That is an early blooming Clematis - Multi Blue, I think. Not winter sown, just bought real cheap - $5.00. It blooms twice in the season actually.

Though I had a lot I really loved this year, I'll have to say for me the best was Dianthus 'Rainbow Loveliness'.
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Remy

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Photobucket Album

Great idea for a thread Tiffy!

So many WS plants did wonderfully in 2008, and quite a few of the perennials even bloomed a little (or a lot).

Yvonne's Salvia - Stunning late summer/fall bloomer, makes a great cutting flower, and the Hummers loved it!
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Rudbeckia hirta 'Irish Eyes' and 'Indian Summer', Monarda punctata (in foreground) and Monarda citriodora in the middle (an annual Bee Balm) -
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Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) - perennial, late bloomer, and much loved by bees and butterflies -
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Dill - Gorgeous filler plant, host plant for Black Swallowtails, and the lovely yellow blooms scented the whole garden -
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WSed Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and have about 8-9 large clumps out there, can't wait to see them bloom next Spring -
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I have all kinds of per. that I' looking forward to seeing in bloom from ws last year. The foxglove plantings got huge!
My favorite ws annual was Nastys. They did great big mounds flowers kept coming. These were also new to me though. One type of marigold lept out at me too I think it was tiger eye great colors.

Annette

The bestest ones for me this year were

Dianthus (WSed 2007-bloomed first year, but really took off this year!) -

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and petunias 'Shockwave Purple' -

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PV

Tiffy, just re-read your post and think you were asking for Perennial and annual only? Sorry, I posted some extras, the best -

Annual - Yvonne's Salvia
Perennial - Aromatic aster
Semi-perennial - Rudbeckia hirta
Herb - Dill
Biennial - Foxglove

Hehe I made up a couple of categories. :)

Put me down for JimB's Hyssop! The ones that survived the drought bloomed the first year!!

I also did well with Foxgloves, columbines, rainbow lovliness, Shasta Daisy nice healthy looking plants that I am also looking forward to blooming.

I had alot of sprouts on Chrysanthemum, Sheffield Pink, and Blue Star kalimeris but none of them made it. I wish I had kept some of the seeds for both. :( I was looking forward to a bed filled with these two and shasta daisy.

The Rabbit-Feeder Garden did well and provided tons of nutrition and shelter for the dozens of baby rabbits that enjoyed the fruits of my labor, they ate well on Cosmos and Zinnias. (/sarcasm.)

The slug-breeding program --was a failure-- it failed because SOMEBODY spread tons of sluggo all over the place. hee!

When I think about how blessed I am, Trudi and the beauty that winter sowing has brought into my life are very high up there on my list. God Bless you woman, for all you do.

It's pure joy to see pictures of gardens in bloom. Thanks to all of you who share them with us.

Happy New Gardening Year, Mary

Great thread Tiffy! Everyones ws flowers are really beutiful so much talent here on the ws forum....Barb

Well, I've got to say I like this too Barb. There's nothing better than seeing such nice photos and getting good ideas for this coming winter sowing season on a snowy evening.

Remy, those are beautiful! I also took the liberty of going to your member page and those roses are just amazing!!! Everyone else, go to Remy's member page and check it out. You won't regret it.

Terrene, I can visualize my Monarchs using your gardens as a pit stop on their way to Mexico. :O) What did you put under that foxglove?? A shovel of manure? It is huge! :O) Do keep us posted.

I like Dill too in the gardens. Had it last year (2007) and will have it this year coming after skipping a year.

PV, OK, now you've done it. The Dianthus are wonderful. You must have the most colourful balcony in NY. My soil is really acidic so I have difficulty with Dianthus, but someone told me to stick a piece of chalk next to the plants each spring and all should be fine. Just might try that. Both you and Remy have inspired me on the Dianthus.

Doris, Rabbit Feeder Program... LOL! Unbeknownst to me, I started a deer feeding program a few years back by winter sowing hostas... Unbeknownst to them, I am revamping the hosta garden starting this coming year... He he!

Mary, I raise my glass to your words!

Gorgeous dianthus on this thread! And it sounds like a lot of people's Foxglove did great this year. We'll have to start a Foxglove thread next Spring when they're blooming.

Tiffy, my Foxglove is growing in a lasagne bed. I made it using layers of cardboard, coffee grounds, leaves, and garden debris from the previous year, on top of fairly decent soil. Let it sit for nearly a year. It is in partial shade and we had lots of rain through the summer. The plants grew great!

Digitalis purpurea, the biennial Foxglove, is an amazing plant. Such a teeny weeny seed that grows into a lush rosette of leaves in one season, and next year they will probably have 5 foot spires of blooms. I'm hoping for a mix of purple, pink, and white and should be so lucky! :)

The pics are so pretty ")
My pride & joys of 2008 are :
Gaillardia
Cleome
Zinnia
Cocks Comb
Bachelors buttons ( I think they were the first to bloom for me)
Oh!! & Rose Moss
and I can't leave out the tomato plants yummm
With this being my 1st year, I am still thrilled with the whole process of winter sowing.
Tiffy, I really like the twig trellis, did you make it? very cute, hope ya don't mind if I copy it ?
jan, ")

Hi,
I like them all !!! (click to enlarge)

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Don't tell the other flowers, but these were my favorites. They tend to get jealous.

coneflower
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rudbeckia chocolate orange
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shasta daisy
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I'm trying this again. Photobucket was being weird. It wouldn't enlarge them.

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Hi duane456,

I looked at the first picture and your garden is very beautiful! I love the color combination.

lillyjane,

When do you sow cleome?

When do you sow cleome? I didn't keep hardly any records last year, I'm gonna do better this year. (the famous last words LOL ) I put some out in January & then some more in the last part of February & they both did fine. I used 2 litter pop jugs & milk jugs. Alot of things that I had small amounts of or wanted to share I used 8 oz foam cups in a sweater box covered with plastic. My DIL's & friends don't go nuts with plants like I do, so the cups are just the right size for then, WELLL as for me, I can plant out 3 or 4 milk jugs of the same thing LOL I would post pics but I can't remember how right now & can't find my notes & haven't had any coffee yet . soooo I think I'll go get some coffee. ")
Jan :)

Terrene,
Foxgloves have become a mainstay in the gardens here due to the deers not eating them. If you look in my second photo, you will see a yellow one standing in front of a stand of Hollyhocks which bloomed later on. The deers usually go for the Hollyhocks, but if there's a foxglove next to them, they sometimes don't touch it as was the case last year. :O)

Jan,
Go ahead and make a trellis. DH made 8 of them after Hurricane Juan passed through here in 2003. Great use of downed branches!

BBs are great. Definitely some of the first bloomers and something all first time wsers should sow.

Duane,
I nearly put my Echs as my 2008 perennial and am glad you did. Question - Did you trim your outer daisy stems to create that full effect or does your plant just behave in such a beautiful way? It's really nice!

Duane Looking at your pics I see hardware cloth in the one of the beds. Do you put it down for plants to come up through? Very lovely backyard.

Hi, Thanks for all the nice comments.
Tiffy---I got those shasta daisy seeds in a trade and were suppose to be a dwarf variety. As you can see some are dwarfs and some not so much. It really came out nice this year, it's just how it grew. Might try your suggestion on another shasta daisy though, about trimming the outer edges. Hmmm.
indy----that is actually a part of a cage. I should have got it out of the picture. I don't use hardware cloth.
Duane

How can I choose? There are so many wonderful ws plants in my gardens.
Guess I will go with dianthus as my perennial as these second year plants put on such a great show. Or maybe shasta daisies, or echinacea, or...

Biennials would have to be alcea rosea, hollyhocks. Planted several in my fenced in veg bed to twarth the critters. Digitalis, foxglove, never seems to do that well for me. First year great foliage growth, second year flowers, not so much.

Annuals, poppies, poppies, and more poppies. 'Lauren's Grape' and 'Danish Flag' are both tall varieties that bloomed all summer until frost.

Annual I didn't think I would like but found out I love: melapodium
I had planted some boughten ones years ago and was not impressed. My ws ones were outstanding.

Thanks all for the photos. They are inspiring me to put a few new plants on my want list.

Duane, which variety of echinacea is that? Such a huge blossom.

mnswgal---It's from a trade I did a couple of years ago. Don't remember what it was suppose to be. Most echinacea, I've noticed,don't come true anyway. I kind of like the surprises I get from each one. Actually, this one was bigger----
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There were so many favorites for me but I think as far as annuals go, I'd have to say the Apricot and White Profusion Zinnas were my favorite.

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As for perennials, I love the way the Veronica Longifila grew for me that first year but even more so was the Campanula Brantwood, I'm really looking forward to it taking off this summer.

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Linda

lindama,

very nice layout. I see you are in zone 5. That means, I can also grow zinnas. Did you sow them the same year? I want to try it. :)

Thanks tiffy, great thread!

Tiff,
Thanks!

Terrene,
I'm glad to see you love the aromatic aster. I have it on my wish list.

Pvick,
Dianthus are great, aren't they? : )

Duane,
Very nice flower bed!

Linda,
Yours is very nice too! Those zinnia do make a nice edger to the bed.
Remy

lindama,
When do you sow the zinnias?
In the past, I started them indoors under lights

I had a hard time deciding, so for perennial it's a tie between Gaillardia 'Burgandy' and Aquilegia chrysantha (Columbine), though Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed) was a close runner up.

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Here is Asclepias tuberosa 'Gay Butterflies' with Geum 'Fireball' (not wintersown) mixed in

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and for annuals it was a toss up between the Petunias, Gazanias and Profusion Zinnias. Here is a shot that has both Petunias and Gazanias in it.

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and another type of Gazania

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Here is a shot of the Profusion Apricot Zinnias. My only complaint with them, is that the color of the blooms became more and more pink, and less apricot over the summer.

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Okay, so I couldn't pick just one.

Bonnie

v1rtu0s1ty and ctbert - the profusion zinnias were one of the last things I winter sowed last year, I believe it was around late April that I started them. I sowed the apricot in a large milk jug and the same with the white. This year I plan on winter sowing the profusion cherry zinnias, maybe with white but not certain yet. They grow pretty quickly, I was amazed at how soon I started seeing germination.

My next venture is going to be Butterfly Weed, I hope I can find some seeds.

Good luck!

Linda

hello
such great flowers everyone

these are my salvias I WS in 2007, they were one of my best performering perennials
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I can't find the pick of my best annual this year, it was an amaranthus that sorta WSed it self, I have a spot in by the street where I put yard wast to be picked up by the city for composting, and this spring I had a bunch of very red amaranthus start growing so I left them and mowed around them for months. they were like "jack and the bean stock" they just kept growing and growing, finaly they flowered at over 7 feet tall with hugh flower heads.
michelle

ohhh my ! I am just loving all the beautiful flower pics!!! Making me antsy to get winter over with so I can enjoy all these seeds! lol

~Wendy

Yep, ther's some more eye candy!!

Bonnie,

I noticed that in your first photo you have an Achillea with silver leaves. Is that Achillea Anthea? I bought a small plant this past summer and it was a hit with me. That silver gray foliage is awesome and so are the flower heads. Just cleaned some seedheads last night and found it difficult to see the seeds but I'm going to try to winter sow them. That 'Gay Butterflies' is really nice. :O)

Michelle, Those Slavias are pretty!!

Hey Tiffy!

That one is actually 'Terra Cotta', but I have 'Anthea' too, and I love the pale yellow color. It seems to blend with everything. It's a hybrid, so I'm not sure what you'll end up with, though it might be fun to find out.

Here is a picture of 'Terra Cotta' in bloom, with Blue Oat Grass in front (both came from Bluestone Perennials):
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I looked for a decent picture of 'Anthea' but in most of them the color doesn't come true in the photos.

The 'Gay Butterflies' is supposed to have red, orange, and gold blooms, but out of half a dozen plants NONE of mine had any red. I was a bit disappointed, and may try ordering some seed from a different source to see if I have any better luck.

Bonnie

Wow, so many pretty pictures. A treat this morning while it's 15 degrees outside. I haven't had time to visit the forum much lately and I've missed a lot.

Too hard to pick favorites after 3 years of this. A few that stand out in my head
Rud Prarie Sun
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Gaillardia goblin and larkspur gentian blue
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Yvonne's salvia
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Lobelia cardinalis
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Butterfly weed and echinacea
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Zinnias and gomphrena
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They're all favorites
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Photobucket keeps crashing on me this morning so I'm giving up on these pictures for now.

Karen

Karen,

Your garden is gorgeous! I'm heading out to sow some seeds!

Betsy

Highalttransplant,
Your plant combos inspire me! I have a couple of Geums, but not that one (were you able to save seeds?) I absolutely love it with your "gay butterflies". I have "hello yellow" and the plain jane orange.
Is "gay butterflies" a mix?
That "terra cotta" looks awesome with the oat grass too!
I am doing a red-orange-yellow border this summer and really love the way these all go together!!
-B

oooo I had great success with Dame's Rocket too. But mine did not bloom yet. I'm looking forward to them this year though. Thanks for the pic! I had lost my seed packet and wasn't sure what they were going to look like, so I just plunked the HOS in here and there...LOL

Thanks, Brandy! If my Geums ever set seed, I never noticed the pods. I have two hybrids, the 'Fireball' and 'Mango Lasi'. They were both bought as plants, and the only ones I have ever seen seed available for are the red ones like 'Mrs. Bradshaw', and the yellow ones, like 'Lady Strathedon'. I'll try to remember to look for seeds next year though.

Here is 'Mango Lasi'. (Sorry for posting non WS flowers Tiffy, but this is one of my absolute favorites in the spring!)
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The 'Gay Butterflies' is supposed to be an Asclepias tuberosa mix that has red, orange, and yellow blooms, but as you can see mine are mostly the regular orange, though I did get a couple of plants that were more like your yellow one. Several places sell it, but mine came from Park's.

Bonnie

Really hard to pick one, but as a spring performer, I'd say Clarkia and of course, Columbine.

Summer annuals, oh, hard choice! Maybe Morning Glories and Nicotiana. And perennials, I'd have to pick Dianthus. They really put on a good long show.
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shemeows,

That is a very nice display. Nice job!!!

I just noticed the kitty in the window!!! What is his/her name?

8-D

kqcrna,

Gorgeous garden!

I would like to know the plants that I labeled below.
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Highalttransplant,

I love your second picture dated 07/01/2008 and the first gazania dated 8/11/2008. Are they perennial? The flowers are stunning!

Thanks, greengardener! The cat is my six toed baby, Shrillbert. He's strictly indoors, but loves watching birds from the windows. He's fascinated by hummers.

Shemeows that is pretty. Makes your eyes move all over...Barb

Hi v1rtu0s1ty!

The second photo is Aquilegia chrysantha (Columbine), and it is perennial to zone 4 - 8. The Gazania in that photo is only perennial in zones 8 - 10, but there are a couple, a solid orange, and a solid yellow, that are perennial to at least a zone 5. I've linked one below. They don't come in as wide a color selection as the annual ones though.

Bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Colorado Gold' Gazania

Oh, I just found the orange one too, at that same website.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Orange Peacock' Gazania

My favorite annual is lavatera. I had lavatera trimestris and butterfly weed(A.incarnata) side by side in my vegetable garden.

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v1rtu0sity
Plants you asked about
a,d, f: dwarf cosmos carpet mix
b rudbeckia Irish Eyes
c rudbeckia Becky
e zinnia profusion double cherry

Karen

I'm drooling over these photos. :O) Lovin' it!

Karen,
Amazing how we are in similar zones, but I have great difficulty in growing Zinnias and Yvonne's Salvia. It's all in the summer heat which you get but I don't. Still, I persist and this year both will again be winter sown.

Shemeows,
What a photo! Candy for sure. I'm getting better at containers, but wasn't quite there last year. Beautiful!

Fran,
That's lovely!! I can see a pumpkin/squash plant vining through between the plants. :O) Cute! Grow some Lavateras for me this year. They do well here but the deers love them too so I don't grow them anymore.

Fran, I also love the laverta and had deer problems as well so didn't plant any last year. Your photo has inspired me to plant them again in my fenced veg. bed.

Thanks all for your wonderful photos. A daybrightener just to scroll through this post.

franeli,

Your lavatera is so beautiful. Is it easy to grow? Do you winter sow them or wait in spring?

Please send me some seeds!

Okay, those of you that know me, know that I don't allow pink in the garden, but I have to say, Franeli, that the combination of that Lavatera and Asclepias incarnata is very striking. A beautiful combination!
(as long as it's not in my red, yellow, and orange beds, LOL)

Bonnie