When to sow half-hardy annuals?

magnoliaroad

15 years ago

When is it safe to sow half-hardy annuals? I'm in zone 5.

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Comments (7)

mmqchdygg
15 years ago
Ready...set...GO!

Some of mine are already in, the rest I just haven't gotten to yet.
daisydawnny
15 years ago
Silly question, but how do you know it is a HHA and not tender? I'm in zone 5 too.
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connietn - you're probably safe to WS tender annuals now in zone 7 but if you're not sure, it couldn't hurt to wait another two weeks. Best bet is to check the Wintersown.org website. There are approximate dates for WS perennials, hardy annuals, half-hardy annuals and tender annuals/vegetables by zone. Just do a search on Zone 7 and you should see the link that will tell you when to WS your annuals. Using the information posted for Zone 6, I made a chart for myself that gives the WS date + sprout date of many of the seeds I'm WS this year to use for comparison with my "actual" sprout dates...when/if they sprout! I'm a newbie still waiting for the green wave to roll through and leave hundreds of sprouts in its wake! Good luck and don't forget to post photos when you have them--we're all waiting with baited breath for those sprout pictures!!!
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I too wintersowed cosmos for the Feb. 2 experiment and have a few sprouts, but they might be goners after last night's frost. Still, that's one I usually direct sow and I've got more seeds so it's fine. As for other annuals, the only ones I wait on are zinnias. My marigolds and petunias have been out for awhile and I've never had problems with starting them in Feb. or early March. Which annuals were you thinking of?
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magnoliaroad
Original Author
15 years ago
Daisy, I decided which plant I wanted (tithonia AKA Mexican sunflower), then went online comparison shopping, checking out several vendors. At least one of them described it as a half-hardy annual, and that made sense to me.
floodthelast
15 years ago
You really think now is safe for them? I want to but was planning on waiting a bit longer.
The weather is so yucky this year.
Daisy I think thompson & morgan lists HHa and such. You can actually search by that. I found it helpful.
dorisl
15 years ago
T&M lists practically EVERYTHING as HHA. Im going with the "sow a few save a few" method to see what works here in my yard.

:)
daisydawnny
15 years ago
Thanks for the feedback...I am off to search! :)
mmqchdygg
15 years ago
I agree with Doris...I'm doing a lot of that this year- sow some, save some.
Several of my HHAs I already have done in previous years, so I know they'll be fine; new-to-me ones I'm S-S-S-Sing, and will do another batch when I do the rest of my more tender annuals in a few weeks.

Here's trudi's database for Z5...it's a good reference for when people sowed what, and their success:

Here is a link that might be useful: Zone 5 Germination Record from wintersown.org

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When to sow half-hardy annuals?

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mmqchdygg

daisydawnny

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magnoliaroad
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When to sow half-hardy annuals?

Comments (7)

mmqchdygg

daisydawnny

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magnoliaroadOriginal Author

floodthelast

dorisl

daisydawnny

mmqchdygg

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magnoliaroad
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