None of the ones listed are here yet but I'm prepping for them! But they all ship pretty promptly. So I'll sow the onions and arugula, everything from ST except amaranthus, and the monkshod the minute I get my dirty hands on it! Even the lupin (an annual kind) I'll WS that, too. Direct sowed some last year all flopped and died, it's an annual kind, and just curious about it. Petunias (blue wave) I sowed just one pkt prob too early. The cosmos, all other petunias, amaranthus (both kinds) will wait until the end of March or early May. Even though I've read the faq more than once and multiple posts, can't remember every detail how people were successful with what so just started sowing madly. Will know better next next time. The delphiniums I will winter sow two kinds this year I have from ST, but that special one, one seed per cup and might wait timing wise like I did successfully for my delphs last spring. Will sow all the pansies and violas ASAP except maybe hold 2 pkts back for next year, bought a lot of what I hope are blue because if all the different kinds I sowed grow and reseed, they will cross like you said. I want to keep the blue ones true if they turn out that way for me, don't want them to cross. Have already sowed lots of violas and have some Challon? pansies I don't particularly like (bonus), will sow when I get to it. The runner beans my inclination are to direct sow when frost past as I successfully grew some Scarlet ones years ago, didn't fuss too much about water even, just about every seed germinated, and they go pretty deep IIRC. But I thought my grandson might have fun sowing them in some of my cups (later then) and then planting somewhere himself and watch them grow. Saved your instructions, so appreciate the advice, wish I'd asked about some of the others sooner. Now one more teeny weeny question. Just mixed up a big batch of soil and have to burn some more drainage holes which seem to be much better than slits like I have done in the past in the BOTTOM. BUT should I put about 4 slits in the top of those lids to snap on the cups or burn a couple holes instead? I have been burning holes in the tops of most, and they're a good 1/4" diam and may let things get too drenched. You have your cups uncovered in the hoophouse; I have to cover mine, they're white and about the translucency of a milk jug only thinner. Well one more question. Do you plant your love lies bleeding in the soil or container? The seed photo showed a container high enough so they could hang. The other amaranthus looks quite different. A watched container never grows. Maybe that's why . . .I can't help the temptation to peek when it starts warming up, haven't looked at one thing out there yet. Thanks much; obviously you and some others have lots of experience.

I think the common consensus is no....aloes and agaves can not be propagated via leaf cuttings... You will just have to wait for pups...

For plants that grow outdoors, the bloom time is in the spring.I am in Texas so it started showing its bloom in January. I first noticed a tiny long skinny protuberance , almost 1/16" by and 1inch and they were there for months before the bloom top showed in January. Here if you look real carefully just above the central "V" where the main leaves join, you will see it. If you click it , you will go to my flicker page, and click it again I think you can enlarge the image for a better view. I was able to know how many blooms I was going to get..Second shot shows the buds and the last shot shows how the "protuberance connects with the bud. This shows on another species of aloe but is hidden on the variegata. I thought it might be of interest. so you know what you are looking at. This does not happen on all aloes.

Fireblight is most definitely a spring related occurrence - it does not happen "later in the season". Also, Monrovia is the largest wholesale plant grower/vendor in the country and as such, they are regulated by all manner of Ag inspections, especially given the concerns about SOD. Just by way of brief explanation, fireblight is a bacterial pathogen that proliferates in warm, moist springs. It has nothing to do with soils but is transported via wind/air movement, insects and pollinators and via mechanical means (contaminated tools). It tends to focus on vulnerable new growth unless already well established in the plant and easily infects via any sort of damaged tissue, like from shipping/transport damage or heavy rains and hail. Control at this point is to prune off the affected shoots beyond any disease symptoms to the next growth node or branch joint. Spraying with a fixed copper fungicide can help as well but only as a moderate preventative for further infection.