What did you mean by Burpee? That was the brand of seed you used, or you used the Burpee seed starting system? I started plants from seeds for the first time this year. I used the Burpee seed starting kit (tray of 72 soil pellets on a capillary mat, with a water reservoir beneath, no heat lamp, just set next to a window) and had great luck with zinnia (of course), shasta daisy Alaska, and hollyhock. At first, I thought the kit was a huge disappointment, as I got great germination rates but it was almost impossible to remove the seedlings without killing them. What ended up happening, though, was that after mid-late spring, I ran out of steam planting stuff outside, and I just left my seed tray outside, watering regularly. The seedlings continued to grow. Then, I went on vacation for 10 days and so I set the seed tray on the ground in a sunny area where it would get watered by our sprinklers which were on a timer. The plants grew like wildfire! That was early July. I finally got up the energy to plant the plants - the hollyhock seedlings are huge (I never thought they'd finally get big), and I repotted each shasta daisy in a 6" plastic pot leftover from other perennials I bought at a garden center. I now have about 16 plants in such pots - they're growing rapidly and I will plant them in the ground in early August. No, I won't get blooms this year, but I should get them this year. Delayed gratification. The zinnia, it goes without saying, are doing fantastically - if only they were perennials. I've also just planted purple coneflower seeds directly in the ground per the seed packet instructions, and hope they will come up, as it's very warm out and I am keeping them moist. I know that my other experience won't help you this season, but it's an approach you might want to take next year. When I transplanted seedlings into the ground in spring when the were very small, almost none lived. Now that they are much larger they're thriving after transplant. I wouldn't have thought seedlings would do well growing for 3.5 months in a 1" cell, but they did. I've got over $100 worth of shasta daisies for about $1. Worth it? In the end, yes. Of course $100 isn't all that much and it might have been easier to just buy the plants, but now that the plants are larger and look like they'll survive just fine, I'm satisfied with the effort I put in. I think I'll try it next year. It's an ongoing process. I'm not basing my entire garden on seeds, but since I'm in it for a fairly long haul, I figure I can help fill out my garden cheaply doing some stuff from seed.

Here in Zone 8b /9a I planted the ones that were cooled for 15 weeks last week in Dec. Then, another batch Jan 15 (which were only pre-chilled for 12 weeks) Haven't been as healthy this year so dug huge beds and put them in together in 4 beds so far. Also planted 8 inches deep because I didn't know we were going to have such cold weather and was afraid the sun would make them come up too fast (they are in full sun, because the city came and clipped the trees robbing me of the partial shade!) We are having the coldest weather our city has seen in decades (Southeast Coast). We haven't had that much rain though. I feel they need a drink of water, since they are on a; hill and water doesn't stand or sink in so well. Will watering the bulbs hurt them when we are having these cold night time temps (25 to 40 degrees) ? Last year I watered carefully and everything went beautifully but I got them in 2 weeks earlier, and we didn't have such cold temps. Should I go ahead and water them? I'm really afraid of watering when it's so cold.

Marlene you gotta do what works for you. The garden experts probably are giving a conservative approach to the general public so that they have as much success with their plants as possible--especially if the plants were young and not well established in the pots they were in. What really matters is whether the plant roots have time to get established before the ground freezes solid. This can be ameliorated by planting deep since the further into the soil you plant the more insulation the roots have and the longer they can grow. In addition, mulching will add to the insulatory properties of the soil and further prevent the soil from freezing until the later in the season. Snow actually is another factor that helps to insulate the soil and prevent it from freezing solid. Just because it is cold enough to snow doesn't mean that the ground is frozen--air temperature and soil temperature are two different things since the soil acts as a heat sink, collecting warmth all season long and slowly releasing it over the course of the winter. Of course, one other factor that can come into play is how severe any winter is and how early in the season it gets really cold and only Mother Nature is going to know that in any given year.

I'm in Chicago in zone 5 - hostas are tough cookies. Even if they heave partially from the ground they'll make it in most cases through the winter. I've even had them overwinter successfully in their plastic pots. As for other perennials add a couple inches of mulch so that if they do heave there will be some mulch to help protect them - avoid warm season grasses (exs. miscanthus, pennisetum) and ferns. They're sort of iffy at this point in the season.