I love the Snapdragons , slow to grow here also ,, I get blooms in Partial shade ,
I have three or four From Wintersowing , their outside with roots hanging from the seed coats at this time ,,

Here's a few photos. The first one is of my 3 or 4yr old (can't remember) snapdragon which I took last Friday. The 2nd is of a Snapdragon I started on 21 Dec (in the white cup) from seeds of the first one. The third photo in the bottom jug are also snapdragon seedlings from the original one.

my snaps are a few inches high and hardening off on the deck. mild weather, rainy, today. cold night coming thursday so ill bring them in, but soon can plant them out

And they're off! Snapdragons racing the approach of hot weather, which they hate. I guess it would be better to start snaps in fall but let's see what happens. When it starts to get too hot I plan to dig up the snaps from their sunny locations, put in large pots and keep them in shady spot. See if I can nurse then through July and August and plant them out again in fall. That's the plan anyway.

There are one or two snapdragons returning here from last year.
Out in the sunniest part of the yard.

Judy, that was my plan last year, except I planted mine in the ground. They survived the summer months, started to perk up later in the season and then drowned in our historical flood. Bummer.

Oh yes the flood! We did get rain but our part of state is higher elevation. Let's see how my snapdragon plan goes this year.

We weren't flooded out. It's just that we got so much rain that the ground remained too wet too long, rotting plant roots in the process. The plants were already stressed out by the heat, inspite of being in mostly shade. I'll be trying the same experiment again this year too. Hoping all goes well. Keep us posted on your progress.

Just thought I'd post this photo. These were grown from seed of a 3 or 4yr old plant I'd been able to keep alive either in the house or in one of my greenhouses over the winters. The plant had all pink/red flowers on it, no yellow at all. I started these seeds in December of last year.

Very pretty.

Karen

I had one like that too, change colors. I always try to keep one going in the greenhouse over winter

This ones parent just kept going and going and kept giving me seed constantly.

@chris1948 Thank you for sharing that! This is my goal, to generate my own snaps. Just like I keep favorite coleus going all year. So the seedlings I started in January have been in the ground for a couple months and are looking like they may bloom before it gets too hot. We are having a mild, cool spring. What usually kills my snaps is the heat, so in Texas you must have same problem, where do you put snapdragon plants when it gets hot? I'm thinking maybe I could pot them with water crystals and keep them in a corner of the front porch where it's shaded and I'll remember to water daily. Then in fall plant them in yard to give late fall interest. Its not that I begrudge the stores their profits on selling plants, but I like to be self sustaining and have hundreds of plants...plus I still buy more every year!

Hi Judy, we most definitely have the same heat problem here in Central Texas. For now mine are going to go from the backyard 'growing area' to the front patio for awhile before the sun gets too intense for them. When it starts to get too hot I'll probably move them either under this large tree I have in my front yard or back to the backyard in the shade of some trees I have back there. Did I mention that mine are always potted? Once the seed heads develop I collect, mark and bag them. It's going to be interesting this year since I now have the red and yellow snapdragons.

Have always loved snapdragons, but never planted any from seed. Think I will collect seed from these and give it a try. Am enjoying them now because I know once the REAL HEAT sets in they will be history. Planted these last October and have really enjoyed them.

Love those colors Mary. What I do when I collect the seeds is wait until the seed heads are dried on the plant. With a pair of scissors cut the stem a bit below the head and then hold the head over a plastic baggie and squeeze the head back and forth between my fingers which will force the seeds out into the baggie. I then make sure to mark the plant, year and in this case color on the baggie. The ones I have in my photo were started in Dec of last year.

@chris1948 since I've never collected these seeds before, I can use all of the help I can get! Your method makes sense. Will they come true to color of parent plant? Just wondering because of their close proximity of colors to one another in the garden.

Your plants certainly are fantastic and you know what you are doing!

Here's how the mother plant used to look Mary. If you'll notice the little bits of yellow on the pink and red. This was from last year. I was outside awhile ago and I noticed that there are still some bits of yellow on the pink and red but also the solid yellow.

In my experience they don't always come true from seeds.

Karen

That would make sense Karen, since in my case there are some yellow on the parent plant and it must have produced some seeds where yellow was dominant.