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Butterfly Garden

What Host/Nectar Plants Are You Wintersowing?

14 years ago

Ooh, I've got oodles of seeds to wintersow yet and plan to start tomorrow while doing the laundry among other things.

I have several milkweeds to sow that are perennials and three tropical varieties, including Calatropis (Giant Milkweed Tree), Gomphocarpus (Hairy Balls), and A. curassavica, which I will sow later.

Also have the following seeds:

Caelsapinia gillesii (Bird of Paradise shrub)

Dolichos biflora (yellow flowering hyacinth bean) (sow late)

Salvia coccinea 'Forest Fire'

Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red'

Salvia subrotunda

Passiflora ceurulea

Mexican Flame Vine (sow later)

Amorpha fruticosa

Passiflora incarnata

Crotolaria saggitalis

Silene regla

Sphaeralcea coccinea (Scarlet Globemallow)

Linaria maroccana (sow later?)

Zinnia linearis (Classic, single flowering) (direct sow)

Sasafrass Tree

Sweetgum tree

Amsonia illustris

That completes the list. I would like suggestions for growing the passion vines from seed. Most sites re: growing from seed say they need 120 days of stratification, and that seems like a lot, especially for seed germinating in the wild in Oklahoma. We don't often get those long, extended periods of cold (except for this year perhaps).

So, anyone else winter sowing? Have experience with any of the above listed?

Susan

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Comments (2)

butterflymomok
14 years ago
Susan,

On the subject of passiflora germination, I got an email from a person who grows them, and she said to soak in HOT water for 24 hours before planting them. I would probably put them in the fridge to make sure they got enough cold. I have some Edulis seeds I'm germinating now. Don't know if they'll make it. It does take lots of time for these to germinate.

I also soaked my Bird of Paradise bush seeds in HOT water, as well as soaking Amorpha and Baptisia seeds. Last year, the only way I got germination of Candlestick Cassia, was to soak it until it germinated.

I need to wintersow some poppy seeds in peat pots. Last year people at market wanted poppies and larkspur. I have larkspur coming up everywhere, and the cold hasn't hurt it.
Poppies don't like to be transplanted, so thus the peat pots.

Have fun planting. I'm not doing too much as I fell outside last week (yes, again) and cracked a rib this time. Wish I wasn't so clumsy.

Sandy
susanlynne48
Original Author
14 years ago
Sandy, for gosh sakes, we need to come up with some new body armor for you! Bless your heart! That must really be painful.

Yeah, I thought I should probably fridge the passion vine seeds in order to get enough cold, and make a note on my calendar when to remove them from the fridge, or I will for sure forget. Thanks for the tips on the Caelsapinia and the Amorpha, too. I swear I tried Amorpha a few years back and got nothing. I wintersowed it, too.

Folks on the Ok Gardening forum were discussing poppies and most threw their seeds on top of the snow so that when the snow melted they would sink to the soil and germinate. I did wintersow Larkspur one year and planted it out when it was about 4 or 5" high, and it did fine for me.

Is Candlestick Cassia the same as Senna alata? If so, I just direct sowed it at the same time I did the Tropical milkweed and it came up before the milkweed did. Very easy from direct sowing the seed.

I have tons of Verbena bonariensis that has germinated on the ground and the cold is not bothering it at all either. I am concerned about some of my borderline plants that don't reseed, like my Lantana 'Miss Huff', my Mexican Petunias, my fennels, etc.

Do you want to try some of the Salvia subrotunda? It is supposed to reseed, and gets pretty big with red blooms on 18" wands. Let me know. Am also expecting seed of Salvia regla another reseeding red salvia.

Susan
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