starting perennials early?

Hi,

I was just wondering if I can start any of the following now (in the house) ready to go into the garden next spring ..

Aubrieta (HP)
Lavender (??)
Geraniums (HHP)
Gazania (HHP)
Rudbeckia (HHP)
Busy Lizzie (HHP)

My heating is kept on at 21 degrees permanently so I think this 'should' be ok (any thoughts?)

I am just keen to do something over the winter (I have all these packets of seeds and straining at the bit).

 

I'm no expert on your choices but my thoughts are..............

Lavender; I think that the seeds need a period of cold (I stand to be corrected on this). If you can provide that they should be ok, as if they get leggy pinching out will encourage bushiness.

Gazania and Busy Lizzie; I think that the low winter light will result in leggy plants that may not respond well to pinching out at this time of year. As I say, no expert.

I will be starting off perennial Lobelia this weekend as I have done for many years - they seem to work well. But the bulk of my perennial sowing is done in the new year.

 

Hi Longk,
Thanks for that ... I am eager to get going but appreciate that I may have to wait for next year.
I have been searching the threads for info and one member says no sowing till april/may so may have to sit on my hands and find sommat else to do ! I've bought a few books but that just makes me all the more eager to get going.

 

Each to their own as far as when to start, and experimenting is the best way to find out.

At the moment I have Iris chrysographs, Tricyrtis latifolia and Aconitum in the fridge. I have Anigozanthos viridis and Canarina canariensis germinating.

 

Hi again,
Oooo so theres hope yet. I think I might have a try and see what happens. I can always buy more seeds in the spring if these fail.

 

If you have the itch look at Strelitzia reginae Dwarf (it's about ¾ of the way down the page).
Perfectly ok to start these off now. My boggo standard S.reginae took the normal seven years to bloom (boy was it good though!), but these may take less time

If you get any spare plants I could swap you something equally nice and uber rare!!!

 

Hi Longk,
It looks wonderful but I think I'll start my seed sowing career with something just a little bit easier. This is my first year and have so far only grown canterbury bells from seed with 50% germination success.
I'm sure I'll end up with plenty of spare plants as I do tend to go a little overboard with anything I am doing.

 

50% is not too bad!

 

Personally I wouldn't - too warm in the house and even your brightest windowsill won't have enough light.

Things that are hardy you could start and then stand outside (somewhere sheltered, bring in when weather particularly bad/cold - but just into frost-free garage etc., but heated house)

Buy a decent growing lamp. Have a read of the Cannabis forums for ideas on equipment / cost etc. I have a Metal Halide lamp, which covers about 2 - 3 sq.m., and allows me to do some "real" gardening over winter. But beware the Bugs like it more than the real thing in summer, so you have to wage war with them :(

Or raise & grow some houseplants. There might be something that you fancy "collecting"? African Violets, Streptocarpus ... Orchids (never been any good at them, personally, I give them to Mother-in-Law when they finish flowering, she gives them back to be several months later when they start flowering again!!)

 

Hi Kristen,
Now there's an idea - I'll have a look around and see what takes my fancy

 

I would agree with Kristen. The problem is not heat, in your case, but light.

Like Kristen I have some grow lights in a box and you can do almost anything you want as you are controlling the seasons. The first November, after I made the box, I sowed some Salvia coccinea seeds - they were flowering in early January. But the light levels have to be very high if you want to kid plants that it is summer.

 

Thanks for that Peter.
I have decided to wait until the proper time and in the mean time play with a new gardening program I have just purchased.

 

Auntypol. Why not try a few seeds now. I never sow a whole packet at once - you could sow a few seeds now and then the bulk later around 1st March.

If nothing else you will see for yourself what the difference is. The worst that could happen is that the seeds you sow now grow to be very leggy and fall over. Its all fun and what you learn from your own experience will have a great deal more impact than just listening to what others say.

 

The way that I see it is that some things are fine started off early if they have certain characteristics.

I've just started off Lobelia Queen Victoria - it has a basal growth habit (ie; new shoots develop from the root stock) so although it could get leggy what I do is to cut the top off at about 20cm. In years past I've found this to be the point at which the root stock is strong enough to start new shoots off, and it's a strong root stock that I'm after with these. Spring sowings (such as I did this year) do flower in the first season, but tend to have just the one flowering stem. Autumn sowing have always produced more flowering shoots.

Plants with a bushy growth habit would be borderline now though for the reasons that others have stated previously.