I grow quite a few perennial asters (Michaelmas Daisies). I usually pinch mine back in the late spring, these pinched out pieces are about two or so inches long, they make great cutting material if I want to increase certain varieties. Annette

Greeting from another Michigan wintersower! I have some asters, not sure what kind though, they were snatched from some-one elses flowerbed(with permission).Drk purple and about two ft high. How about some rugosa roses and grape hyacinths?? Echinacea would be good too, the kids might not see the flowers but could watch the birds that eat the seed. I have all those seed. You might also try perennial sweet pea if you've got the room-mine are still around but I don't have any seed right now. Also try wild violets-I have plants but no seed. -B

You can always copy Mother Nature and toss any seed onto the ground as soon as it is ripe. A little clearing out of other plants and roughing up the soil to allow better contact with the soil once it rains/gets watered. You could also summer sow--which is just like wintersowing, with the milk jug, etc, but at a later time. The advantages of the container are: constant ambient moisture to improve germination and prevent drying out as fragile seedlings, avoidance of washing away in a torrential downpour, avoiding the seeds and seedlings becoming lunch for some hungry rodent, and the containers are labeled, so you know what is growing and can plant it where ever you like and move them in and out of appropriate levels of sunlight/cold, etc. Happy sowing! Martha

That makes me feel so much better! I have a whole bowl of tomato seeds that I saved this year. And I was wondering as I was mushing the tomatoes and setting them to ferment (I had to use two quart jars to allow enough space for them to sink to the bottom)...Just how many seeds do I really need? And since I couldn't come up with a rational sounding answer, I decided to save as many as my furniture surfaces would allow, LOL! My entire living room is full of saucers full of seeds and my bedroom has corn hanging on the wall drying. Is that obsessive or what? I've got enough tomato seeds to supply every person in the county. Which I will probably share a lot of tomato seeds with neighbors and such. I've been trying to talk everybody into growing gardens again. Most of them used to grow a garden and they got so busy earning a living they let it go. Now with prices the way they are, I think people are reconsidering the importance of growing their own food supply. So, I've got patty pans, white spaghetti, tomato, cukes, watermelon, hot bananas and such drying all over the house. Steph