Can anyone recommend what perennials can be sown now

Hi everyone,

i have just got a greenhouse this week and it is my first one. it is 12ftx7ft.
i was wondering what perennial seeds i can sow this now.
as some of you know i am an amateur gardener and just really getting started with my garden.
i know i have not been around much but super busy.

 

I have just sown some seeds today

montana clematis
hollyhocks
day lilies
toad lilys
hellebore niger
rudbeckia green wizard

so any advice on which perennials would be greatly appreciated.

 

PurpleLady, I am not really sure that it is a good time. Seeds may germinate now, but as light and temperature levels drop they will soon go into a dormant phase. Very small plants may not survive this winter hibernation as they will not have had the opportunity to build up any reserves.

By all means try - there really is nothing to lose, as long as you hold back part of the packet of seed to sow in spring. An alternative suggestion is to get a catalog from Mr Fothergill and/or Thompson and Morgan. In it they identify perennials that will flower in the first year - and there are a lot of them. I did this when I started, sowing them in the spring, and was very happy with the results.

 

thanks peter for your advice, i have more of most of them but the hellebores are meant to be sown this time of year so i should be safe with them.
the greenhouse is a bit like a polytunnel except for its the traditional shape of gh. so apparently they retain a wee bit more heat than glass does.
i have fleece if temp goes below 4 degrees and also looking into buying a heater.

 

Actually it is not quite the right time to sow Hellebore. The best time is to sow in late summer, just after the seed is ripe and then it germinates in the winter, usually after Christmas. If you got your seed from one of the big seed firms then it could take over a year to germinate as it would have been old seed. Hellebore seed is something that I tend to get from a specialist supplier.
You can sow some perennials in January but they would need heat - Lupin 'Gallery Strain', Delphinium '[Magic Fountains', Verbena bonariensis and they will flower the first year.
With most perennials I would sow in spring and then you don't need any heat and plan on flowering the following year. Easy ones are lupins, Gaillardia, Heleniums, many Campanulas, Aquilegias, Sisyrinchium striatum, Incarvillea.

 

Thanks geoff, all i can do is wait and see how they do between now and spring. From what i have been told that hellobores need the cold to germinate, from what i have read and been advised by friends of mines who are more experienced gardenersthan i am. But i appreciate your input.

 

They germinate when the temperature gets to about 40 degrees F. They don't need freezing. What they do need is a period of warmth after sowing, then cold and they germinate in the cold. Quite a few plants that originate from the same regions such as some bulbs do the same. I don't put mine in the greenhouse. I have two pots of Hellebores and mine are in a shadey spot outdoors. The only protection they need is perhaps covering if you think mice might dig up the seeds.

 

Thanks for the info geoff, i have got fleece just incase its need and just purchased a parasene heater. If need be i will bring them indoors like i did last year with my first lots of seeds i sowed.