Susan, Oh, okay, I don't know what I was thinking that you had started them indoors. I'm hoping that I'll get a head start on them this way. I didn't plant quite all of them yet because I wasn't sure if I was starting them too early. Now that our last frost date is about two months from now (April 15), I suppose that I could start the rest inside. My problem is that I ran out of containers and will have to go get some more. I have all of my individual one and two-gallon ones used with my swamp milkweed started outside, and the smaller individual ones have butterfly weed and tropical milkweed in them. Then I also have 3 flats (72 in a flat) with swamp milkweed in two of them started outside and butterfly weed in the other one. Then I also have butterfly weed and tropical milkweed started in cups. I probably am up to close to 300 milkweed plants here, assuming that the seeds all germinate (I put two in each container), and I'm not even done yet. lol Of course, then there's the Chelone glabra, Zizia aurea, Zizia aptera, Heraculeum maximum, Foeniculum vulgare azoricum, and Angelica atropurpurea seeds from you that I have winter sown. I started some snapdragons inside, Blazing Star Liatris, also Agastache foeniculum and Blue Fescue (I suppose I could have winter sown those last two). I'll direct sow my lupines, zinnias, cosmos, and dill. There, I think I remembered everybody. :) I want to try to locate a small spicebush around here. I wonder if there'd be any harm in digging one out and relocating it here at the edge of our yard next to the woods? A sassafras tree would be nice too. Of course, I'm thinking about other plants for next year...I'd even plant a paw paw tree if I knew that I could get ZST up here, but my Butterflies Through Binoculars book shows their range ending around the southern border of PA. There are so many different kinds of butterflies that I'd like to attract here, but I don't think I want to dig up our whole backyard. :) It's snowing a lot here right now. Schools let out at noon today and have already cancelled for tomorrow. I suppose the weather will soon clear up out your way. Come on spring! Cathy

I did something very similar in 2003. Just around thanksgiving with our first snow, I broadcasted out the prairie seeds over a 60x15 prepared area. No mulch, no amendment and the blanket of snow was my protection from birds. Also by this time the mice/voles ect. are housed up for the winter. My seed (flowers/grasses) were individually ordered from reputable native seed suppliers...no walmart mixes just for the simple fact you usually can't find any that do not contain a few non-native noxious/invasive species...like Dames Rocket, Bachelor's Button and Baby's Breath for example; two of which are on our local monitor list and one which made it too the noxious weed list.

Hi Scarleta, I will have lots of seeds when mine dry out. email me and I will get some to you. Maybe we can trade some too. What colors are yours? Make sure you till your bed good before you sow too. Here's a good page about growing them that I found helpful. Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Poppies

I would wait until late August because we want germination then a long, slow winter growth...not germination then a quick burst and attempt to flower THIS year (and although annuals can be sown right up until late May, I would generally consider the sowing season over by now. By growing slowly over winter, the roots get big and the resulting plants are infinitely larger, more floriferous and stronger than spring sown hardy annuals. Sowing right now is the worst of all because the plants will likely attempt to still complete their growth cycle in one season and neither the roots nor the shoots will be worth the candle (although they probably will put out some late August/September blooms. So, what I do is prepare a nice clean and friable seed bed then simply broadcast or sow in drills (I prefer to sow in short rows/drills because it is easier to determine what are flowers and what are weeds and by the time of flowering, all the rows become melded together anyway). Poppies and larkspur prefer to be uncovered...in fact, poppies insist on it...which is another reason for holding on a bit since those tiny seeds easily dry out in June and July heat whereas the milder damper autumn season still holds enough soil warmth for germination and rains to keep the developing seeds moist.. eta - a neat trick is to split the seed and do an autumn sowing AND a spring sowing for successional growth - big early flowers in May and another later crop in June/July.