The first hard frost has come and gone already here in Minnesota and I am still looking through my garden photos from summer and trying to get caught up. I wanted to share an update on my perennials that I started by using the winter sowing method. After starting out in the winter of 2010 with these mini-greenhouses…
The seeds eventually sprouted in the spring and I set them out to keep growing.
I eventually moved the seedlings into the garden. One of my favorite flowers are foxgloves (digitalis) and I had tried direct sowing the seeds into my perennial garden a few times with no success. Using the winter sowing method, the germination of the foxglove seed was excellent. Last summer, my new foxgloves were thriving and the plants looked like this.
Foxgloves are classified as a biennial and do not typically flower the first year, as was the case with mine. This summer however, they put on a spectacular show and graced my garden with their beautiful spikes of tubular flowers.
I’m not sure what to expect next summer. I did not get around to doing any winter sowing this past winter, so I know that I won’t have any foxgloves ready to bloom next year. Because they often re-seed themselves however, I am hoping that I will have a lot of them sprouting up in the spring and I will be able to enjoy them in 2013.
In the meantime, I have a renewed motivation to make time to do more winter sowing this year.
-Lynell
Thanks for sharing this. What wonderful results you had. And the photos are really nice. I especially like the one of the flowers with the house/porch in the background. Very pretty. 🙂
In the Spring and Summer our hillsides are covered with wild foxgloves. They are so pretty!
Looks like yours are off to a great start!