Some that have bloomed 1st year for me: Verbascum Southern Charm, butterfly weed, agastache purple pygmy, gaillardia goblin and burgundy, bellflower blue clips, veronica, blue flax, achillea,

Some people start perennials in summer for bloom the following year. However, if you do them in winter, my thought is they will have a few months advanced growth before then, be more established. Remember, too, that some perennials need the period of cold strat. And last of all, winter is my best shot at doing it at all because I'm too busy all summer.

Karen

Let's see,
My first successec's were cleome, pineapple sage, geranium's, castor bean for me a perennial apparently however I live in zone 8-9ish....mexican hats, monarda, jerusalem artichoke, plumbago, aster's and oh I can' think of more right now but I'm sure they'll come to me... hope that helps... I also enjoyed larkspur, love in a puff, comfrey, rosemary, oregano, thyme, oregano, brugmansia, coral nymph salvia, black&blue salvia, lamium, and well the list goes on but those are just off the top of my head for now. I'm sure I'll think of others later but thought I'd throw those out for you they were very successful for me this year (my first year of winter sowing) My echinacea and black-eyed-susan's turned out to be zinnia seeds so I'm at a loss there sorry. I'm still trying to get some replacement's for these. I only had one blackberry lily sprout from seed and it did not bloom so I'm still babying it and hope to get a bloom from it this next year... (finger's crossed). I hope that this bit of info helped as the fact this was my first year of "flower" sowing. I have always been a die hard fan of vegetable gardening. This truly was my first attempt at flower gardening! yes i was really excited, and yes I had my dissapointments who doesn't? However, there is always next year!! I would love to have some echinacea seeds and some black-eyed susan's if anyone has an abundance?? I will happily send postage. My real question from my understanding these have to be sown without covering the seeds to be successful? I was successful by covering.. I just grew zinnia's!!!!!.... If all else I will just go out and buy some. I just want to know if you have to cover them or not??
Please someone with wome experience help me get started?? On the other hand I'm not trying to steal your thread. I will let you know I did not have success with hollyhock's blooming the first year, probably because they are biennial's and they grow the first year rather than bloom.? Maybe they are perennials, however, I planted them they took off however, no blooms as of yet and they are still growing. I can tell you for sure that I still have tomatoe's on the vine if that's any help and my tomato's look like they are going to take off again. So now I realize that I'm blabbing your ear off so I will let you go now, as that was not my intention.
Barb

I had blooms on these perennials in their first year:

Malva zebrina, braveheart and mystic merlin
Maltese cross
Anise hyssop (agastache)
Butterfly bush (buddleia)
knautia mars midget

I highly recommend growing those malvas--they bloomed so early, and continued all summer. I can hook you up with seeds, if you want some!

I'd sow all perennials as soon as I could, so they'd have more time to get established. But if you're busy doing annuals or other things, you could certainly wait on those until summer (those that don't need cold strat). Remember--most perennials creep their first year! These first-year blooming ones are sort of the oddballs.

Gladys -

I think that you might be on the disappointed side if you are going for a full bloom garden on your first year with just perennials. Do a bunch of annuals this year to keep yourself in color while you are waiting for your perennials to grow up. I even find myself impatiently waiting for the annuals in the early spring and I have an abundance of established perennials. The annuals won't be big and blooming like the ones you can get early on in the nurseries but they do catch up. I always buy a couple of flats to tide me over and for my flower pots. I still sow them like crazy even though they are a little slower because my gardens are too big to buy annuals for each year.

Perennials have their own scheduled time for blooming. If you look up what you are growing you can find the information (spring, summer, fall etc.) of when they normally bloom to narrow it down. I just play around with things once they are planted to figure out a more exact time, what things look good together that bloom the same time, how I can arrange things for consecutive blooms throughout the summer... It can be hard with perennials because you can have 'down' time when nothing in one particular area is blooming. Annuals are great fill-ins so you don't run into that problem. Also, long blooming perennials (like coreopsis!) will keep you in color. Gaillardia is another great bloomer but I don't see it in early spring.

For early spring, in our area, I have choosen forget-me-nots as my main flower. They are wonderful, easy to sow, and reseed themselves. They are dainty and don't get in the way of anything in my beds. Very common but I don't think I'll ever be without them.

I just read Karen's post, and that blue flax is wonderful in my garden! It was non-stop blooming for quite some time, too. I happen to have a photo of it which I'll link in. You can see a chunk of purple Siberian iris in the back and they compliment each other very well. Any chance you are in the Capital District area?

Here is a link that might be useful: flax

Wow! Thank you all for the great info! I have alot on your lists that I can try for flowering the first year.

Karen, thanks for the list because I have at least 5 that you mentioned.

Barb, will put monarda and asters on list since I have some. I wish I had some extra purple coneflower and black eyed susans to give ya. You should check on the seed exchange because I'm pretty sure there was someone giving them away for SASBE. I'll check for you and let you know on this post, okay?

stagerat, I think I have malva zebrina! Good to know thanks!

shimla, oh goodness no I am not counting on only perennials. I have way more annual seeds than perennials anyway. Oh and I have forget me nots so I'll put them on my list of those that might flower the first year. Your blue flax is breath taking by the way! I think I might be getting some in a swap soon. I love blue flowers since I seldom see them around here (the Catskills). I see more pinks, reds and yellows than any other color...plus orange from the ditchlilies by the roadsides. Mainly I just wanted a little plan to go by to what I should pay attention to as to what would bloom earlier. Thanks again!

Gladys,
Lupine and Delphinium will bloom the first year, too. They won't be as tall as they will be the folllowing year and they will bloom in late Summer rather than Spring.
You can find some blues in Delphs...the Lupine, you can get a variety of colors (maybe some blues too, if you get the Texan kind)

Linda

Maltese Cross
Hollyhock
Digitalis ambigua (perennial foxglove...short lived perennial)
Aster laevis
Delphinium
Coreopsis lanceolata
Blue Flax
Agastache foeniculum
Hyssopus officinalis

Annual Chinese Forget-Me-Not's (Cynoglossum amabile)are another good blue and do great with heat and drought. They'll reseed for you too :D

Vera

Linda, thank you, I have some Pacific Giant Blend Delphinium seeds too!

Vera, I'll have to look around for that type of foxglove and the maltese cross. Thanks!

Gladys

Did anyone mention platycodon/balloon flower & tricyrtis, they are 2 of my favorites.

I'm glad you've got some annuals to sow! I don't think there is anything more discouraging than putting all the work into a garden and not seeing any flowers lol! Too bad you aren't just a wee bit closer, you could come pillage from my garden throughout the season. There's a plant exchange in the West Sand Lake area (on another site) in the spring. I will send you the info when there is info about it in case you feel up to a road trip. I'd be happy to bring a box of things for you. We used to do the Game Farm and I recall the trip was pretty easy.

Packages are going out next week from our wish swap! We are going to be up to our ears in seeds :) I couldn't find any Wegelia seeds on my bushes and then it snowed so I haven't been out to check. If I find some, I'll email you for your addy.

Need more seeds? Email me.

Irish eyes rudbeckia flowered for me the first year. I didnt ws it I started it in the house. Barb if you need coneflower seeds or rudbeckia check my list. I can send some for sasbe. My name is barb too... NEAT