Hi Lillyjane,

Very inspirational for the newbies. I love the calla lilly and the galliardia. It looks like you had great germonation results. Thanks for sharing...Barb

Very nice - cute helpers. The sky's the limit.

Lily Jane,

What a great photo show! As a newbie, it was so fun to see the whole process from first to last and it gives you some faith in the system:).

I'd never seen such huge cockscomb! And the whole thing together looks very colorful and cheery. Thanks for sharing!

One quick question: When did most of the annuals start to bloom. I noticed what looked like a Happy Returns daylily blooming when the rose moss was still in its "baby" stage and here the daylilies start around mid-July. What month did you get the great annual blooms?

The cala lily was a gift from a friend about 3 years ago, & the daylilys, well, I broke down & got them at Walmart, the roses have been there about 4 years, & the strawberries were plants that I had also bought, but the tomatoes & every thing else were winter sown. I think the only thing that didn't bloom this year was the diantius (misspelled I think). I am already gathering new seeds for next year & scoping out spots for new beds, & watching for sales on potting soil. Yesterday Walmart had hostas marked down to a dollar & some for 50 cents depending on the size of the pot, & also phlox for 25 cents. Well I had to get another cart for the regular Walmart stuff LOL :) Some of the annuals bloomed in they little winter sown containers before I got them set out. I gave away alot & some today are still in their ws pots I am just going to bury pot & all to carry through the winter till their permanent homes are ready. I was really impressed with Trudi's method of wsing tomatoes it work wonderfully. Thanks Trudi :)
happy plantin ") jan

Great pictures! Your seedlings look very lush and healthy, and the flowers are beautiful. I love the Zinnias, and it looks like the Butterflies do too.

Were the Hollyhocks WS? I thought those bloomed the 2nd year. And you had 8 days without electricity? Wow - how did that happen???

Jan! Look at what you did!!!! :)

Gorgeous...just gorgeous! You did a fantastic job,everything looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing,cant wait to see next years pics! :)

WOW! Perfect - just what I needed to see. I hope to get started this year and I still feel sorta clueless. I'm collecting the seed and some containers. I love your gaillardia, cockscomb (going to have to add this to my list of wants), african daisies, and all the beautiful zinnias. I'm so excited about this whole process! Nikki

Hi Terrene,
Were the Hollyhocks WS? I thought those bloomed the 2nd year. Most of them are about 3 years old but they were direct sown, but I did have others from those that were winter sown & bloomed the first year, they were just not quite as tall.
And you had 8 days without electricity? Wow - how did that happen??? An ice storm BURRRRR. We were lucky, some people were without for almost 2 weeks. Our son lives in town & we got our electric back on before he did. Lots of downed power lines & trees, very pretty though, we live in the woods & it was like a winter wonderland, but I wouldn't want to do it again.
") jan

Well that is very inspiring!! I love the pics!
This was my first year for WS and I loved it...now after seeing this, I am raring to go...right now!! :)..I am going to try hard to be a little more controlled with it this year, but seeing your pics is making it hard not to keep adding to my list of 'definites' to plant.

Fantastic job! congrats on such a successful year.
gg

OK, that's it!! Gotta do Zinnias next year. You've convinced me. Ooh, and the shot of the Black Swallowtail. Nice!

I'm also a lover of winter scenes and those pics of the ice are WOW! You are making me anxious for the first snowflake. :O)

Very nice!

Karen

Wow, I loved seeing the whole progression. It gives me home to see those full little cups.
The ice coverage was pretty too. Sorry about the power that frequently happens at my mothers due to downed trees.

Absolutely love the gallardia! Great job! I'm going to have to look for some different varieties. (Wish I could grow hollyhocks, but they just get too buggy in my garden.) :o(

WOW!!!I'm a newbie. Seeing your pics from start to finish was very nice. Your little babies are so cute and so lovely when all growed up. Did you use plastic or plastic bags to cover your containers with? Thanks for sharing your pics. Everything is beautiful!!

The pics are really inspiring ,esp. for someone like me that is going to WS my first time this year.It is exciting to garden in the winter and now I definitely am going to get hollyhocks after seeing yours.
Gene

genoprizebull, I have seed from the hollyhock if you would like some for a sasbe, send me an email if ya want some.
tiffy , I also have some zinnia seed if ya would like some.
snapdragon, I used plastic that we had left over from a recliner we had bought, in my area if you go to the furniture stores & ask if the have left over plastic they just give it to you. I used clear duck tape to hold it down, that is also what I used for my jugs, it really worked great , but with last year being my first I found out I really don't need to tape stuff all the way around hahaha I had a heck of a time gettin that stuff off
LOL live & learn ")
lilly ")

Lilly, Great photos! I really didnt get a chance to do wintersowing to the full extent last year, because I found the forums to late.

I was really looking forward to getting started again this year, but we might be moving. We live on 5 acres so I had all kind of ideas in store and now we might have to go to the city for DH's job. :( :( :(

It looks like you had a lot of blooms the first year. Do you remember or can you tell me what bloomed for you best the first year?

Christie

with last year being my first I found out I really don't need to tape stuff all the way around hahaha I had a heck of a time gettin that stuff off

I didn't even tape all the way around, just put a 2 or 3 inch piece of duct tape on the corner, or opposite the hinge on the 2 liter bottles. I had a terrible time getting off even the little pieces! I wanted them off though, because I am re-using most of my containers this year.

Duct tape is overkill, unless you need the tape to adhere through a hurricane or something. Hehe. I found the clear packing tape works well and if you fold back one end on itself when applying the tape, it makes a little tab you can grab to pull it off more easily.

lillyjane - those are one of the most gorgeous newbie pictures I've seen.

You really did a fantastic job!

Carrie

Christie
Do you remember or can you tell me what bloomed for you best the first year? Lets see if I can remember I need to keep better notes ") zinnia, bachelor buttons, rose moss, gaillarida, cleome, cocks comb, marigold, cosmos, balsam impatients, the hollyhocks were about 2 or 3 years old but I did have some new ones bloom but they didn't get as tall, african daisy, morning glories I think that's all but it has been a long summer. My cone flowers didn't bloom or either did my dianthias.
Terren,
GREAT IDEA !!! if you fold back one end on itself when applying the tape, it makes a little tab you can grab to pull it off more easily. I will for sure do that this year LOL I ended up using a single edge razor blade to cut the tape.
I am glad to have good results to show off tee-hee-hee, I asked alot of ?'s. & got alot of good answers & seeds from several people, I should have been better at keeping notes so I could thank everyone personally but I hope that they see this & know that their time & seeds were not wasted. I can't wait to get started again. OH !!! agirlsgirl & chemocurl were expecially helpful, they both are very patient with me & all my ?'s. THANKS GALS.
lillyjane ----aka-- jan")

Lilyjane, those pics are really nice. You did an excellent job. I want to try winter sowing this year. I am not sure what will do best here in the south. Also my seeds are very limited. I have looked at alot of sites on the net, and most of them show winter sowing with snow. We rarely ever have snow here in Ms.
Thanks for sharing your pics.
Georgiegirl42

Beautiful! I am really excited about trying WS for the first time this year. I have some nice grow lights but I can't possibly grow all that I want to start from seed under them. LOL