As you say, there are no hard and fast rules, but early June will be pushing it. My last frost date is April 15. Planting zinnias out any earlier than that would very likely be disastrous. Not only do you need to be frost free, but you need reasonably warm soil for them to thrive too. Typically, with my 4/15 plant date, zinnias are at their very best by the first week of July. You might have some cuttable ones by mid June if you plant enough of them. For the large flowered zinnias, I don't think there is any advantage to starting them inside early. The ones planted in good, well prepared, fertile ground will grow so fast that they quickly catch up to, and even pass the ones that were in pots.

Hi I started my lupins a few days ago, and have sprouts many many sprouts! I was shoked when all the seeds germinated.(I read on a few posts that some folks had difficulty with them)So I wasn't expecting much to happen. What I did was rub the seeds between two sheets of sand paper 10 or so at a time. Then soaked them for 24 hours. Threw them into a container with a bit of dirt then into a bread bag. These were seeds from last falls plants, that I planted in my parents garden around 15 years ago. They were actualy my first perenial, and really hardy plants. Where they are planted is full sun, wind and clay soil, no fertilizer or amendments to the soil and they just keep ona going year after year. No clue as to the variey,(pink and purple flowers. probably russels?) The original plant was bought late season when the garden centers knock down the prices, to get rid of the left overs, so no tags. Amazing I can remember when and where I bought that plant over 15 years ago, but can remember where I put my key's half the time! Im hoping that my newbies will do as well,as their parent plants.!Frogged

I've started canna seeds 3-5 years old and had almost 100% germination rate. I let them sit out for about a week, put them into a baggie or envelope, and just store them with the rest of my seeds in a box in a closet. Jenna

sorry i can't help you, but you bring up something I've wondered about for a long time and maybe someone could shed some light on. It could be that only that small percent should have sprouted. Where did you get your seeds? I went to a bunch of south alabama/north florida saracenia flava patches after they flowered and the seed pods were forming. Every single one of the pods in every patch (sometimes separated by five/ten or so miles) looked rotten/infected/bug-eaten. The saracenia flavas I bought from the store and raised at home (@ 300 miles north of the patches but still in an area where they used to grow native) all have their seed-pods rot every year. They grow outside in the same "natural" environment they would have grown if they weren't eradicated by development so it's nothing I'm doing. I'm 90% sure its a fungus. I've never even tried to collect seeds from those pods. They don't look viable at all. Maybe naturally the vast majority of seeds rot?