Funny you would say that, Neal. I've never grown dianthus from seed before (the variety I'm sowing is dianthus turkestanicus alba). I always think of dianthus as fairly hardy--it's one of my first plants to green up in the spring, and one of the last to die off in the fall. I think I have a lot to learn yet......

Dianthus are generally among my first to germinate each year, they are tough little buggers! I'm glad I'm keeping better records this year- I like to send seeds to wintersowing beginners that tend to germinate early. That way they see they've done it right, and how easy it really is, and don't get discouraged with slow pokes

Neal, do you have any others that you consider especially easy for beginners? Any that you find especially challenging? I've started a lot of things that are new to me this year, so don't have any idea of what to expect. The dianthus was probably one of the most familiar. We have 70 degrees predicted for tomorrow. How much warmer is it where you're located?

From looking at the map, looks like Carmel is zone 5- is that right? I'm in zone 6, so a little warmer, probably a couple of weeks ahead of your area where spring thaw is concerned. I guess Dianthus would say we're about a week ahead, LOL.

Lets see, easy ones would be Hollyhocks, Malva, Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnifera), English Wallflower, Bachelor Buttons, Nigella, Chinese Forget me not (Cynoglossum amabile), Calendula, Alyssum, and Rudbeckia. Those are all extra hardy, and you don't have to worry about covering them once they've germinated and you get cold spells.

Digitalis are reliable wintersown, but are very tiny when they emerge, and you need to watch them closely for moisture. I've found Penstemons to wintersow easily too. Columbine wintersow easily, but have a habit of germinating sporadically- the fresher the seed, the quicker they'll sprout. Older seed can take considerably longer, I've had some germinate up into June. I've found wintersowing beats the heck out of other methods for Columbine. Hardy Geraniums wintersow exceptionally well; I've read about folks refrigerating pots of sown seeds for a few weeks, taking them out into warmth for a couple of weeks, sometimes even returning them to the fridg (I've done it before too!). But when I realized all that effort was to simulate what's going on outside, I was like "duh..", LOL. I've wintersown about 6 different hardy Geraniums with ease.

Can't say that I've found anything to be particularly challenging, seems most of the problems I've had have been my error in letting something dry out or pests, like slugs. But there again, that was my mistake by moving the jugs from the deck to right on the ground where slugs slither.

What all have you wintersown, and when did you sow them?

I have a very mixed selection here:
Cephalaria giagantea Giant scabiosa
Geranium phaeum Sambocor
Papaver orientale Checkers
Myrrhis Odorata Sweet Cicely
Angelica Hispanica
Dianthus turkestanicus
Fragaria vesca
Delphinium White & Black
Sweet Ciciley
Tall Joe Pye weed
Indian Paint Brush
Chinese Houses Collinsia heterophylla
Columbine Barlow
Toad Lily
Larkspur Kaleidoscope Mix

Except for the columbine and dianthus, all of these are new to me. I tried to choose seeds that indicated that had a long stratification period. I haven't started my annuals yet--probably beginning of April before I do that.

Some of the annuals I'm planning on WS are:
Eryngium planum Sea Holly
Foxglove Foxy
Delphinium Fantasia mix
Sea Holly Miss Willmott's Ghost
Clarkia Elegans Mountain Garland
Cleome Violet Queen
Linaria Northern Lights
Linaria Enchantment
Scabiosa Isaac House Mix
Snapdragon Black prince
Snapdragon Lipstick silver

Glad to see a few things I've WS might have a good chance--thanks so much for the information, Neal. Can I take a road trip to visit your garden (and maybe stop by Karen's on the way) ?

I live on a 1/3 acre suburban lot--by the time you take away the footprint of our home, my space is limited. I love flowers, and use a lot of containers to get color here, there, and everywhere (same thing for veggies). I do have quite a few perennials, but also need the annuals to keep the color going (as well as enough for me to cut for bouquets).

I think I need to move to a warmer zone (and larger lot).

Nice bunch of seeds you're starting! There are a few things on your list I haven't tried, but all of them look good for wintersowing. I have WSn Scabiosa, and they were easy. I've also WSn a couple of different Eryngiums, very easy, and perennials for me. I've found Delphiniums are easy to start with wintersowing, but watch them closely for bugs after they germinate- they evidently are quite tasty, LOL.

And your list reminded me- Oriental Poppies have been challenging for me, have never gotten one to germinate! I'll keep trying though.

Larkspur wintersow well, but be sure to transplant them when they're small. They do better when direct sown, but will transplant well if small. They're likely to be shorter when they've been transplanted, but are likely to reseed themselves. I find lots of seedlings in fall, that just hang on like troupers all winter long, then grow like mad when spring comes. I got mine started by wintersowing, but haven't needed to start any more since.

Ugh! Larkspur!

Every year it's a new thug trying to overtake my garden. A few years ago it was melampodium volunteers. Then for several years it was verbena bonariensis. Now it's the larkspur that I so wanted. They were beautiful last summer, now the volunteers blanket 3 garden beds. And I do mean blanket. This was in January.

Karen

Karen, I figure there would be something to pull out regardless, so it may as well be flowers, LOL!

Neal, believe it or not, I cleared that many in fall. When doing that I obviously brought new seeds to the surface which then sprouted. They stayed green all winter, and now they have big roots. Not easy to pull or to hoe and the warmer weather has caused them to get bigger and stronger. I brought some cardboard boxes home from work. Hopefully I'll get some cardboard down this weekend to smother them in at least some areas.

But, there's a problem with that too. I moved a lot of perennials last fall, and they were marked, but many of the markers disappeared over winter. They were either blown out of the soil, trampled by deer, or whatever. I've been hoping a few perennials would show themselves so I don't smother them, but I can't wait any longer.

I got so mad at the reseeding that I bought a jug of Preen. I have been trying to do all organics for about 5 or 6 years but now my soil seems too fertile. Any seed that gets near it sprouts! (I tried applying corn gluten last spring and fall with, obviously, no effect).

Karen

Sounds like an experience with Hollyhocks I've been dealing with in one area. They seeded themselves thickly, and once that taproot has established they're a real bugger to dig out too. Some had grown right up next to other plants, where I had to dig the desirable plant up along with the Hollyhock and carefully pry them apart.

Well, along with the first day of spring, a bunch of my Daffodils decided to open at once! I looked out the window this morning to see yellow patches all over :-). The last couple of days have been warm and sunny, and I've had to work from daylight to dark, so I'm anxious to get out and check the jugs- I'm sure several more have sprouted. While doing a quick glance before heading out yesterday I noticed more Digitalis, Snapdragons, and a couple of others I can't recall at the moment had germinated.

Neal, I'm going to have to dig up some perennials, too, to try to remove the larkspur volunteers. They're between and among a couple of coreopsis moonbeam, and so many in a liriope that I might just give up on the lirope. They're within the area where my butterfly weed will emerge, too, but I know I can't move the butterfly weed. I'll just have to do my best. Hopefully, after the rain we're to get tonight and tomorrow, those larkspur might be easier to remove.

I put down a lot of cardboard yesterday in attempt to smother larkspur, but unfortunately ran out of cardboard before I ran out of larkspur...

Karen

such good info in this thread!!!.. can't wait to see your results Neal

Oh what fun it was looking into all the jugs! Spring has sprung, and the seeds know it- a whopping 41 containers are germinating now!

Linda, I meant to say earlier, come on down! If ya make a road trip, I'd love to tour you around the garden!

I've experimented with a few different potting soils the last couple of years, and found some plants like one brand, while others prefer another. Last year I tried some cheap stuff that had a lot of fine bark in it. It was a freely draining mix that I thought may be good for some plants that didn't seem to like the moisture holding capacity of mixes heavy in peat. I found Penstemons did particularly well in it, but other seedlings grew slowly and needed fertilizer while quite small, and didn't perform well in general. This year I've just gone with Miracle Grow, and have noticed that those that didn't perform well in the free draining mix last year are doing exceptionally well this year. I believe that slow release fertilizer in it is a help to wintersown seedlings, and it is nice not to have to worry so much about them drying out. Several Penstemons have germinated in the last couple of days, so I'm going to watch them closely to make sure they're not too moist.

Hmmmm....thinking in the future I may try the free draining stuff again and add Osmocote to it. Or perhaps I may try adding some fine bark to MG mix to allow better drainage.

As things germinate, I'm editing the list above to show the date germinated. I'm keeping better records this year, hoping to compile data for myself and others to give a guideline as far as what to expect from particular plants.

I don't know how on earth you get all that stuff planted later on... I would have to take off from work.. are you doing all of this by yourself?

Allison, you have hit on the "dirty little secret" of WS (you understand, "dirty" is a GOOD thing!) The WS jugs are so prolific that one should take at least a week off work to get things planted! ;-)

Allison, that's a good question, LOL. I've done this many the last few years, but I was unemployed then too. Now I'm doing florals for events, and the wedding season looks to be pretty busy, but the good thing is most of the work hits on weekends. 13 more containers have germinated today!

LOL at having to take off of work to get everything planted. I've had to do that the past few years even before I started WS--what have I gotten myself into ?

I'm now up to 5 containers that have germinated (although a few only have 2-3 sprouts). Our weather has been so back-and-forth. Over the weekend, we went back to cool rainy weather. Not quite optimal for sprouting seeds!

Neal, I am in awe of your dedication to detail. I tried keeping a garden journal for the firt time this year. I started off well, but have not kept up as well as I should.

Re: thugs that take over the garden, I foolishly bought and planted some oenthera siskyou in another garden and it took over while my back was turned. What a thug that plant is. Lovely in bloom, but put it where you don't mind it spreading quickly, like a problem bank or ditch area. I'm still pulling it out by the handsful!

Linda, I've been terrible about record keeping every year till this year. I have had to make myself keep up with it- I'm really determined this time around, LOL.

Angie, that Evening primrose sure is aggressive, but I do love it anyway. I figure I'd be pulling weeds out of the same spot if that wasn't there, well, that's my rationalization anyway, LOL.

Gooseneck loosestrife...'nuff said!