Thank you for the reminder! I've been looking forward to my annual solstice planting for weeks now, but, alas, have been sick and probably would have forgotten. I'm with you on the date, so did a little research. It's usually December 21st, but occasionally falls on the 22nd. One site gave a time of 6:08 a.m., another 6:12 a.m. (alright, close enough) but another gave a time of 1:08 a.m. Finally, Chiff.com cleared it all up with the following: "In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice occurs on December 22, 2007 at 1:08 AM EST; and at 6:08 AM UT (Universal Time)." Not being much of a morning person, however, I'm leaning toward a mid-day planting, based on the following from the NOAA site: "The Winter Solstice or astronomical winter begins on December 22, when the noontime sun is farthest south in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere." Noon is good - thank you NOAA. Lots of people do something called "wintersowing" - there's a forum by that name here on GardenWeb. I've tried it and, overall, would say it's very effective - no greenhouse needed. Severl of the people over there really get into the celebration aspect ... go check it out :-) Thanks to your reminder, I will be doing a "ceremonial" planting tomorrow, using four sets of seeds, one each for Remembrance, Life, Mother Earth and Faith. A link to the GW page explaining this is below in case you're interested, however, last year instead of tree seeds for M. Earth I planted legume seeds, and for Faith planted some very old seeds I had found. Enjoy your solstice sowing, whenever you decide to do it, and I hope it's a productive one. Diane Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Solstice Celebration

hi melba..have some bressingham mix which might have red flowers that i could add to our trade while waiting for the bella seeds which should come any day! commercial 2005 seed..let me know :) pam mallowmallow

Hi Brandy, Welcome to the wonderful world of wintersowing. I am in a similar situation as you and plant when I can. I have heard that it is best to plant at a full moon for flowers and above-ground veggies... taproots at new moon. OT gardeners can you confirm this answer to brandy's question? The solstice sowing was not so much about planting with the cycle, but more of a neat way to celebrate with other wintersowers (being that the solstice is the official start to the wintersowing season) Trudi has something about it on an earlier thread. Hope you can join in next year. Best of luck with your gardening this year! Peace George

Okay, I think I finally have solstice sowing figured out. Remembrance: Carya illinoiensis (Pecan) - for my brother, who died at the beginning of 2009 - because he was such a nut :) Lovage - in remembrance of the herb garden I had to leave behind when I moved - these are seeds from that garden Life: An unknown tall field thistle in bloom in Alabama when I first got here - what a butterfly magnet! I would stand in front of them for several minutes just gawking at the butterflies - as soon as they went to seed, I was there collecting. I do not know the variety of this thistle, but I'm praying it's not as invasive as Canadian thistle, aka creeping thistle. Mother Nature: Halesia carolina (Carolina Silverbell) Magnolia tripelata Craetegus laevigata (English Hawthorn) Faith: Sesbania punicea (Scarlet Wisteria) - only one zone difference, so maybe if I find the right microclimate? Happy solstice, everyone!