Pippi, in my zone, we can sow the seeds in the fall when we pull the summer blooming annuals. Disturbing the soil gives the new seeds a place to rest and germinate. I sowed mine in October, but others can sow earlier. I've had poppy and larkspur last through the winter this year, even with temperatures in the low teens for many nights and never breaking the freezing mark during the day for a week. Our first hard frost this past fall was Dec 5. So, about two months before your first frost would give you plants that should survive in your zone. This may vary with more northern zones. I also mulch with shredded leaves for the winter, only pulling them off the beds once the nighttime temps are back into the upper 20s. Rudbeckia was self sown in the perennial bed. They've stayed small until now, as they're starting to put out new growth. By small, I mean about 2" across with several sets of leaves. I scattered seeds all summer long too. And now, I've got seedlings popping up all over the place in those areas.

I'm going to direct sow a number of plants from seed myself this fall. Last year I grew 2 different packs of cosmos and I seriously think every single seed sprouted! Very easy to grow and very tall! Like Lorana said, hollyhocks and many others are best planted in the fall (at least for areas with mild winters). I have tried to plant seeds at both fall and spring and find that they do much much better when planted in the fall. I would not heavily mulch either as it seems to smother out the seedlings. We don't get snow here so I do gently water them from time to time, and any that I sow in spring I keep moist. This year I plan on direct sowing poppies, hollyhocks, zinnias,larkspur, corn flowers, snapdragons, cleome, violas and balsam. Good luck and hope this helps! Meghan

I recommend you plant Elegans rather high with the crown about 2-3 inches above the normal ground level. Then mulch with a fairly lose mulch such as municipal compost, Pine Bark mulch or mini Nuggets or hardwood mulch. That certainly has been my experience with Elegans and I rather suspect it is the cause of failure for many people with its derivatives as well, most notably Great Expectations and by inference/connection Thunderbolt, Dream Queen and Dreamweaver. Crown rot with these develops rather easily it would appear and while I sold my last Elegans this spring and I no longer have an opportunity to take a picture of it to show how high it sat in its pot, the DQ and DW I have are both planted high and using a form of pretty much constant water supply for them -pots in a saucer that gets refilled every 2-3 days, haven't got the space for Butch's bucket method for all I have potted- they have put on substantial growth this year.

Scarlet sage (Salvia Coccinea) should still bloom from seed by fall, they germinate quickly, but take some time to get going on clay. They're not 100% perennial in zone 8a, but a lot can eventually return depending on mulch/weather and they do self seed well. They bloom from now until frost, but best show for us has been in early fall. Your spot sounds good because they seem to appreciate a little shade. We've been happy using them as a temporary ground cover in the open spots while the shrubs grown in. Here is a link that might be useful: Salvia coccinea at wildflower.org