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Fall Planting & Forcing Verbascums???

Hi All,

In my humble experience, anything that is hardy, if it's allowed to
get a good size, maybe six to eight inches tall?, before the frosts
start, can be tough enough by then to be planted in fall to come up in
spring.

Unfortunately, the catalogs leave me in the dark, too, so there's a
lot of trial and error in what will do well sown in winter for spring
germination. I was rather surprised to see sunflowers and English
marigolds come up in spring from a late fall self-sowing; the African
Daisies were not so fortunate. Salvia greggii seed seems to resent
being left out for the winter also, I have never had this one return
from a self-sowing, but I'm not *absolutely* sure if this is why...
Most of the other Salvias I've grown seem agreeable about this, as do
many many things.

As to having it too hot to start seeds right now, there's one I know
well... it's added new dimensions to my love of cool basements in
summer... Sometimes you can get very nice results in spite of it, but
I haven't any rules yet, I just fly by the seat of my pants, and when
the plants start to look ill, I make adjustments...

All this gets me to thinking, though...

More of a winter question, maybe, but one I never hear, and it may
take until winter to find out... :-)

Verbascums always trouble me because they don't bloom until the Second
year after they've been planted, which is very sad, because they're
normally very majestic and stunning...

I know that Verbascum seed that has been planted my yours truly has
taken until late in the fall to get going, so that when the plants
freeze, they only have a leafspan of about 2 or 3, maybe 4 inches
across at the most, and not even much root to speak of...

And I know that these have come up the next spring like it's no one's
business, and gotten as big as if they'd been planted out in spring
instead, and flowered the next summer...

So I'm wondering if what anyone thinks of starting them in winter,
allowing them to get a reasonable size,
and then putting them in the fridge or freezer a few weeks, then
planting them out in spring... If this is done, can they be forced to
bloom the first year, or is there more going on under the ground in
the winter than I realize?

Has anyone tried this? Or succeeded? Or just, what does everyone think
of this? Which might be best, the fridge or the freezer?

Also, are there perhaps other biennials that might be treated this way
as well? Many of the striking Salvias, for example, possess the same
habit of being biennials... or at least not flowering until the second
year... I'm hearing more and more about "biennial" Salvias lasting 3,
4, 5 and maybe even more years. Did I actually hear someone mention
one they've had for 10 like I seem to recall?

Great gardening to all,

Rob chroniapolloni@yahoo.com

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