Newbie to WS - I am excited to try it out, but have ?'s

14 years ago

Hello all!

I am going to try winter sowing this year and after reading all the wonderful posts, I believe I have a handle on how to set it up - but....

What seeds would you recommend I start with for a yard that is hemmed in by the house on the east side and tall fir trees on the west side? The sun that the 15x8 bed receives is the middle of the day (approximately 11:30 till 3:00) and in St. Louis, that can be pretty hot and humid! I am hoping that with WS plants, I can still have a lush full look in this bed even though there are maple and Frasier Fir roots that re-invade the bed every time I clear a spot to plant something.

If you think they won't flop over, I can handle tall stuff because you can view the beds from above looking out of the house and the deck. The bed is currently mostly perennials, but I'd really like to add color, especially if I can grow it myself and save the cost of nursery plants. Having extras to sell at our garden club sale in the spring would be a bonus, too.

Thanks in advance, and if you have seeds to exchange - the only seeds I currently will have are perennials: White Columbine (Aquilegia-I don't know the variety), Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum), Purple Rocket (Iodanthus pinnatifidus), Orange Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), and Black Eyed Susan (I think R. fulgida var sullivantii).

It will be hard to wait till winter!

BettyLu

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Comments (7)

stage_rat
14 years ago
Hi, BettyLu:

Welcome to wintersowing! I think that because your yard gets its sun in the heat of the day, it still counts as full sun, or almost full sun. I think all the seeds you listed are tough plants that could hold their own against tree roots and like full sun, although I'm not certain about Culver's Root because I haven't seen it growing in enough spots to know. Oh, wait, Purple Rocket is not Dame's Rocket, I just saw the latin. Well, it's Dame's Rocket I was thinking about, sorry!

You may have those seeds because you already have those plants, so I'd better come up with some other ideas, right? :)

At the base of my tall silver maple, I have salvias fighting to establish themselves (no water for them in this, their 2nd year. I'm mean!) Tansy, nigella, Montauk Daisy, Northern Sea Oats, and daylily. You can wintersow or spring-sow daylily, but you have to wait 2-4 years for flowers.

Goldenrod would do fine, I'm sure, and there are pretty cultivars out there like Fireworks, Golden Baby and Little Lemon. They're great for fall color. Asters, too. (Montauk Daisy as well). Agastache, like Anise Hyssop, grows like a weed--and seeds like one--but I love it, and so do the hummingbirds and honeybees and goldfinches. Echinaceas should also hold their own against maple roots--they do so well in hard-packed dry clay in my friend's yard!

I'm sure I'll think of some more things later! The wintersowers are planning on doing a seed exchange, with Token hosting it, so you should join in! And there will be great group seed swaps over on the Round Robin forum, like the ones hosted by Miceyrey, Drippy, and Patty. Bakemom offers "newbie seed packs." And if your Culver's Root is purple, I want to trade with you! :)
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bettylu_zone6a
Original Author
14 years ago
Stage rat,
You are absolutely correct in that the plants I have seeds for are ones that are already growing... I am sorry to say that the Culver's Root I have is white, but I love it anyway! I didn't even know it came in purple!

I have never done a seed swap or round robin... I am going to have to look into how it is done!

I hope to be a regular here, but I need to head on home from work now - talk to you later!
BettyLu
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ishareflowers {Lisa}
14 years ago
Bettylu,

I can offer you some seeds for postage if you would like to try rudbeckias, gaillardias, dianthus, lupines, strawflowers and many others. Please drop me a line if you would like to send for them.

Lisa
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ramazz
14 years ago
Hi bettylu, I would love some seeds from your veronicastrum and would be glad to send you a 'welcome to wintersowing' pack. I have some of my seeds listed on my exchange list and you are welcome to take a look and send me an e-mail.

Becky/ramazz
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stlgirl
14 years ago
So cool - a neighbor winter sower.

Hi BettyLu,

Welcome, what neighborhood/area do you live in? I live in Tower Grove South. This will be my 3rd year WS and I am so addicted. My 1st year I only WS 6 jugs (being a typical girl from the Show-Me State). I got these seeds for a SASE envelope off of Trudi's site wintersown.org. Happy to report they all germinated. Last year I sowed around 30 jugs, got a couple great cannas that way. I would of never attempted cannas without winter sowing. I find now I am willing to try just about anything. If it grows great, if not - no big loss.

So definately grow some poppies if you want some early color. By the time the heat hits you can replace them with marigolds, zinnias, or cosmos. You will want to grow some annuals to fill in bare space while any perrinial plants you started are getting established. Winter sowing will save you money on buying plants yet remember you will not get that instant full look that plants from a nursery can give you. This past year I mainly WS perrinials. I couldn't take the bare look and headed to my local nusery and purchased a few petunias to give my beds some color. You can WS petunias, though it does take awhile to get blooms.

So maybe this spring we can meet up and trade some seedlings. I'm so excited to finally have another WS living nearby!

-Amy (StLGirl)
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stlgirl
14 years ago
Alright

I just realized in my above post that I mispelled the word perennial (not once but twice). My brain isn't functioning properly. I guess it is time to go to bed. Need some of Vera's tea.

-StLGirl
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bettylu_zone6a
Original Author
14 years ago
Wow! Thanks for all the responses!

StLGirl, don't worry about the misspellings - I am sleepy too! I love the Tower Grove area and used to live not too far from there, but now I live in Fenton between 44 and 30 (Gravois). Unlike my old house I now have that nasty hard clay soil and every time I amend my backyard beds, the maple says YUM and promptly grows into the fresh soil! I am hoping by doing WS and using annuals, I can carve out maple root free spots every year for my soon-to-be WS babies.

I had to laugh when you said that for your first year you only tried 6 jugs! That would be SO what I would do! Conservative to a fault and Show-Me skeptical I want to see that it really works before I invest too much into it. Every time a read a new post I am amazed by the flower names you are all having success with... Cannas? Who would have thought it!

Becky and Lisa, I will contact you tomorrow.... it is 12:30 am and I need to go to bed! I have been cleaning all evening as I have a friend coming from out of town to have a "girls" weekend and staying at my house. It is a good thing it has been raining or I probably would have been outside till dark working on my new planting bed!

I am so excited to try this new way of gardening and I bet I can get some friends to give it a whirl too!

BettyLu
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Newbie to WS - I am excited to try it out, but have ?'s

Comments (7)

stage_rat

bettylu_zone6a
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Newbie to WS - I am excited to try it out, but have ?'s

Comments (7)

stage_rat

bettylu_zone6aOriginal Author

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ishareflowers {Lisa}

ramazz

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