I'm excited for everything that I've winter sown! Some aren't new to me, but they were ones that I had difficulty germinating last year. Evening Primrose Bleeding Hearts Gaillardia Bells of Ireland 3 Dianthus varieties Delphinium Ladybells Carnations Texas Redbud Clematis Texas Bluebonnet Echinacea Balloonflower Aster varieties Sedge Wild Bergamot Jacob's Ladder Eastern Bluestar Persicaria Garlic chives Breadseed poppies @ docmom: I planted delphinium last year during the spring and they never made it past their second set of leaves. I randomly tossed a seed or two into an urn with petunias in it during the summer, and sure enough it sprouted and eventually bloomed in October. It's doing great now. I recently transplanted it because a mum had taken over. A week later and no issues with it at all. I'm beginning to wonder if their poor record is a bit over exaggerated. We'll see. Good luck with yours!

It occurs to me that this discussion probably should be on the trellis thread, but since the OP did mention support... ..."With plastic I would have to untangle the vines from the plastic in order to leave the plastic in place... ...If I understand correctly, you tried that and it took too much time." Although I do not leave my trellises up from year to year, I did try to recycle the twine once, as well as to leave all vines in the garden to be tilled under. If the vines were left on over Winter, they were dry & brittle by the time I removed them in Spring. I would cut the bottom of the vertical string, cut the base of the vine, and cut any tops that had grown beyond the trellis. Most of the time, I could then pull from the top down, and the vines would slide off. It took practice, and some varieties were more difficult to remove than others. But in the end, with the wife & I both removing the vines, it took several days. The weather is fickle here, and I don't usually get the luxury of that much time; so I decided that my time was worth more than the cost of the twine. I've actually been wanting to change my trellis system, to reduce the time I spend each year erecting them. I have thought about 5' tall concrete remesh, cut into 5' & 10' lengths & attached to the poles with zip ties. The different lengths would be combined as needed depending upon trellis length. I already use zip ties for attaching the bottom support, so I know they hold up pretty well. SSE uses basically the same system on their farm, where they use thousands of feet of trellis. But there are two drawbacks. The first is that to get the lengths of remesh I need, I would need to cut my own from the 150' rolls. Sounds easier than it really is. The wire is fairly heavy gauge, and after you cut it, you then need to bend it straight... which is also difficult & time consuming. I have 2 rolls now, and might get this done eventually... but it will be a lot of hard work to turn those rolls into flat panels. The other problem with using steel for the trellises (whether remesh, fencing, or cattle panels) is the storage issue. Because of my crop rotation, the trellises will be in different places each year & must be removed before Spring for tilling. As it is, after Spring cleaning, I have to make piles of poles & rebar rod off to the side of the garden. That much remesh (or steel fencing), when stacked off to the side, would be a real eyesore. My main garden is on a friend's property, so that is out of the question. "No one has mentioned trellis netting & it works well and lasts several years, though I am not doing long runs as some are." I considered it in the past, but found it cost prohibitive. Also, although it might last several years, you have to clean all of the debris out of it after the first year in order to reuse it. While that might work for small runs, it would be nearly impossible to clean off 100' or more in a reasonable amount of time. Oh, and on the topic of cleaning trellis material, there is an easy way to clean old vines from wire fencing. Just roll up the fence - vines & all - when everything has dried, and (in a safe place) set fire to it. Presto! no more vines. Cool, unroll, and reuse.

Evonne, LOL, hope your greenhouse is firmly staked down now! And hope that you're wrong about April 1st, because that was the day I got my first sprouts. :) Lots of sproutage yesterday! Phlox drummondi, Baptisia, Eupatorium rugosum and coelestinum, Lobelia cardinalis, and Ratidiba columnifera (Mexican hats). Just 1 or 2 little teeny sprout mostly. Expecting more sproutage today with temps close to 70! PM2, you want some photos...okay here are some photos taken yesterday. There's not too much to see yet, most of the containers have 1 or 2 or 3 little sprouts, and there aren't any "true" leaves yet. Still not quite sure how to get real clear close-ups of such teeny little seedlings (yes I am using the Macro feature). Gaillardia aristata (Blanket Flower), love those "hairy" little sprouts - Silphium perfoliatum (Cup Plant) - most of the containers look like this, but I still think it's so exciting! In the bottom left of the photo, you can actually see a seed, which is much huger than the sprout! Solidago speciosa (Showy Goldenrod) - Sweet Alyssum - 'Carpet of Snow' on left, 'Pastel Carpet' on right - Anybody else got any photos?? :)

It's so exciting to see our babies bloom! Always worth the wait. Post that pick! Judye