Yes! Almost my entire garden is grown from seeds. I'm far too cheap and picky to buy plants here as we don't seem to have a lot of selection in my area. Stella D'oro and loads of lirope. Not bad plants, just not my cup of tea.

I set out seedlings for an Agastache hybrid, of pallida and rugosa 'Globe Trotter'. It set its first bloom yesterday and I am quite enjoying the foliage. Very nice so far.

I started Agastache foeniculum from seed several years ago. It never made it through the winter, but I’ve always managed to find a seedling or two in the spring, so have been able to keep it going. I have a nice sized one right now. I just dig them up and move them where I want them.

I had horrid luck with my seeds this year, most didn't sprout...I blame unsettled winter weather (regarding ones needing vernalization). And then what did sprout mysteriously disappeared mostly (slugs I'd say). Atypical for me.

I just started seeds with my Floralight system and that was a learning curve...so I mainly started with annuals. I think I’ll probably stick with annuals because that was a process unto itself. Easier to pier from plant sale divisions :-)

Like Robin, I also grow most of my own plants from seed. Tons of choices, both locally and mail order...but zero cash, so needs must. There are no months in the year when I do not sow something (it is all about biennials, green primula seeds and veggies at the moment). I have no hope of listing this years stuff since it tends to blur in my (frazzled) brain...plus summer attrition has been kicking in (the usual snail losses, followed by irrigation fails). Standouts have been the species paeonias which appeared this year (sown a couple of years ago) plus a cache of dye plants (indigofera, ysatis, persicaria, safflowers, madder etc). Sisirynchiums are a current craze...along with more malva types, asters, dierama. tulips. Slowed down on trees (thankfully).

I made the mistake of ordering seeds from Swallowtail Seeds this year -- not knowing that their pricey packets include 10 seeds or something ridiculously low for a gardener like me. In one case I sneezed and lost all of them! The germination rate was abysmal. Total waste. It's back to Sample Seeds for me. Open pollinated only.

Callirhoe - any of them, are egregious fails for me, Skip -intensely annoying since they are almost never to be found for sale over here and have not featured in my garden for several years (since I lost my original plant after a failed move (I was warned too!)

eta- punctuation rations today

Campanula, I poured boiling water over them, got rid of the floaters, let them soak, then set them outside in january to cold stratify. I think I got 2 to germinate but the leaves are still small and dont look right. I might just be growing weeds that blew into those cells! The leaves are starting to elongate on the one I planted in the ground, fingers crossed its callirhoe and not ground ivy or henbit or something.

After seven years, I finally got a couple that spontaneously germinated on me...first time I ever saw that (Callirhoe bushii).

I have good luck with callirhoe but one needs to be patient with them. They take awhile.

I grow lots of perennials from seeds. Mostly Texas Natives. I have about 10 flats full of burgeoning 4" pots. I failed on my showy Milkweed and desert amsonias BUT had good luck with my Amsonia longiflora, Turkscap, Echeandia texensis, Ratabida . I was getting impatient at the no show of Pavonia lasiopetala but I saw two coming up in a whole flat of them. I guess they need heat to germinate. I am also seeing some late germination of Aristolochia erecta. That really makes me joyful. I like to go out and stare at the pots.... willing them to sprout and grow as I drink my coffee. I just devided my Menadora longiflora out of their crammed baby pots and gave each one a deep 3" pot. I need many more of those deep small pots. natives have such deep roots. Maybe I will do something never before done by me, and actually buy a large stack of those pots.

Yep. First year trying the winter sowing method, which worked alright but most of the plants are still waiting to be planted;) Too many plants and not enough space lol.

A few years ago, totally fed up with random pots, which took up too much space, fell over, required different amounts of water and so on, I bought 1000 square .5litre pots...and 1000 labels. Best move I ever made. No empty space as the pots butt up against each other...plus the huge psychological value of feeling I have this under control. Priceless. Bite the bullet, Mara - wholesale plastics are cheap, cheap, cheap...and get sturdy ones - I am in my 4th year of reusing.

I have a zillion 4" pots but I like the 5" depth of the 3.5" pots that I have gotten from High Country Gardens. The pots have grown more plants than what came in them. For labels, I cut up old broken plastic venetian blinds that a friend finds in yard sales for free.

This morning , I just planted some Passiflora partake X tarmininiana that was sent to me by someone on this forum.

I only grow by winter sowing. Tried normal spring/summer sprouting in small plastic pots and have a talent for killing. It's like I'm my own branded pesticide. No matter how careful my sprouted seedlings either had too little or too much moisture, too much or not enough sun. I was not successful at all.

For all the amazing things people say about WS, me included, I must honestly admit that I lose a lot of stuff that way, too. Slugs are a huuuuuuuuuge problem for me. At least 90% of my losses by WS are slugs. This year was not good for WS for me. Not exactly sure why. The April weather was slightly too erratic, combined with a nearly 2 week trip in May during prime planting season. I did lose some to April weather that just got too low, but not many at all. I would say that from germination to planting I had many seedlings that didn't make it, e even in their jugs. For all the seeds I planted, I don't have that many plants to show for it this year.

Who in a colder climate grows Agastache aurantiaca? This is my second year trying with those, and once in the ground they stubbornly hunker down and refuse to grow. I don't know if they need more heat, or what. I don't overwater them, but I don't ignore them. What's the secret? Some of them are actually supposed to be winter hardy to zone 5 (Agastache aurantiaca 'Tango' and repestris 'Apache Sunset') so I feel like if I could get them going they'd have a chance.

This year I'm going more natives for woodland edge and shade. Last year 85% of my new perennials beds were seeds or my own transplants. What a money saver. Couldn't do it without the seeds.

I've ordered from Swallowtail for a while and their quality is excellent. Their seeds count is lower, but I've noticed that with many seed companies. Many of their plants with low seed count are "fancier" plants which are difficult to find in seed form. I've grown Pow Wow Wild Berry Echinacea seeds from them for a couple of years, as an example. Only 10 seeds in a pack, but that's cheaper than what they cost at the nursery. Big Swallowtail fan for the variety they have.

I have always sown seed and generally suffer a 50% loss which can stretch to 70% over a season...but seeds are cheap...or free so I sow shedloads. I suspect there is a crucial equation to be drawn using space, time and no of plants as integers of x...which I fall seriously short of resolving.

Assuming you manage a few storage basics, you will never find better, more reliable seed than what you have collected and saved yourself.

Today, I just threw our 30 baby black mexican beauty berrys. Just too many of them. I kept 24. A friend gave me a bunch of berries on a branch last fall. I took those berries , squeezed them and smeared them all wet ontop of some soil and left them outside to do whatever over the winter. Come spring, they came up just fine.

Camp, my storage basic is use them , give them away and save as few as possible. Otherwise I would have them hanging in boxes on all my shelves. after 2 years I toss them off my porch into the wind. I am always collecting.

Camp, what brand pots, what size and why?, do you like Anderson band pots?

Here are some of my poor leftovers. I will pot up some of them and give some away, but germination was better than anticipated for some species. How long do you think they can survive in the 2x2x5 cells?

Lol, how long do you want to torture them? :)

I am in awe of you guys and gals.

Yes, but honestly I do way better with annuals and vegetables. Not sure why, I'm pretty good with seeds. I did have decent luck with "Fama" scabiosa and drumstick primrose and shasta daisies this year. They're all pretty small so I'm nursing them along; hopefully they'll be big enough to plant towards end of summer. The "Fama" did get planted in the veggie garden to grow on to bigger plants before setting out in the beds but the others are in 2" pots on the porch. I really want those drumstick primrose to do well -- can't find them locally.

Skip, this guys look like they might be getting cramped toes soon . I don't care that much about how green they are but how long their roots are. Here , that is tantamount to success in my garden. I bump them up to deep pots quick because I want those long loose shakeable roots. When I put them in the ground, I want roots that trail deep into the ground. I won't be planting out my babies till fall. That is why I am looking to buy some 3" X 5' deep pots. I will also decapitate the plants a couple of times to make them work on their roots. IT is a new experiment. It worked nicely on my Amsonia longifloras last year. I heard that High Country gardens does that with their plants that thy grow for arid gardens..

Some of my best short lived perennials (aquilegia and rudbeckia triloba) were pot babies for more than a year. As long as they're not pot bound and encircling roots, they're probably ok.

I just found a product called Treepots, that are 4" square and 9" deep, in a pack of 16. I will probably order those