Good to hear, Mike. I wintersowed a jug of white swan, and I have about 7 or 8 little seedlings up. I do like coneflowers. I occasionally get a few volunteers, but not to the point of being a problem.
Terese, don't let me scare you off of these beautiful flowers. I don't know what it is about my soil, but I swear, any seeds that gets close to it, sprouts. Since I started wintersowing, I've had the same problem with melampodium, verbena bonariensis, and as much as I love Laura Bush petunias, it's on my "watch list" for this year. Most people grow these things with no problem. They're just a problem for me.
I love mellies, too, and I usually keep a few volunteers each year- just not as many as I used to, and I yank them early in fall before they have time to drop too many seeds.
It took me several years to get the tall, stately larkspur. It took me several years, but, boy, did I ever get it right! A garden friend on another forum told me to direct sow in fall. All of last year's larkspur were volunteers.
Last year was the first time I ever grew rose campion. When I saw how many seeds it produced, I could tell it would be a problem and I yanked it long before summer's end. Now I'm glad I did, because I have lots of volunteers anyway.
Karen
