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Jan 30, 2012 9:46 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: woofie
NE WA (Zone 5a)
Charter ATP Member Garden Procrastinator Greenhouse Dragonflies Plays in the sandbox I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
The WITWIT Badge I helped plan and beta test the plant database. Dog Lover Enjoys or suffers cold winters Container Gardener Seed Starter
Really! I actually got some of the Electric Blue penstemon to grow and actually bloom before I found out how difficult they were to grow! Hilarious!
Confidence is that feeling you have right before you do something really stupid.
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Jan 30, 2012 9:56 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
Do they ever bloom?

12 full months for WS plus discovering there WERE tiny seedlings there, then growing in cells to reach 1/4 - 1/2" tall.

several more months inside under lights, potted up to 3" pots.

Now they are 1-3" tall. I don't have the list of 4-5 "successes" out of 10 varieties WS, but at least these (from memory):

Penstemon smallii - - - - "Violet Dusk"
P digitalis - - - "Mystica"
and one or both of these:
Penstemon cobaea - - "Showy Beardstongue"
Penstemon calycosus - - "Calico Beardtongue"

I also tried to start:

Penstemon strictus - - "Rocky Mt. Blue"
Penstemon eatonii - - - "Firecracker"
Penstemon x mexicali - - - "Red Rocks"
Penstemon digitalis - - - "Husker's Red"
Penstemon hartwegii
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Jan 30, 2012 10:04 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: woofie
NE WA (Zone 5a)
Charter ATP Member Garden Procrastinator Greenhouse Dragonflies Plays in the sandbox I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
The WITWIT Badge I helped plan and beta test the plant database. Dog Lover Enjoys or suffers cold winters Container Gardener Seed Starter
Oh, gee, I don't know. My DH just brought home a package of some sort of generic penstemon seeds because the guy at the hardware store said "these are great" and then I bought the Electric Blues not knowing anything about them except that they were blue, which I thought would go nicely with the pink ones I already had growing. (Some things I'm fanatical about....the penstemons just sort of ended up here by accident.. Shrug! )
The pink ones bloomed the first year, the blue ones not till the second year. Heh, heh, we'll see if they survive to bloom another year. Whistling
Confidence is that feeling you have right before you do something really stupid.
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Jan 30, 2012 11:37 PM CST
Name: Karen
Valencia, Pa (Zone 6a)
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Cut Flowers Winter Sowing Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Echinacea
Plant and/or Seed Trader Region: Ohio Region: United States of America Butterflies Hummingbirder Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Gee, I wintersowed penstemon once, never gave it a thought until it bloomed second year. Hilarious!


I swear you guys stay up nights trying to think of things to worry about. I'd rather fly by the seat of my pants and let nature take it's course. Don't worry, be happy Shrug!

Karen
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Jan 31, 2012 4:09 AM CST
Name: Jonna
Belgium, Europe (Zone 6a)
Winter Sowing Sedums Organic Gardener Native Plants and Wildflowers Region: Belgium Region: Europe
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Seed Starter Plant and/or Seed Trader Salvias Herbs Cut Flowers
2 weeks in the fridge is too short, 5-6 weeks is better and they do need moist, Just putting the seeds in the fridge is not enough. You'll have to sow them in a closed container without any holes or put them in a ziplock baggie with some moist vermiculite.
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Jan 31, 2012 10:22 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: woofie
NE WA (Zone 5a)
Charter ATP Member Garden Procrastinator Greenhouse Dragonflies Plays in the sandbox I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
The WITWIT Badge I helped plan and beta test the plant database. Dog Lover Enjoys or suffers cold winters Container Gardener Seed Starter
As cold as it is here now, and it's going to stay that way for several months, wintersowing might just work....and DH won't be confused by dirt in the fridge! Hilarious!

Karen, if you had the industrial strength weeds we have here, you wouldn't blithely suggest tossing seeds out in the garden! Green Grin!
Confidence is that feeling you have right before you do something really stupid.
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Jan 31, 2012 10:45 AM CST
Name: Karen
Valencia, Pa (Zone 6a)
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Cut Flowers Winter Sowing Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Echinacea
Plant and/or Seed Trader Region: Ohio Region: United States of America Butterflies Hummingbirder Celebrating Gardening: 2015
No, not tossing them out in the garden. Tossing them in milk jugs and tossing the jugs out in the cold.

I know weeds very well, thank you very much. A weed is something that pops up profusely where it's not wanted. How would you like to weed this every spring? Any seed that gets near soil in my yard sprouts. It must be those 25 years of compost!
Thumb of 2012-01-31/kqcrna/363f4c Thumb of 2012-01-31/kqcrna/b6361f

Thumb of 2012-01-31/kqcrna/691f45 Thumb of 2012-01-31/kqcrna/ea477b

Karen
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Jan 31, 2012 11:22 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: woofie
NE WA (Zone 5a)
Charter ATP Member Garden Procrastinator Greenhouse Dragonflies Plays in the sandbox I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database!
The WITWIT Badge I helped plan and beta test the plant database. Dog Lover Enjoys or suffers cold winters Container Gardener Seed Starter
"Scoff!" Let me put it this way: In the middle of my garden sits a very large dog kennel, wherein said doggie digs massive holes. It is not safe to walk around in there, much less operate any device suitable for taming weeds. They do get tall enough to provide her some shade, tho. Smiling Surrounding my garden are fields full of weeds, thistles, and oh yes, some grass and alfalfa. Surrounding our property are more fields with similar content. And we get lots of nice winds that helpfully distribute the seeds that all those lovely plants create in profusion. Hilarious! It is a challenge! Even my pots get full of weeds and grass.

But I may try the milk jug trick again. What the heck, I do have some potting soil around here. But somehow that just doesn't sound anywhere near as much fun as watching little seedlings grow in my GH. (I've been accused of being just a trifle OCD Whistling )
Confidence is that feeling you have right before you do something really stupid.
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Jan 31, 2012 11:53 AM CST
Name: Karen
Valencia, Pa (Zone 6a)
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Cut Flowers Winter Sowing Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Echinacea
Plant and/or Seed Trader Region: Ohio Region: United States of America Butterflies Hummingbirder Celebrating Gardening: 2015
New wintersowers get their dose of OCD. Running out in freezing weather in jammies and slippers, using a flashlight to peek into milk jugs looking for babies... been there, done that. But I'm far more relaxed about it now. I'm confident that most things will sprout and grow most years.And if a few don't I don't miss them much.

Karen
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Jan 31, 2012 11:57 AM CST
Moderator
Name: Allison
NJ (Zone 6a)
Charter ATP Member Forum moderator I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Dog Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Region: New Jersey Seed Starter Garden Ideas: Level 1
kqcrna said:New wintersowers get their dose of OCD. Running out in freezing weather in jammies and slippers, using a flashlight to peek into milk jugs looking for babies.

I resemble that remark Rolling on the floor laughing
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Jan 31, 2012 12:01 PM CST
Name: Karen
Valencia, Pa (Zone 6a)
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Cut Flowers Winter Sowing Charter ATP Member Seed Starter Echinacea
Plant and/or Seed Trader Region: Ohio Region: United States of America Butterflies Hummingbirder Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Hilarious! It's a been there, done that kind of thing, isn't it, Allison? I swear my first year I checked those jugs every day. I just couldn't believe it would work. I was wrong.

Karen
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Jan 31, 2012 12:06 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Allison
NJ (Zone 6a)
Charter ATP Member Forum moderator I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Dog Lover Hummingbirder Container Gardener
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Region: New Jersey Seed Starter Garden Ideas: Level 1
ok well not everyday.. but every couple.. and I thought the same thing.. no way could it be that easy

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