to the top of the soil sometime after planting anyway.

Ooooh! Excellent info! Thanks so much. What kind of conditions do they like once they get going? I'm worried about the humidity as I've heard that does them in.

I wsed them last year, probably in March-early April. Mine did fine in normal humid prairie summer, but we don't have the oppressively humid weather of some of the z7 regions. Mine seemed to really like the cool fall weather and were some of the last things blooming in my garden in November. I cut a bouquet with them the weekend before Thanksgiving last fall.

I would keep an eye on them in case they needed some support so that they don't lean over. I think they are mostly self supporting, but sometimes even a sturdy plant can use a small branch to lean upon if you have storms in your area.

good to know! I have never had luck starting them early, maybe This will work!

I don't remember if I winter or spring sowed these last year. I ended up with 5 tiny plants that were HUGE by August. For an experiment, I cut two of them back when they were several inches tall. Those two plants grew just as large, but didn't need staking as quickly. I will be doing that to all my bells from now on.

OH, interesting. Okay, so noone knows if they have trouble with humidity? I love them, and used to see them in HUGE clumps when we lied in Seattle. But unfortunately for my garden, our clim here is night and day from the rainy cool Northwest.

The germination was notoriously slow for me last year...first time. I sowed them on January 18th and by 01 June I still didn't have any germination. Finally I tossed this and a few other containers out into the middle of various beds and within about 2 weeks I had to post pictures for ID....turned out it was them lol!

Vera

Here is a link that might be useful: June 23rd Thread

Ha! too funny Vera.
Okay, I'll try and be patient!

threeorangeboys: I grew bells in 2006, and they didn't like my hot, humid Cincinnati summer. They did well in spring and early summer. Those which got only morning sun did best. Those in more sun fried when the real heat came.

I did have a few volunteers in 2007, but in that summer of horrible heat and drought, they didn't make it very long at all.

Karen

I WSed miine in 2005, they sprouted, but didn't seem to do much when I transplanted them and they got lost in the garden (none of them grew high enough for me to be able to see them).
Then, surprise surprise! In 2006, they reseeded and grew pretty big. When nothing else was doing so hot in the garden, the Bells of Ireland were holding their own.
I'm WSing more this year, but I also bought a bareroot of "Chocolate" Bells of Ireland-- I couldn't find seeds for them. I hope they do well, because I want to collect seeds from them.

L

Karen, have to agree. They don't seem to like my sunny dry conditions in Columbus, Ohio. I have had really nice sprouts from traded seeds and they just croak here when summer comes. I have given up, but would love to see pics of "clumps" of them.

Maybe I shouldn't give up. dunno.