Winter Sowing Biennials.

13 years ago

I have to admit that the majority of seeds I've winter sown have been perennials. A small minority have been annuals and an even smaller number have been biennials.

Even though the biennials have been sown the least, they have made an impact on my gardening practices and since beginning to winter sow them, some, such as Dame's Rocket (Hesperis), Common Bugloss (Anchusa), and Foxglove (Digitalis), have made permanent homes of my gardens. They reseed themselves throughout and fill holes saving me a bit of work. :O) Definite bonus for a busy gardener working 40+ hours a week with a family on top! (Oh, and yes, there are perennial Foxgloves but they are not as striking as the biennials.)

Three years ago I winter sowed Verbascum Giganticum and this year it finally flowered with a stalk growing to 9 feet. I really enjoyed it and am crossing my fingers that it may come back since another florette of leaves has formed at the base.

Last year (2009) I winter sowed Verbascum Olympicum. I realized this year that although the basal leaves were HUGE - 10" wide and 2+feet long which means it's covering 4 feet of garden space - it was going to wait for a third year to show-off as did the G., but with their beautiful silvery leaves that was no issue. This one is reported to grow up to 8 feet in height and flower like a candelabra and there are 7 placed around the property. I've posted a link so you can see this statuesque plant. (Note: That is NOT my garden, although it would be nice...)

This year I will be trying out a much shorter Biennial, Rosularia Sempervivoides, a small growing (7 to 20cm) Sedum-like plant which in it's second year blooms a scarlet red.

Yep, I think I'll try something short. :O)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:448293}}

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Comments (10)

v1rt
13 years ago
I am drooling with your posts!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Send me seeds of all those you mentioned! My body is shaking! :D hehehe.

Honestly, I was literally visualizing what you were saying. Thanks for this posts. It is awesome!!! :)
PVick
13 years ago
Tiffy, you really need to stop showing me these BIG plants! You know how I am .......

PV
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This is turning into a very weird weather year for many of us. Because of that, it's hard to give you an absolute answer. Be aware that no matter what any of us tell you, it's nature that has the final answer in when those seeds will sprout. My best guess is that it's probably fine for perennials hardy to your area, and hardy annuals too. I'd definitely wait for anything tender. And if perennials and hardy annuals would sprout early, they have a much better chance of survival in their containers. And keeping them in a shady spot is definitely a good idea until spring is in the air. This is probably our coldest part of winter most years, and it's when I sow my hardy annuals and perennials. I sowed my first jugs a few days ago. I'd go for it if I were you. The chance that they'll sprout in shade is minimal I think, and winter might just stay mild this year. Karen
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Susan, Oh, okay, I don't know what I was thinking that you had started them indoors. I'm hoping that I'll get a head start on them this way. I didn't plant quite all of them yet because I wasn't sure if I was starting them too early. Now that our last frost date is about two months from now (April 15), I suppose that I could start the rest inside. My problem is that I ran out of containers and will have to go get some more. I have all of my individual one and two-gallon ones used with my swamp milkweed started outside, and the smaller individual ones have butterfly weed and tropical milkweed in them. Then I also have 3 flats (72 in a flat) with swamp milkweed in two of them started outside and butterfly weed in the other one. Then I also have butterfly weed and tropical milkweed started in cups. I probably am up to close to 300 milkweed plants here, assuming that the seeds all germinate (I put two in each container), and I'm not even done yet. lol Of course, then there's the Chelone glabra, Zizia aurea, Zizia aptera, Heraculeum maximum, Foeniculum vulgare azoricum, and Angelica atropurpurea seeds from you that I have winter sown. I started some snapdragons inside, Blazing Star Liatris, also Agastache foeniculum and Blue Fescue (I suppose I could have winter sown those last two). I'll direct sow my lupines, zinnias, cosmos, and dill. There, I think I remembered everybody. :) I want to try to locate a small spicebush around here. I wonder if there'd be any harm in digging one out and relocating it here at the edge of our yard next to the woods? A sassafras tree would be nice too. Of course, I'm thinking about other plants for next year...I'd even plant a paw paw tree if I knew that I could get ZST up here, but my Butterflies Through Binoculars book shows their range ending around the southern border of PA. There are so many different kinds of butterflies that I'd like to attract here, but I don't think I want to dig up our whole backyard. :) It's snowing a lot here right now. Schools let out at noon today and have already cancelled for tomorrow. I suppose the weather will soon clear up out your way. Come on spring! Cathy
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That sounds great Lisa! It's always nice to teach a class, and WS is so easy that people figure it out right away. You're welcome to print out whatever you want from WinterSown.Org. I suggest you tell the class to bring empty clean milkjugs, salad containers, soil, and you bring seeds, tape, knife scissors and printouts. Bring some bags and coarboard boxes so everyone can take their containers home easily. Do NOT do watering of the containers at the site, but instead tell people for this occasion to bottom soak the containers at home. At the class talk about WSing principles, seed saving, sowing seeds, soltice sowing, and natural germination, etc--it's your class so make it your own and do it as you feel is important. For seed sowing help them make their containers, rub in their seeds and seal the containers. Don't forget to vent. It sounds harder than it is, the bulk of the work is in the preparation, but otherwise it's a fun class to teach and goes quickly. T
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Not trying to get into the wintersow vs. not wintersow debate here but....... The only time it makes sense to wintersow is when you are sowing seeds needing cold stratification and I know some of the ones you listed do not need it. I sowed the Asceplsis incarnata in early August and plan to put them in the ground under mulch all winter. I am winter sowing some native shrub seeds needing a couple months of cold strat. in pots outdoors and three others that are perennials that specifically need it. There are no hard fast rules to this. To each his own. I rather enjoy sowing indoors in winter and have had very good results and it gives me an uplift in winter to do that. I have had good head starts on healthy plants this way and have sowed many SW shrubs, perennials, ornamental grasses, cactus, etc. I always have something indoors in winter I am sowing. I usually start them in October or November in a large sunny S. exposure window and grow them very cool in the coldest dark months sort of in a wait pattern, then let them get warm again in late Feb when the sun comes stronger. I use lights sometimes if necessary but usually they just sit there in the cold. I am not a wintersower to the degree popularized to a hobby level of lots of containers with holes, lids etc craze with every seed I get being done that way. I just use regular pots in the shade under the carport for the seeds specifically needing a cold period. For penstemons its good, they come up when its still very cold. Some seeds needing cold I direct sow. Sometimes I experiment and try all different ways to see what does best with a backup supply to resow in spring. Look up your different varieties and see what they need and go from there. I have sowed seeds as early as October and had established plugs to put into the ground come spring. Other times I put the late summer sown seedlings in the ground in late fall and cover them with leaf mulch and had good well rooted starts that way in spring. Look at nature, she does that all the time with seeds that have fallen. Mostly, make it fun for yourself and do what you want. Save extra seeds for insurance, or try multiple ways and experiment. Do a test in a damp paper towel with a few seeds to see if they sprout in a few days. Often that will tell you want you need to know.
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tiffy_z5_6_can
Original Author
13 years ago
PV,

Is there a rooftop on your building?? :O)

Neil,
I gathered stems of the V.G. when the pods went to seed. Haven't peeked into the bag yet but if I see viable seeds, I'll get in touch. :D

The seeds of these plants are as small as those of Digitalis. Go figure!
countrycarolyn
13 years ago
I agree the seeds are tiny, kinda like lobelia. We have the common mullien pop up all along the country roads. It looks like it reseeds heavy around here. The bloom is pretty on the common. I am going to try Verbascum phoenicium, this year. Your pictures have me excited but I am also sad it is a biennial.
tiffy_z5_6_can
Original Author
13 years ago
"Your pictures have me excited but I am also sad it is a biennial."

Why sad that it is a Biennial? Because it normally/sometimes dies after flowering?

I think we need to look at biennials differently. We all grow annuals and they die after less than one year of growth. In addition, we all wait for perennials to flower in their second or sometimes third year. So why pass up biennials?
countrycarolyn
13 years ago
Sad to wait 2 years for 1 year of bloom. I have figured how to keep my dianthus blooming each year, but it takes way less room than mullein. That may be what I do still with the mullien though. I usually just direct sow my dianthus each year when I collect the seed. I always have the foliage in my bed. To be honest first time I did that was by an honest mistake. I was out collecting seed and droping them everywhere, next year I had more plants. So now I figured a way to collect without it going everywhere, but now I just toss it. I don't press it or cover it. Each year I have a wonderful display of dianthus barbatus cherry parfait.
gardenweed_z6a
13 years ago
I WS for the first time this year and was thrilled to get sprouts from foxglove. LOTS of sprouts--the containers looked like Chia pets! I grew them on & planted several out, gave them away to neighbors & friends. Not only did the ones I planted out bloom first year from seed, the ones I gave away did as well. I don't know if that means they won't come back next year but they were worth the effort to grow. Had I chosen to plant them together, a one-eighth teaspoon of seed produced enough plants to fill an entire bed. I will sow them again and plant them in groups of at least five, just for the WOW! factor. They are definitely worth having, even if it means growing them every year. Ditto for gaura/wandflower. Both had exceptionally long bloom times, as did alyssum.
tiffy_z5_6_can
Original Author
13 years ago
Gardenweed,

"... but they were worth the effort to grow."

"They are definitely worth having..."

Ditto! Ditto! Ditto! :O)

{{gwi:202461}}
merrygardens
13 years ago
I'll put in a word here for Canterbury bells. I haven't grown them since I lived in B.C. Zone 8, but they are really spectacular, and very long-blooming. The flowers look unreal, those big bells. The plant gets quite big, 3-4 feet high and equally bushy, and if they're deadheaded, bloom for months. Think I'll seed some this year.
ladyrose65
13 years ago
Awesome Pictures! Merrygardens, I can only dream of Canterbery Bells. I don't know what it is about them, but I've bought flats in past years. They would die. I'm WS alot of seeds in hopes of getting some to live until bloom.

Winter Sowing Biennials.

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v1rt

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