Last week-end, we had tornado (funnel less than 2 miles from my house. NOT on the ground.) weather. Torrential rain for about an hour. I spent the day before it arrived sowing seeds and setting out baby annuals. For the most part, they all survived. Seeds up in three days. The lightning added nitrogen to the rain. Established annuals grew two inches. (honest.)

I agree with both responders above. Also, rudbeckia annual varieties reseed vigorously. The rudbeckia, snapdragons, calendula and verbena all have normally been annuals, but the past winter was so mild that many of those plants survived and were up and blooming early this season. I also second the wintersowing recomendation. I've been doing it for years and it's an addiction in itself. And it's fun to collect seeds and trade with other gardeners, too. Good luck! Martha

Thanks, oilpainter. One article I saw said annuals rated HA could be sown in fall. I get nervous about any coming up and tend to start them under lights. This year I tried Emilia coccinea, some I planted under lights, some I sowed outdoors. The ones I started under lights Feb 12 I planted out May 7 and they started blooming June 26. They are a little tall, skimpy, and floppy, but still blooming, 1/2" red dandelion type flowers in clusters. They might look good mixed in with other plants of the same height that don't have a long bloom season. The direct sown didn't come up for a couple of months and then just started blooming in September. I will see what happens next year with fall planted ones. Johnny Jump-ups did really well, I started them under lights Feb 12, some were blooming under lights by April 20. I planted them out May 8, they are still blooming and have already self-sown, some of those are just starting to bloom. They stay low and are really cute, too. I will see if they come back well next year. An edible annual I grow is Corn Salad. It likes it cold, it comes up in October and grows all winter, the leaves are small, so hard to harvest, but they taste phenomenal. I use them kind of like a winter ground cover to keep down weeds. It seems to take forever for them to set seed in spring so I can plant something else, though. I don't collect the seed but they are great at self-sowing. In S. Calif. Nasturtiums will self-sow to grow in winter too, down there they can get montrous over winter. Usually they died out in warm weather.

I know that some seeds need light to germinate altho I couldn't off-hand tell you which ones so I'm posting a link which gives some info. Not all on the list are annuals. I expect that if the seeds fall naturally on a thin mulch there may be enough light for germination anyhow. I don't use a lot of annuals but do love those self-seeders whether annual or perennial. They are worth a lot in plant value altho I really need to replan my garden because I tend to let them take over. Here is a link that might be useful: flower seeds that need light to germinate