Starting your own flowers from seed indoors is pretty simple, but every year it’s a different adventure. Germination rates fluctuate, and some years there will be plant varieties that are perky and fast-growing and other years they may take for-ev-er to show even the slightest bit of progress.
This year I’ve had some of the best germination rates I can ever remember. Last year my rudbeckias germinated poorly and grew very slowly, but our outside February and March temperatures were also way below normal, and as a result our basement was very chilly. Winter and early spring have been fairly mild this year and I’m wondering if that’s why this year’s batch of rudbeckias is growing like gangbusters. These plants were started on February 22. I hope they don’t get too out of control because it will be another 6 weeks before they can be planted outside:
The divas of the bunch so far this year are the New Guinea impatiens. I’ve never started them from seed before and I couldn’t find any definitive advice on how many weeks they need to grow before being planted outside. It wasn’t on the packet either, so I just took a guess and went with 13 weeks. From their progress thus far it appears they probably should’ve been started a week or two earlier:
One of my favorite seedlings to grow is ‘Kong Rose Coleus’ because they start flashing their colors even when they are very tiny. These were started on March 7:
Another plant that’s new for me this year is calibrichoas. The Kabloom series is the world’s first calibrichoa from seed. I’m trying Calibrichoa ‘Kabloom Deep Blue’. The plants were started the same day as the rudbeckias (Feb. 22). They had excellent germination and are growing well:
My ‘Santa Cruz Sunset’ Begonias have also been growing for about 6 weeks now. They were very slow to germinate, but they started to really take off after their first dose of fertilizer.
I like their little reddish backsides:
My salvias all look great. I made the same silly mistake I made last year and mixed up my ‘Lighthouse Red’ and ‘Lady in Red’ salvias. I caught my error the next day and relabeled all the plant packs. Whew! These were all started on March 14. They’ve already been trimmed back:
My celosias are only two weeks old. I like how you can tell what color the future plume will be by looking at the stems. These are Celosia ‘Pampas Plume’ seedlings:
And last but not least, my petunias are a little slow this year, but their germination rate was almost 100%. I’m growing several cultivars. These are ‘Easy Wave Silver’ petunias. I started them on March 14:
Next week I will be sowing more seeds in three days than I have in the last 6 weeks combined. The good news is that the seeds are much larger, so sowing will go much faster.
Instead of this size:
The seeds will be this size:
2 comments
Your plants look so healthy. I thinkI know why my Rudbeckia are a bit slow. first, I started them in containers About 4 inches by 6. About 10 days I moved them to 10 packs – very small, but the only thing I could get, I was looking at them this morning and they are beginning to do better. The next movement will be into larger pots. A long process that sets them back. As well the temperatures have been very low. But I will be optimistic – things will improve. We can’t set out the plants until after June 21.
Thanks for the post. Your plants look great; even the Impatients will dowell. these are very hardy plants that can withstand the harsh elements that Nature throws our way. Take care, James
You make a really good point, James. We tend to fret over the plants in our little controlled environments when their natural habitats may involve hail, ice, pounding rain, droughts, floods, digging rodents, scorching heat and perhaps even a good ol’ plague of locusts. They can probably handle our chilly basements and our occasional missteps without too much trauma. Sometimes we just need a little perspective. 😉 I’m glad your rudbeckias are starting to show some spunk!
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