beckygardener said:Mike - I didn't realize that early August is the deadline (so to speak) to get seeds germinating for blooms the following year in my zone. I will certainly keep that in mind this year! Thank you for that information!
The rule of thumb in this area is to have the seeds planted no later than Aug 1st and then if transplanting those seedlings into the ground then that is no later than Sept 15th. Spunky1 (Fred) has been doing that for many many years and I believe gets 80 or 90% blooms first year. Of course we fertilize them regularly to help them along so if you are just planting and leaving them to nature they may take a bit longer.
I have planted some seeds for my granddaughter late Sept or early Oct and actually had a few of them bloom first year and it surprised me since they were planted so late but usually they need to be done by the Aug 1st (or close to it) date.
