Planting Flower Seeds Outdoors
It's late autumn, but have you started thinking about next year's flower garden? Here at my farm, I've planted the first seeds outdoors.
I sow thousands of seeds every year - all those wonderful seeds I enjoy purchasing during my travels, and seeds I order from favorite sources. Some are considered "cool season flowers," or those that can withstand the cooler temperatures when planted in the fall. Their roots take hold and become firmly established before winter and then emerge as new growth once the soil warms in spring. Not long ago I asked my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, to plant an unused cold frame bed with flower seeds such as lupines, foxgloves, and poppies.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- This raised bed behind my main greenhouse was previously used as a cold frame. A cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground that utilizes solar energy and insulation to create a microclimate suitable for growing or overwintering plants. The glass cover made out of old windows broke, but I kept the bed for planting cool season flowers.
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- I love purchasing all kinds of seeds. I get my seeds from many different sources, such as trusted seed producers, garden shops I visit when traveling, or from friends who share their favorite seed varieties.
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- Lupines are members of the pea family and can grow up to four feet tall. They are attractive and spiky, and can add color and texture to any flowerbed. I’ve grown lupines for years and they thrive in my garden.
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- Lupines come in a range of colors from pink and purple to white, yellow, or with some species, even red.
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- If planting lupines from seed, direct sow in the garden in late fall or early winter for blooms the following spring. One can also sow seeds in the spring four to six weeks before the average last frost date for blooms later in summer.
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- This is a foxglove plant, Digitalis purpurea. Foxgloves can also be planted in fall when the soil is still moist and workable, which encourages new root growth.
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- Foxglove flowers grow on stems which may reach up to six feet in height, depending on the variety. The downward-facing, tapered, tubular flowers are spotted inside with dark purple edged in white on the lower lip, which serves as a landing platform for pollinators.
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- Papaver somniferum, commonly known as the opium poppy or breadseed poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is the species of plant from which both opium and poppy seeds are produced and is also a much-loved ornamental plant in the garden.
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- Poppies are cool season hardy annuals that prefer full sun.
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- This is the bluish-green poppy seed pod capsule, which is what’s left on the stem once the flower blooms. When the seed heads turn brown, they are cut and the seeds inside are harvested and saved until they can be planted in the garden the following year.
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- Poppy seeds are very small. Here, Ryan pours some into his palm before dropping into the soil.
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- Ryan makes seed furrows all the way down the bed. The furrows are about half an inch deep and about six inches apart.
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- Next, Ryan sprinkles the seeds in the furrows. The bed was designed for easy reach from both sides.
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- These lupine seeds are from Vilmorin. Vilmorin was founded as a plant and seed boutique in 1743 by seed expert Claude Geoffroy and her husband Pierre Andrieux, the chief seed supplier and botanist to King Louis XV. I’ve been growing Vilmorin seeds for years.
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- Lupine seeds are a little bigger than poppy seeds. They are brown and resemble beans.
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- Here are some of the seeds in the furrow. Hard to see, but they’re there.
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- These seeds should sprout and establish root systems before the really cold weather.
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- The bed was already well fertilized. These plants should overwinter nicely in this location protected from wind and where they can receive morning sun.
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- Ryan rakes over the furrows to ensure all the seeds are covered. He will also give them a good drink. Rain, snow, and condensation should keep the soil moist through the cold season, And then come spring, we should have beautiful flowers growing right here.
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