Eric - you've seen my yard. I showed you my row of Feijoas that I grew from seed. I don't think I showed you one plant that I bought at a plant sale, sold as a blooming ornamental. It's up in the flowerbed by the house. It wasn't a named variety but it was labeled as a blooming plant and had a company name on the tag (long lost). The seed came from a tree at the arboretum that fruits almost every year, is huge and the fruit are the size of a chicken egg. I do not remember the fruit being extra tasty but I don't think they were completely ripe. Of the nine seedlings in the garden, they give three types of fruit; some of them are very round, some of them are egg shaped and large, and some of them are small and hard. None of them have much flavor. And I have to hand pollinate in order to get fruit. But the tree up in the flowerbed fruits every year with half sized fruit, lots of them, no hand pollination required, and they are delicious. I'm tempted to try to graft some of its branches on to my row of loosers down in the garden. I love the look of Feijoa bushes/trees, but for the amount of space they take up and the hassle of hand pollinating, I think mine are gonna be moved off to the side and something better moved into their spot. I have no idea what that might be. Oh, and the hardy kiwis had their first (light) crop this fall. I do not regret planting them! so much better than store bought.

Pam, if you purchased the seeds commercially, they will often indicate if they bloom the first year because it's a selling point. Many perennials do not bloom the first year as they focus energy on building their root systems. As far as the influence of early sowing, yes, there are some that can be impacted. For example, the verbascum I sowed said that it may bloom the first year if sown as early as January in a mild climate. Not sure how that translates for WS seeds in my zone 6b/7a, so I'm really expecting that they won't bloom. Thanks so much for all of the feedback. I think I'm going to take a variety of approaches. I may pot some up where I don't have beds ready yet. In the front gardens, some I'll plant and appreciate the foliage this year, while filling in with annuals that I also WS'd and direct sowed. I already ordered a few delphiniums in addition to the ones I WS, so I'll take quilt mommy's approach there! I have extensive plans for new beds in my back yard, so I'll probably plant a lot of my wintersown perennials back there and won't have a ton of bloom this year. When they bloom next year, I'll have the advantage of seeing their bloom color before I consider moving some to the front garden. Of course I'll have to consider which resent transplant before I take that approach (like lupines). Thank you all, again! Lisa

Thanks Ed, That is kind of what I had read about the blooming. By next year I should know when they will bloom - at least in relation to my known cultivars! Last fall I was trying to record the foliage type of my baby seedlings some of which had even gotten big enough to send up scapes their first summer. As our fall progressed it was fairly easy I thought to tell the foliage type. Then someone told me the foliage type wasn't reliable in first year seedlings- that they could do something different the next year. I still have my data and will be looking at them again this fall to see if I was right. I tried this spring but it wasn't as easy as in the fall. It sounded kind of strange to me because a plant should know right off the bat if it is going to go dormant or not. I can understand a baby seedling being somewhat different to their mature state - like bloom size and height etc. but dormancy didn't sound like something that would develop. I guess I will see this fall. It is interesting. Debbie

Me three, I like them all. The second one has a really nice bi-tone effect plus a nice wide throat. They all have nice midribs but it really pops out on the 3rd one with its slightly darker eye zone. They all have nice form & polychrome color. There is nothing wrong with using older, simple, elegant formed cultivars. Not everyone likes all the flash & ruffle of the newest ones.