A Bevy of Blooms: Daylily ‘Coleman Hawkins’

I’m so glad you enjoy my site. I garden in Zone 5a (Madison, WI). Most of the surrounding area is Zone 4, but the city of Madison is in a higher zone because we are protected by lakes. I don’t have a greenhouse. I grow all my plants in my basement under fluorescent light fixtures using regular tubes–no fancy grow lights.

I sow most of my seeds in March and April so that the plants are big enough to go in the garden by our last expected frost date (which is May 15 in Madison). In early May I begin to “harden off” the seedlings. They are used to being pampered under lights and need to be gradually introduced to sunlight and wind. I set them outside for a few hours the first day and keep building on that time each day for a week to ten days. Then I usually plant them in my flowerbeds during the third week of May.

If you still want to sow flower seeds for this year, I would encourage you to sow them directly outside either in a garden or flowerbed or in pots. It’s getting a little late in the season for some annuals (petunias, impatiens and rudbeckias, for example, need 10 to 12 weeks to bloom from seed so you’d be better off buying plants from a garden center if you want to see blooms this year before frost), but there’s probably still enough time left in the growing season for a Zone 4-5 gardener to sow things like zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, morning glories, 4 o’clocks or sunflowers.

It usually says on the back of each seed packet how many weeks the plant needs to go from seed to bloom (plus germination time of up to a week or more). At this point in the season you probably want to stick with things that take no longer than 3 or 4 weeks. You could certainly try seeds that require 5 or 6 weeks. Maybe you’ll get lucky and have a late fall frost this year.

Have fun and let me know if you have any other questions!