You should be fine with agastache, delphs, larkspur, poppies, and feverfew. I have sown all of these before, and they are all perennials or hardy annuals. I would hold off on the cleome and stocks because these are tender annuals in our zone. With that being said, I have had stocks self-seed and my friend has cleome self-seed. To be safe, though, I'd treat the stocks and cleome as tender and wait until March or April to start. I have lost a number of annuals because of my winter sowing enthusiasm. The good news is, it is easy to plant more, but I hate killing tens if not hundreds of plants. :) One thing I do now with my annuals is to ring my annual containers with perennial containers. This creates an additional insulation, so when we have those frustrating freezes in late April and early May, my annuals are protected by this additional warmth, and I don't have to bring them inside the garage. I also throw a blanket or row cover if it looks like the temps are dipping below 35 (if my annuals have sprouted). Hope this helps! cheers, Norabelle

I have a "pop up" greenhouse - basically a clear 10 x 10 igloo like plastic tent. Love it. But what I do in it is not winter sowing. It is spring sowing of annuals.In pots, in trays, in old bottoms of milk jugs - everything without tops because I water everything every day. I put it up on Easter and take it down on Memorial day. Easy peasy. I think of hoop houses in the same way as this pop up - unheated, no rain/snow inside structure. Great for getting heat to heat loving annuals in the spring, but for perennials - -WSing in jugs OUTSIDE works best for me. Why? I can do it in January/Febuary, when there is not much else to do. I can't put up my pop up then, snow would cave it in. The weather (snow/rain) takes care of my jugs of perennial seeds completely - I make them up, place them outisde then forget them till the spring weather hits. No watering. Perennials for my zone seem to like this method. On the "repotting" the seedlings and letting them grow on.... I did this a lot my first few years, unconvinced that those tiny babies could "take it" in the beds. I don't anymore, with a few exceptions, because it takes time and potting mix I don't have to spare and I find small seedlings grow much more quickly in the beds. The only seedlings I consistantly pot up are heurchura, as they are so so tiny. I let them grow on in pots and plant in the fall. This year, after years of trying to get Monks hood to sprout by WSing, I finally got some tiny sprouts. I potted these up to to grow on. Every else - over 100 milk jugs of perennial and hardy annuals - straight into the beds. Maybe someone from your zone will have advise based on their experience..... Nancy

I have several types growing around the yard- and the anise/minty ones I cook with alot in the summer-- They are great by themselves as a "breath freshener' or thirst quencher when you are too busy to run inside. Try them in a butter cookie recipe for a treat- always great in salads and sandwiches too! They make a pretty good tea as well- The rootbeer scented ones are great to have around for the scent of the foliage alone- not to mention the silvery foliage with the frosty soft orange blossom color... I wish I could get those to make it through our winters- I would love to have a mature plant or 5 instead of the small 1st year plants every year... Agastache "Golden Jubilee" is a striking chartreuse plant that clumps more than climbs tall and is very effective as a good looking mid border plant that will make your other blossoms pop- it also tastes pretty good.... Yep- some are straggly giants that will take over the world if you let the seeds ripen and burst on the stalk- but others will find homes in your garden and play nice if you collect those seeds before the wind plants them for you! I have found that these plants cross quite easily so I have learned to plant them far apart to get closer to true seeds. You may have planted Agastache schrophulariifolia which gets just HUGE very fast! I had a row of them and thought they might end up to be shade trees the way they grew so fast in their first year! I hope you will give em another go someday- they can be a nice plant to have around. Julie

I owe many thanks to Cameron and Roper. Their posts last year piqued my curiosity and when I found gallon pots of Heatwave at $1 each last September I was hooked. This year I added Tutti-Frutti and Heather Queen from Lazy S's Farm. Had ordered Raspberry Summer too, but Deb said they had a crop loss. Last week on a nursery visit I lucked out and found Raspberry Summer and Summer Fiesta. I can't believe I went from zero agastaches to 24 in 8 months time.