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Florida Gardening

Best time to start annuals from seed?

14 years ago

I was wondering when the best time was to start seeds for annuals like Salvia and impatients? I was thinking of starting my own and saving some money this year. Also what types of unique Salvia have some of you grown that you've had success with that are not "run of the mill" salvias you find in Box Stores? Any good seed suggestions would be good! Thanks!\

Paul

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Comments (4)

bears48
14 years ago
Yes I start salvias in Oct. I've grown many from seed. Look in seed catalogs and find what you like. Pam
an_ill-mannered_ache
14 years ago
instead of starting impatiens from seed, consider buying a couple that you like at the bigbox, and taking many cuttings from them. impatiens are VERY easy to start from cuttings (even i can do it!)... and much much faster than from seed.

paul, are you interested in annual salvias (nice but innocuous) or perennial (much more interesting)?
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I'll second diggerdee's note for winter sowing. I was a total brown thumb before I found it. I'm in Z5, too. I have excellent luck with most annuals I start (that are good for Z5), and if something fails, I've found that I've either done something wrong (like poppies that need to be put out as WEE SMALL babies, or I direct-sow them in the snow), or they weren't for my zone (I forget what foolish thing I tried to grow that was only for tropical zones- DOH!) I personally love: Zinnias (have discovered many different varieties in online stores that aren't in my local store seed-racks), marigolds (again, lots of diff't varieties), another vote for cosmos (although I have to say that I prefer the 'dwarf' varieties of these, and the "Cosmic" series), sunflowers (check the round robin forum to see if there's a Sunflower Robin running...I got SO many varieties in that exchange last year!), schizanthus (short-lived, but VERY pretty), Love-in-a-Mist (short-lived, but again, very pretty, and interesting seed pods). I built vine poles (SIMPLE! Instructions over at bhg.com) and grew Morning Glories up them, and I found a taller variety of salvia at KMart (Mealy-Cup Sage- brand was Martha Stewart) that was very interesting! I focussed a lot on red stuff and butterfly/hummer annuals last year. Have a ton of seeds for this year that'll need to be put in jugs pretty soon. Good luck!
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presuming you have packaged seed.. read the package.. if it says 90 days to bloom ... that means your first bloom would be around 9/10 ... then ask.. when is your first frost ... if you are in the north ... if its 10/1 ... whats the use .... then you have all the issues of intense summer heat on small seedlings... if you are doing this in the ground .... and then the intensity of summer sun versus spring sun ... and whether they will burn to a crisp .... can it be done.. probably.. give it a try.. i learned more experimenting.. than i ever got from a book or the web .... and i tend to remember experiments longer than something i read ... but i wouldnt get too wound up in it all ... depending.. again.. where you are in IL now.. if your seeds will bloom in 30 to 45 days.. its another game altogether ... the final thought is whether the seeds will be properly stored over winter.. and viable for proper planting time next spring .... or whether you will remember to do it then .. lol ... aw.. what the heck.. wing it.. just do it.. report back .... ken
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Hi John, Well, even though I grow mostly annual flowers, the terms used to suggest seed starting times are the same. Usually youÃ¢ÂÂll see something like Ã¢ÂÂStart your seeds 6 to 8 weeks before the last expected frost date in your area.Ã¢ÂÂ So, according to that, you would start your tomato seeds about 6 to 8 weeks before the 10th of May. The reason for suggesting that you plant the seedling about 2 weeks after that last frost date is to give the soil time to warm up a bit. The seedlings need to be hardened off first anyway. Generally, if you wait until your night temperatures are staying above about 50 deg F, you should be safe to plant tomato seedlings outside. It could, of course, take more than 2 weeks after that last frost for that to occur. Hope this helps, Art
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Yup, this is a great time of year to start a lot of spring flowers outside. I just sprinkled several seed packets of California poppy around my garden two weeks ago (I already have a bunch but I like to supplement with some of the colors besides orange). They've already sprouted as have the self-sown ones from last springs blooms. It's also a great time of year to sow desert bluebells (Phacelia campanularia) a terrific native wildflower with true blue blooms, and Shirley poppies, African daisies, calendula, and nasturtiums too. I soak nasturtium seeds overnight and then just poke holes in the ground and in pots. The key for all of them is to give them regular water when nature doesn't. Let us know what you do, and how it works out! Just for fun, here's a pic of some self-sown California poppies in my little garden this past late spring: Plus one pic of desert bluebells (Phacelia campanularia) too (with Wilson the tennis ball to show relative size). So fun--once you plant them you'll never need to do it again, LOL. Happy gardening! Grant
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bigpaulie1972
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, I'm kind of looking to branch out and try more than the usual red salvias you see in the multi-packs in all the box stores. Not that I won't use those as well, I'm just wanting to see others in bloom and maybe use a mix of them. I hear nothing but good things from everyone here about Salvias in general, both the perrenial and annual. Also Salvias seem to last the longest and do the best in every bed I plant them in.

Also, how do you collect seed from the usual varieties or any of the annuals in fact. I have little experience with them aside from planting them for color and then just watering them occasionally. I've never actually tried to collect seeds from most of my plants but im seeing such inspiring pics from people with things like Salvias and Amaryllis as of late that I wanted to give it a shot.
mboston_gw
14 years ago
There's Pineapple Salvia that has leaves that smell like Pineapple - the flowers are red. I have Coral Salvia - a favorite with butterflies this time of year - its a pale pinkish and white, Black and Blue - really pretty dark blue with blackish blue on the underside - hummer favorite. There is the Purple Victoria and White Victoria, there's Mystic Spires which is light purple. I have a dark pink and the tropical Salvia that is red. All of mine except B&B reseed themselves so I have them year round. I cut the dry flowers off and drop them in a plastiv bag. Shake and let the seeds fall out. Bugs do like to live in the flowers so I found out not to bring them inside. If the flowers are moist you will have a mildew problem so make sure they are dry. Lots of time I just cut off the dry flowers and toss them on the ground and let nature do its thing. I also take cuttings. Most are easy to do. My main failure has been Black and Blue - the stems seem very fragile.

Go to the Salvia Forum and read the posts there. Lots of good info on types. They also have a gallery.

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