Question
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Followup To
Question -
I am so confused about when/how to plant my perennials seeds.  I'm a first time gardener. I live in Zone 5b.  I have many perennial seeds which give NO info on exactly how or when to plant the seeds.

Do I start them inside "x" amount of weeks before the fall frost, and then transplant them in the fall. Or do I direct seed them now (June 1), or do I start them inside now and then transplant them at some point, and if so, which point.

Which do you recommend?  I have a 20' by 5' bed ready to be planted and would really like to start from seed, but I want what's best for the plants, so that they bloom the way nature intended.
I've been searching for timetables on the net that would address this issue, but have had no success.

I also have several annual seeds. can those be direct-seeded now?

Thank you for your time.
Mindy
Answer -
Hi Mindy,
Thanx for your question.  Please post a follow up listing all of the seeds you have and I will provide instructions for each.
thx,
Tom

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your response. As youasked, here are the seeds I have.  The perennials are as follows:
LUPINE (Russell Hybrid)
PAINTED DAISY MIX (Chry. coccineum)
SWEET WILLIAM DOUBLE MIX
COREOPSIS LANCEOLATA
BLUE FLAX
DAHLIA (Unwin's Dwarf)
SALVIA (Blue Bedder Sage)
DIANTHUS
ECHINACEA (Purple Coneflower)
SNOW-IN-SUMMER
DAME'S ROCKET Mixed
BLUE CHRYSANTHEMUM (Blue Knol)
ACHILLEA (Cerise Queen)
COLUMBINE (Harlequin Mix)
COLUMBINE (Blue Star)
CHINESE LANTERN
CARNATION (not sure if this is a perennial or not)
ORNAMENTAL GRASS (Blue Fescue)
The annuals are as follows:
ASTER (Crego)
NASTURTIUM (Jewel Mixed)
COSMOS (Sensation Mixed)
BABY'S BREATH (Covent Garden)
CALENDULA (Pacific Beauty)
ZINNIA (Lilliput Mixed)
FORGET-ME-NOT (Firmament)

My husband and I are gardening this year. We have a 30 foot X 12 foot vegetable garden, and all of our veggies I successfully started from seed. We pray they survive in the garden...we transplanted them last night. My flower bed is ready for planting now. But in researching about perennials, I am getting the impression that timing is everything, and I don't want the seeds to go to waste because I didn't plant them at the correct time or the correct way.I am also exploring container gardening and just spent the last hour searching for ideas on the best flowers for containers. So any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.  I'm very grateful to your willingness to help me out.  Happy Memorial Day!
Mindy

Answer
Hi,
Thanx for the follow up!  Now this is May and if you are going to start your seeds now, for perennials count on no bloom this year.  You are also a little late for some of the annuals.  Mindy, here's the deal.  You can start your plants indoors from December on.  At some point you have to look at the directions on the back of the seed packets.  Many of them will tell you how many weeks to start indoors before the last frost.  I'm going to go ahead and group your seeds together and tell you how to start them according to my experience.  You can start your annuals now but you're way late.  You can start the perennials now and expect nothing this year.  Perennials usually need the first year to start growing and then produce flowers the second season.

Except for the dahlia and carnation, all of the other "perennials" may be started indoors and transplanted outdoors after 10 days in a sheltered place protected from extremes of sun, rain, wind and temps.  The dahlia and carnation are not hardy to your zone.  You can start them and grow them but in the fall before the first frost, you will have to dig up the dahlia tubers and store them in a frost-free basement for the winter.  The carnation will have to be treated as an annual.  I hope this helps.
Tom