Fall Seed Sowing

Hardy perennials and self-seeding annuals in your zone can be sown in the Fall. The advantage to Fall sowing is that your plants will get a head start in the Spring, bringing you an earlier display the following season.

With hardy perennials, they should just be dropped where you want them. The key is to wait until it is cool enough that they will not start germinating in the Fall or to sow them early enough that they can germinate and set root in this season. You do not want them starting germination but not able to set root before your winter. Seeds require specific light, water and warmth conditions before they will germinate so once your weather turns cool, you are usually safe for Fall sowing. Just remember many perennials will not bloom their first season.

With self-seeding annuals, you know the seeds will survive the winter. In this case, you can get a jump on Spring by sprinkling the seed in your garden in the Fall, the same way the plant would release the seed on its' own. You can let the plants do this for themselves if you want to repeat them in the same space or you can harvest the seed and drop it in any new garden space you would like the plants to grow next season. The seeds will germinate in your garden often earlier than you would consider sowing them in the Spring, bringing you flowers earlier in the season. Another advantage of this schedule is that you need not worry about Spring weather. This year, for example, my garden was too wet to walk in long after seeds should have been sown.

If you collect seed, garden experiments are free of charge and are the best way for you to discover what works in your season, your soil, your garden. In my zone 3 garden of largely clay soil, I have had success with Fall sowing of Marigold, Hollyhock, Delphinium, Viola, Pincushion Flower and Forget-Me-Not. This year I am trying Hollyhock again because I want a new patch in a new space and I am leaving the Marigolds and Calendula to drop their own seed in hope they will appear in the same space next year.