Growing from seeds????

Hello all,

I've got the following seeds from someone, any idea how to grow them? By that I mean is it ok to sow them in the fall or wait for the spring, and can they be put in the ground now or do they have to go in pots?

I am not even sure if they are all perennials

Scarlet runner beans
Purple Pole Beans
Perennial Blue Flax
Pink Lupins
Pink Catchfly
Portulaca - Orange and some yellow (mix)
Love Lies Bleeding
Mystic Merlin Mallow
Al's Neon Lights 4 o'clocks
Love-in-a-Mist aka Nigella Blue
Balsam Mix
Milkweed
Forget-me-nots
Purple Cone Flowers
Columbine Mix


cheers

 

I think you have to wait for spring for most if not all of those.

 

You definitely need to wait til May to poke the beans into the ground; they like a warm planting bed.

With the flowers, you could experiment and sow a portion of each seed type now (nigella, columbine, coneflowers, milkweed, and forgetmenots are pretty hardy) and the other portion in the spring. Nature sows all seeds when they're ripe. I don't know where portulaca comes from (someplace hot?); it may dislike a fall planting.

 

Suggest you check out the Canadian Winter Sowing Forum on GardenWeb Forums . There is a real wealth of information there and they also suggest other sites.
Good luck!

Clayton

 

I agree with Eric. If any of them sprout this fall because it is still warm then they are likely to be killed when frost hits. Others won't sprout until spring anyhow. I would wait till spring and plant a portion in very early spring and then a portion a few weeks later. That way you might get a drop on spring. You could also start them inside a few weeks before last frost and then transplant them.

If you want to "scratch the itch" plant some oranges in pots on the windowsill.

And other than the beans I think they are all perennials. and you can put them all in the ground, but be sure to put tags so that you know which are your plants and which are weeds.

 

Hi

Here in Zone 5 in Ontario...
I am sure the beans are annuals as well and also
Love Lies Bleeding which is an Amaranthus
and Al's Neon Lights 4 o'clocks.

The Amaranthus LL Bleeding will self seed and so with the 4 Oclocks so I agree that you could plant some now as though they seeded themselves and some in early spring.

Have a great week
Wendy