I normally just let the ones I could direct sow self-sow themselves. Seems whenever I try to butt in they never come up! They only one I have much luck direct sowing are Nigella just after harvesting seed....I just toss and walk away. I tried a direct sowing of poppies last Thanksgiving...don't see anything yet so just sowed some more! Sunflowes do self-sow...madly, but am gonna give some direct sowing a try; one is 3' and the other's are giants. This is the list of those self-sowers you might have better luck direct sowing :D Amaranthus Cosmos Nicotiana alata Linaria maroccana Viola (sometimes short lived perennials for me) Salvia hormonium Salvia coccinea Rudbeckia amplexicaulis Clarkia elegans Cynoglossum amabile (Chinese Forget Me Not) Sweet Alyssum Larkspur (these will self sow in late summer/fall and winter over...as well as get more spring germination) German Chamomile (can keep them going a long time with frequent deadheading/harvesting of flowers for tea) Moss Rose Snapdragon (some can be perennial zone 6 and warmer) As far as Profussion Zinnia, I recieved some harvested Pink Profussion in trade. The ones I wintersowed all came true! We see what happens from the seed I harvested this year :D

dannichase, as you can probably tell, most of the plants that you've mentioned prefer to have (or must have) the soil (not the air, but the soil) a bit warmer before sowing. The alyssum is the exception, as it is a member of a large family of cool season plants (Brassicaceae), along with broccoli, cabbage, etc.

Franeli, Aren't you kind to offer, thanks very much! :-) Unfortunately, I am suddenly reduced to the bare minimum in the garden for awhile, with a strained achilles tendon. I've been limping along with it, but now docs orders will keep me out of the garden. Some of my plans are now officially on hold and may wait until next year. Family are helping keep up with everything on the weekends, thankfully! I did go and look at the shade cloth at Johnny's. I see they have different percentages of shade - 30% and 50%. I couldn't use a roll as large as they offer or justify the cost for the minor use that I have right now. I'm not used to thinking in terms of 'shading' my beds, either, because I only have between 6-7 hrs of sun on my vegetable garden [where I've been direct sowing] and I'm more concerned with not getting enough sun. [g] I am going to try this again at some point and getting shaded enough to keep it from drying out sounds like the way to go. I also have some Remay and If I had done it in May I would have been all set, we barely had a sunny day. :-) Thanks again for the offer and the advice, I appreciate it! This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 10:00

I will be very interested to see the advice on this one! I have several times tried to the 'wild flower' seeding on a large scale and always the weeds grew up first and smothered out most of the flowers. If there is a simple way to do this, I sure want to hear it. Last year I planted starts of cone flowers on a embankment that is impossible to mow. I planted well over 300 starts and then mulched with hay. They all grew up and the hill looked gorgeous until recently when lamb's quarters and goldenrod started appearing in and among them. I can't get them out because the grade is way too steep for my knees.