Growing a lot of flowers for a minimal cost can be accomplished by winter sowing petunia seeds. Bedding plants, let’s face it, can be rather pricey. Growing from seed gives us a fantastic assortment of seeds to grow, as well as the opportunity to save a little money. Petunia seeds can be sown in the winter in much the same way as any other plant.
I typically hold off on winter sowing until the middle of March since petunia blossoms are delicate to frost. While temperatures have begun to warm up sufficiently by March to encourage germination, my last frost date is still more than a month away. I’ll have to keep a tight eye on the seeds’ germination because of this.
I’ll need to shield the seedlings from any potential frost once they’ve germinated. A frost blanket or row cover can be used for this. I’ll be able to move the seedlings into their permanent location in the flower beds once there is no possibility of frost in the garden.
What annuals may I plant in the winter?
In our area, inter refers to early sunrises and late sunsets. At 5:30 in the evening, we find ourselves turning on the high beams to dodge deer! Weeks fly by in a whirl of gloomy days, and we long for the summer’s chlorophyll-rich scenery.
The holidays in November and December usually keep us occupied enough to ignore the desolate, brown fields and gloomy skies. However, despite the busyness of the season, the constantly dwindling daylight hours have an impact. Fortunately, we gardeners may still go outside and plant some flowers in the garden.
You mention flowers? Yes, you’re right. Actually, planting flowers in the winter is nothing new. A prolonged cold period is necessary for the germination of many flower kinds. Winter is the ideal season to plant these cultivars!
For a wide selection of cold-sown seeds, including vegetables, visit our winter sowing collection!
But we’ll focus on flowers in this piece. Continue reading to learn about the many various flower varieties you can plant right away.
Some flowers require a period of cold stratification before they can bud in the spring. And some of the blooms that prefer a time of cold, wet weather like to be sown directly (like Poppies, Milkweed, and Butterfly Weed). While it certainly simplifies matters for those that don’t require direct sowing (no need for growing mediums, fancy equipment, or space in the refrigerator).
You’ll primarily need a piece of weed-free, well-drained soil and some plant markers to serve as a reminder to keep an eye out for seedlings in the spring. If you want to allow for run-off and nibbling animals, oversow by around 20%. Water only once, then allow the effects of seasonal rains and cold weather last till spring.
Winter is the ideal time to plant a butterfly sanctuary because milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) both require cold stratification in order to germinate. Asclepias provides food and shelter for butterflies like the monarch and other species. Here is further information about planting Milkweed.
Poppies are quite lovely, but it will be difficult to obtain poppy seedlings at your neighborhood nursery in the spring. This is due to the fact that most poppies prefer to be sown directly into the garden rather than transplanted. The good news is that even in less fertile soils, poppies are quite simple to grow. Here is more information on cultivating poppies.
Johnny Jump-Ups, Chamomile, and Spider Flower are examples of self-seeding annuals that can easily withstand the cold. Calendula, Borage, and Marigolds will also fare well if the winter is not too hard.
A prolonged period of cold is necessary for the germination of many flowering perennials. Echinacea, Columbine, Yarrow, and Campfire Rudbeckia can all be seeded in the winter. For vertical interest, consider using Blazing Star or Anise Hyssop.
You can sow your seeds in plastic containers and leave them outside if you are unsure of exactly where you want your winter-sown plants to develop or if you simply like a bit more control over the germination process. You can plant cold-hardy and semi-cold-hardy seeds outside in light-permeable plastic containers that are partially covered; further information on this method is available here. This method makes it possible to add protection from extremely low temperatures, run-off, and animals while also keeping track of what you’ve seeded.
And finally, if you’re interested in developing vines, plant Heavenly Morning Glory or Moon Flower, which are Ipomoea family plants that employ the cold and moisture variations of winter to break down their hard seed coats. Another choice is balloon vine, sometimes known as heartseed, which is known to self-sow in gardens but isn’t regarded as an invasive species in our area. balloon vine is able to survive a moderate Northeastern winter with ease.
As you can see, the winter offers us a fantastic chance to plant a variety of great plant species! We gain a newfound respect for the four seasons and all of its beauty and poetry thanks to winter planting.
Celebrate the changing of the seasons by writing a poem for winter and making plans to plant flowers—perhaps even a whole meadow! (For meadows, try Shady Meadow Mix or Eastern Pollinator Mix.) Smile, plant a flower field for yourself, and welcome the winter.
Petunias can be grown in the winter.
All Petunia species are members of the nightshade family and are indigenous to South America, in areas with hot and humid climates. They range from beautiful, compact millifloras in pastel colours to spreading forms that cascade over a hill or grandifloras with three-inch flowers in bright purple.
All petunias still have this “warm weather preferred feature, even if there are now more options available in new hybrid types than ever before.
At the very least, they won’t accept more than a trace of frostat. They are also not cold-hardy.
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Only USDA Hardiness Zones 9 to 11 with warm winters can these delicate perennials thrive outside and return year after year with proper care.
Petunias must be grown outdoors as annuals by gardeners in other regions.
Even if your flowers are unable to survive once the cold weather arrives, you may get them ready to bloom soon after it does and take steps all summer to ensure that they will live as long as possible.
I’ll provide some advice for folks cultivating perennial petunias in more temperate climates here.
I’ll also offer my advice for people in colder climates who want to encourage petunias grown as annuals to bloom as late into the fall as feasible.
What winter-born flower seeds sprout?
Some flowers favor planting in the winter. (Yes, in the winter snow!) The process of stratification is required for the germination of many flower kinds. This year, learn how to winter-sow to get a gorgeous flower garden started (and do it for pennies).
What Is Winter Sowing?
For many perennials and hardy annuals, now is the perfect time to sow seeds outside. Those of us who live in cold regions don’t typically think of January and February as planting months. In order to germinate, many flowers prefer a period of cold, rainy weather.
Look at the natural world: Our favorite native annual, biennial, and perennial plants are loaded with seeds that will fall to the ground where they will germinate the next spring. Utilize this approach to either introduce new plants to your landscape or simply grow more of the ones you already have by following nature’s lead.
Fear not; waxes, hormones, and thick seed coverings prevent the seeds from sprouting at the incorrect time. These are broken down by the repeated freezing and thawing in cold, moist soil, making the seeds ready to sprout in the spring.
Which Flower Seeds Are Good for Winter Sowing?
You can plant any plant that is “hardy in your zone” in the winter. These flowers thrive in the cold and don’t mind snow or frost at all. Here are a few of my favorite flower seeds for January or February winter planting.
- Baptisia
- Columbine
- Foxglove
- Hollyhock
- Buddleja (butterfly bush)
- Forget-me-not
- Lavender
- Alyssum
- Lupine
- Couple Button
- Coreopsis
- Delphinium
- Larkspur
How to Winter Sow Flowers
- Just let the seeds fall and let nature take care of the rest. Discover 20 flowers that self-seed. You might also plant seeds where you want them to grow. Poppies, lupine, larkspur, bachelor buttons, and lunaria are among the plants that benefit from this the most as they don’t like to be transplanted. In the late winter, I’ve also had tremendous success tossing poppy seeds over the snow.
- Alternately, you can plant the seeds outside in a nursery bed after a killing frost so that you have more control over the environment and can easily keep an eye on them. You can move them to their new locations the following spring once they are established and growing nicely. When I have bought the seeds rather than harvested them, I prefer this to dispersing. Small seeds should only be pressed into the well-drained, weed-free soil surface without being covered. 20 percent oversow is about right.
- If garden space is limited, you can start the seedlings outside in containers. Use pots that won’t crack over the winter only. Do this once again after a killing frost but before the earth becomes completely frozen.
- If you’d rather start the seeds indoors, you can mislead them into sprouting by placing them in the refrigerator for a brief time of damp cold. Either plant the seeds in the pots and seal them in a plastic bag before storing them in the refrigerator or another cold location for at least two months at a temperature below 45 degrees. Place the seeds in plastic bags with some damp soil or vermiculite if you don’t want to keep pots of dirt in the refrigerator. Don’t stratify dry seeds in the refrigerator or freezer. The two main components are moisture and cold.
- The traditional way to plant in the winter is to simply scatter hardy annuals and perennials outside in repurposed milk or water jugs in January and February and let nature take its course. No requirement for seed-starting kits, grow lights, or anything else! There’s no need to worry about your seedlings wilting under the winter sun on the windowsill.
- Use one-gallon, transparent milk or water jugs.
- Just below the handle, make a cut across the width of a clear one-gallon jug to transform the bottom into a tray. Aim to stop short of cutting completely through so that the top of the jug remains attached and functions as a hinge.
- Punch a few air holes in the top and a few drainage holes in the bottom.
- To the bottom, add 2 to 3 inches of potting soil, moisten, plant seeds, and firm the soil.
- The jug’s lid should be covered and taped to the base. Put the jugs outside right away! Ensure that they are in the sun and protected from the breeze.
- Let the seasonal rain and cold weather work their magic till April.
- Search for seedlings in the early spring. Check the soil by gently opening the jug’s tops. Gently moisten if it’s dry. Zip up the tops. Open the tops as the weather warms up, but keep them closed at night.
Joe-Pye weed is a beautiful plant with fall blooms that butterflies adore. To germinate, its seeds require a period of cold.
Winter sowing is fantastic since it saves you time and money by not wasting it on attempting to grow leggy seedlings on windowsills. The majority of the labor is done by nature, so you’ll have sturdy, powerful starters.
A cheap approach to expand your garden is by starting a mini-nursery of perennials from seed, especially if you were able to acquire the seeds for nothing!
I have always had the best success with the poppy seeds I have strewn over the snow.
When is it too late to winter sow?
1 Moment. Up until a few weeks before the last frost, winter sowing can be done all the way until spring. It’s beneficial to divide your winter sowing into three major groups based on the earliest possible start for the seeds.
Which seeds can be sown throughout the winter?
I adore germinating seeds inside. Even when it’s below freezing outside, playing in the dirt is a terrific way to get the season started. However, indoor seedling growth can be a little challenging. Additionally, those seed trays take significant space, which not every homeowner is fortunate enough to have. Space restrictions forced one gardener to think outside the box and come up with a unique solution. The approach she took is the topic of today’s program; winter sowing is an easy method for starting seeds effectively outside.
Trudy Davidoff, a new seed starter, had trouble finding room. She didn’t have enough space in her little New York house to fit seed trays. Trudy conducted some research and discovered that many types of seeds require a chilling time to initiate germination. She made the decision to attempt to emulate what naturally occurs.
She planted seeds in outdoor planters in the late winter and watched to see if they would sprout in the spring. The seeds did germinate without any additional water, fertilizer, or special care, and as the temperature increased, so did Trudy’s seedlings.
A few decades later, Trudy’s techniques are gaining wider acceptance. Why not adore it? Winter sowing is actually rather simple, and some of the greatest tools are objects you already have at home that have been repurposed. You can essentially put the seeds in the growth medium and forget about them until you are ready to transplant them into your garden beds.
Winter Sowing Benefits
Growing plants can be a costly pastime. It’s not necessary, and growing your own plants from seed is an excellent method to cut costs. Well, planting seeds in the winter is about as inexpensive as it gets. The soil is the only item you really need to invest in, but even that won’t cost much.
Many seed exchange clubs exist where you can obtain seeds for nothing or for extremely low cost. Even if you buy seeds, the investment of a few bucks is well worth it. These days, you can buy seed packets almost anywhere, but this is another case of “you get what you pay for.” Quality affects the number of seeds that will germinate as well as how healthy your mature plants will be.
I advise looking for seeds that are organic. The plants you produce will be healthier because their parent plant wasn’t treated with or exposed to chemicals, whether you receive them from an exchange or spend an extra dollar to buy organic seeds.
Items you already have in your home, including as milk jugs, take-out food containers, and other sizable plastic containers with deep bottoms and transparent tops, provide excellent container choices for winter sowing. Duct tape and a marker are also possibly on hand.
You won’t require extra lighting, heat mats, or fans for winter sowing. This technique resembles a “tough love approach to seed starting,” but in reality it is merely imitating nature. You also save money on your power bill.
A lot of additional equipment may be needed when starting seeds indoors. I spend money on high-quality lighting, fans, germination heat mats, and other things for my seed-starting space.
Seedlings grown inside are also susceptible to the preventable but frequent issue of “damping off,” a fungal disease. It usually kills seedlings at the soil’s surface due to insufficient airflow. That’s no issue with winter sowing.
Additionally, winter seeding saves time. You won’t need to spend time hardening off seedlings before putting them in your garden beds because they will grow under natural light and temperature conditions. They will be tougher and stockier than if they were growing indoors with insufficient light because they will already be accustomed to the environment.
Although I enjoy beginning seeds indoors, the hardening off procedure can take some time.
Time-consuming is the hardening off process. Your indoor-grown seedlings must be gradually acclimated to full sun for 7–10 days. In my situation, that entails manually carrying 68 complete trays of seedlings in and out each day while they are being hardened off.
I’ll admit that I prefer beginning seedlings indoors despite the added work. I enjoy giving them the hands-on attention they need and watching as they grow into vibrant new plants after emerging from the ground. I never get weary of watching the daily wonder of growth because of something. However, if you’re the type of gardener who would rather plant something and then forget about it, winter sowing is perfect for you.
You may be concerned about your seeds freezing if you haven’t attempted it before. Don’t. In the natural world, seeds frequently freeze. Some types of seeds need a freeze (or extremely cold temperatures) in order to germinate at all, and freezing actually lengthens the life of seeds.
What you should be on the lookout for is planting seeds too early in the winter. In the event of a brief early warm spell, the seeds can sprout too quickly. The young seedlings won’t be mature enough to survive when the temperatures drop again. A good rule of thumb for those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere is to hold off starting our winter sowing until just around Christmas.
What to Sow
There are so many different kinds of seeds that make excellent candidates for planting in the winter. When you’re ready to use this strategy, you have a wide range of possibilities to pick from, including edible cool-season crops, blooming plants, and herbs.
Perennials will be our first choice. The hardiness zone that is suitable for the perennial plant you’re contemplating should be your first consideration when figuring out if a seed variety is a good choice for winter sowing. It’s likely a suitable choice for winter sowing if it’s naturally hardy in your zone.
Investigate the seed packet. Another reliable sign of a seed type that will respond well to winter sowing is whether there is any suggestion that the seeds need to be stratified or scarified.
Generally speaking, seeds need some form of stimulus to end their dormancy and initiate germination. The process of stratification involves waking up dormant organisms by subjecting them to extended cold exposure.
Take a look at what occurs in nature. Some seeds must endure the winter before sprouting once they fall to the ground. They wouldn’t survive the winter if they instantly germinated after coming into touch with the soil.
They don’t actually start to germinate until after a specific amount of time under cool or freezing temperatures. It is possible to simulate this process by putting the seeds in a freezer or refrigerator, but winter planting eliminates that step. As the days become longer and the soil gets warmer, the seeds are exposed to the frigid temperatures of the natural environment and emerge out of dormancy.
A wonderful illustration is milkweed. If you don’t provide milkweed seeds the right amount of chill, it’s difficult to get them to germinate. Sowing in the winter is a much simpler way to create the conditions milkweed requires.
A notable example of a perennial that self-sows its seeds in the fall is milkweed, often known as butterfly weed. For spring germination to occur, the cooling period is required. It is a fantastic option for winter sowing as well. These milkweed seeds are prepared to fly and will probably do so with the upcoming gust of wind. Their feathery tails can hold them in the air for long periods of time before they land back on the ground.
Another indication of a favorable alternative for winter sowing is the word “scarification.” Many seed kinds have a tough outer shell intended to safeguard the seed embryo. The digestive systems of birds and other animals as well as freezing temperatures are only two of the ways in which those hard shells are broken down in nature.
The method of manually weakening the tough seed coating is called scarification. There are numerous ways to accomplish this, but with winter sowing, it is not necessary. The seed coat may naturally deteriorate in the frigid temperatures.
Other words to search for in seed kinds you want to plant in the winter:
- self-sowing
- direct-sowing
- cold-hardy
- pre-chill
- when cool, sowed
You can be sure to use the winter sowing method once you see those on a seed packet or in the seed description.
The viability of its winter sowing can also be inferred from the variety name. See a pattern here? Alpine, polar, Siberian, oriental, and arctic Because of their natural climate or their capacity to tolerate frigid conditions, some cultivars received their names.
Siberian iris, Oriental poppy, and Arctic daisy seeds can be sown, and the containers can be left outside in the late winter to grow your own, low-cost seedlings for the yard.
There are many hardy annual alternatives as well, and their seed packets frequently have the same important wording.
Exactly what is a “hardy annual”? These are plants that can withstand a slight frost and go through their entire life cycle in a single year. They develop over the course of a year, produce, and then pass away; they won’t sprout again. Instead of needing to germinate indoors, they set seed for the new generation the following year and can sprout there.
The list of examples is endless and includes delphinium, bee balm, and snapdragon. There are a ton of options to consider.
In a large portion of the United States, the coneflower, black-eyed susan, and verbena are perennial flowers. They make great selections for winter sowing and are also good self-sowers.
The traditional cool-season vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage are some tasty possibilities for winter sowing. Leafy greens such as bok choy, kale, and lettuce are other hardy annual alternatives. Sage, oregano, dill, and mint are suitable herbs for winter sowing as well.
In any case, what is lost by giving it a shot? Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what happens if there is a variety that you wish to try winter sowing in your garden. The only thing you really lose if those seeds don’t sprout is a package of seeds, but you gain valuable experience anyway. The potential profit is so great compared to the tiny risk.
You may have noticed that I didn’t specify all the kinds that would be ideal for winter sowing. Tobacco, squash, eggplant, and peppers are all summer edible crops that require warmer temperatures. Your best option for those kinds of plants to start the season off early is to start the seeds indoors.
If you’ve never tried seed starting inside, I promise you’ll enjoy it. To be honest, it requires a little bit more time and space, but it’s one of the gardening activities I find most satisfying. possibly also for you.