Starting the First Seeds of 2024 🌸 Early Spring Hardy Annuals | Cool Flowers

Today I’m starting the first seeds of the 2024 growing season! Cool Flowers are hardy annuals that can be planted in very early spring.

Cool Flowers Book: https://amzn.to/3NVzfLV
Fox Farms Happy Frog Potting Soil: https://amzn.to/4aJOBNm
Plant Labels: https://amzn.to/48IzvFY
Garden Marker: https://amzn.to/3TLQtPC

Cool Flowers I started today:

Stock, Rudbeckia, Strawflower, Iceland poppies, Snapdragons, Pincushion flower (Scabiosa), Phlox, violas and statice.

Cool Flowers I have already growing outside (Fall Planted)

Larkspur, Calendula, Violas, White dill (ammi majus), Bachelor buttons, Nigella

Check out the whole list of Cool Flowers at Lisa Manson Ziegler seed shop: https://thegardenersworkshop.com/product-category/seeds/cool-season-seeds/all-cool-season-seeds/
She’s the author of the “Cool Flowers” book

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marisgardenandkitchen
Email: marisgardenandkitchen@gmail.com

GreenStalk Planter Discount: https://greenstalkgarden.com/?rstr=MARISGARDEN
Use code “MARISGARDEN” for $10 off $75+ order

Gardening Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHDaYPV0vsswZCVCZaYwUJ1WUmPPniPoA

//

#marisgardenandkitchen #coolflowers #startingseeds

DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission at NO extra cost to you. When you purchase through this links, you help supporting my channel (and my garden) helping me to continue to create free content!

Hello everyone and welcome if you’re new here my name is Marie and I’m gardening Queens New York City and today I am starting my first seeds of the year of the 2024 growing season I am starting my cool flowers today which are flowers that like to grow in cool cold

Conditions I first learned about cool flowers last year kind of by accident and I completely fell in love with them if you’re un familiar with the term cool flowers are also known as Hardy anals meaning that they still complete their life cycle in a year but they’re Hardy

They have hardness zones just like panial do they do better if they start growing get established in cool conditions and that means that it’s time for me here in my zone to start some of them from seed so depending on the hardness zone of these flowers they’ll

Like to be planted on the fall or in very early spring and based on that you know which of these cool flowers you can plant in your region so if they’re Hardy to your Zone meaning I am Zone 7B and says this plant Hardy to Zone 7 means

That I can plant that and everything that’s before that so if it’s you know it’s Hardy to Zone 4 I know it will survive my winter and I could plant on my garden too but if it’s Hardy to Zone 8 my winter might be a bit too cold for

This to actually be planted in the fall and the winter might kill them our last frost date here in New York City is April 1st that has moved for us is a little earlier than used to these seeds that I’m planting today prefer to be transplanted it’s only January and April

It’s 4 months away but most of the Seas that I’m staring today need four to 6 weeks to become a little healthy size transplant and only by then I will put them out which for us will be about mid-February to start growing in the cookon dishes that they like okay now

Let’s go to the fun part and talk about the flowers that I chose to Spring plant here for our Zone 7 lots of these I grew last year they did amazing I want to grow them again I will start with a bit of unusual one because this one can only

Be spring planted everywhere and that is St stock I grew stock last year and I absolutely loved it was kind of by accident I didn’t really know about the concept but I started them very early transplanted them early they’re super hearty they did great and they flowered

Very early as well the varieties that I picked for the stock were the two that I like the most last year the cat’s apricot this one over here from janies it has a very very beautiful color and also the Vintage Brown stock they pair very well together and I love the way

They look so I’m planting only these two this year because they were my favorites and this is a single variety stock stock comes in two different ways it can be a spray variety which means it can Branch it out and give you more than one flow

Or a single stem variety which are those two which is only going to give me one big beautiful stem hopefully like I got last year and I’ll have to cut the plant and take it out of the garden after the reason why I’m choosing to plant this

The single variety instead of the cut and come again variety it’s because I don’t have have a lot of space in my garden and then by the time that I harvest this I want to be planting my warm seasoned crops in there and then I’m also growing Rudbeckia which is a

Native plant and is very good for the pollinators too I’m choosing to plant two varieties this year the Sahara vbea I grew this last year and it was so beautiful I love the color so much I’m definitely growing again this year and I’m also growing a new one that I didn’t

Grow last year but I like the look of it it’s called The rudia troba hopefully I am pronouncing this right it’s a smaller flower that has kind of a spray type variety so have lots of little shoes it looks very nice and Airy and I love that

Love the look at that kind of looks more like the usual blackhead Susan that you’d see you know everywhere so I wanted that as well so I decided to add that to the mix this year and root beas are Hardy to zone five and next I have

Straw flowers I’m doing a mix in here I chose to grow a mix this year because I want different colors last year I grew some of the I have some here because they they dry very well this is the vintage white I grew a white in a

Apricot that I don’t have here with me right now but it dries to a bit more of a red orange color I’m growing to dry it I love having dried bouquets in my home for the winter and the straw flowers are hearty to zone eight and I also have

Another mix in here this is a pink cussion flour mix this is a very pretty flour it’s considered a f flour but it’s so pretty in my opinion I grew last year too and I fell in love with it I thought they’re very beautiful I love the way

That they look in the garden so I am growing the mix again this year cuz I would like to have a variety of colors of it and then next I have the champag bubbles Icelandic poppy now this one I didn’t have much look last luck sorry

Last year growing but I’m going to try again it says panial on the pack but they really like it cold Icelandic poppies are peral up to zone two that’s really cold usually here in my zone they won’t survive the summer they don’t like it hot so when it gets really hot in the

Summer they die so I kind of have to grow them as an annual here because I have a very hot and humid summer next I have the flocks Cherry caramel you can see the picture right here in this package it’s so beautiful and flocks are hard to Zone 4 that’s what I found

Online but I know there is also a perennial flock kind this is not a perennial flock so I’m not sure if it’s harder to zone for and then after that I have status this one here is also a mix it’s called Sunset mix status so from my

Research to status is Hardy to zone 6 and then this was a bit of a late minute add-on I was not going to grow snapdragons this year but decided to and this is a Madame Butterfly Cherry bronze I believe yes Madame Butterfly Cherry bronze variety snap AR ganara Hardy zone

5 my last one here I have this black king pansy here which I had in my garden last year and I love there is a chance that sou seated I have a bunch of Viola seedlings in there that I don’t know what color would be but I decided to

Plant it anyway because it’s so unique I love to have like a black flower and then I have two other varieties which are the brush Strokes variety they’re very very pretty and also the antique Shades Viola variety so they’re Hardy to zone three and they are also edible so

That’s actually the reason why I am planting them I like to use them for garnishing and for cooking so now let’s get started let’s start the seeds and see how they’re do in this growing season I like like to start my seeds using regular potting soil instead of

Seed starting mix because there’s a little bit of extra nutrients in there I like to use this one here the Happy Frog from Fox Farms I’m going to link everything that I use the description box below too in case you want to get it but this particular bag that can happen

In potting mix too came with a lot of bigger pieces on it so I had to sift it before I puted them in the trays and that’s definitely a job that I like to do outside so earlier this morning I I went outside I sifted out the soil I

Don’t really have a proper sifter I use this container that has lots of hose in it with a bucket underneath and sort of you know push it through with my hands so the coarser parts of it stay on the top and the sifted soil fall to the

Bottom this is not the best system not the best setup I’m just improvising with what I have I don’t have a proper sifter but that works for me and maybe takes a little bit longer a little bit more time but I really didn’t mind because I really enjoyed spending time outside and

Getting some especially now in the winter and then I already put the soil in the little cell tray containers outside after filling everything up I also already did all of my tags I prefer to do that before I start seating also so I know that I have the space for

Everything that I want to plant I did that outside too got it all done got it all set up and here’s how it looks this is the setup that I have to start my seeds inside right now now so everything’s already labeled I know that I have enough space for everything and I

Have my seeds all here on this side most of the information you need to start seating would be in the back of the seed pack this one is a stock we’re going to start with the stock the cat’s apricot and it says here to so A4 of an inch

Deep 5 to six weeks before the last FR so that part we ignore but we want to know this so 1/4 of an inch deep that’s what I’m interested so now I’m just going to make little holes here with a back of a pencil not too deep so

Supposed to be approximately a qu inch is hard to really gauge but I like to you know just get a little bit space in there and I do that also all at once before I start putting my seeds in as well and because it says so to a qu inch

Me are we going to have to cover them a little bit some of the seits that I’ll plant today need slight to germinate so those are going to be say to surface so but the stock is a bit of a bigger seed and likes to be covered so we will be

Punching these little hose here now let’s just open the seat pack and start putting the oh no I don’t have a lot of seeds in here oops I thought I was going to have a lot more oops and one already fell in the wrong spot in there all right I might

Have to add another Variety in there this is a bit of a quick change of PL so this is how stock seeds look like they’re actually in the Brasa family but they have their seeds a little bit flatter you know different than the mustards and the broccolis and stuff

That we might be used to with brasas I’m going to put one seed per sale and try my luck because I really like this and I don’t have enough seeds so we’re going to see how many of them are going to germinate but I would rather not thin

Them just nurture the ones that pop up and plant them all in the garden oops I one extra seed here I usually put this two seeds for S see the other ones but for this we are doing one and hoping to be lucky I hope it works I only have three seits left

One two three let’s see how much of the Vintage brow I have cuz then it’ll be perfect half and half okay I have more great so these ones we can do I’m going to use all of them too cuz some of them I might do two

Per cell just to increase her luck but they look exactly the same like the other ones oh you guys just had a little accident some seeds fell from my hand when I was moving the camera so we are back to not having a lot of stock seeds

I’m going to do one at the time also yeah yeah I’m going to start this in this side and might have to open a different pack with a different variety cuz I do want to have a full bed of stock and stock can be planted so close together

That this whole thing here is just going to be one bed at the plot so let me go get another pack okay adding to our list it’s going to be this stock variety over here so this one is actually a spray variety just because I said I was not

Going to grow them but we’re going to have them in the garden too and that’s what I have and that’s a color I like I have another one that’s kind of purple and I don’t really like that color so I think this color would look better with

These other two that we picked here so I’m going to complete the sales that I had already dedicated to stock with this one so let me just make a new label real quick this one has kind of a big name so I’m just going to say red and spray so I

Know that this is going to be a des spray variety but the name for it is chantler Alto red too long to write so let’s just do that I just put it right over here and we’re going to fill up the cells I have lots of seeds for this one

Hope and I’m going to use all of them this one I have a lot I’m going to put two per cell and maybe tin them if I need it that would feel more but I’m going to have more than enough to two Okay I have some extras I’m just going to put

It back in the other ones see how it goes that’s it now I’m just going to go ahead and close the holes and I’m going to water everything at once at the end for now I’m just going to close them all put some soil just push the soils from

The side and over some of them already kind of closed I like to press a little bit just to make sure that it has some the seed has some good soil contact so but not too much cuz I don’t want to bury the seed in there with so much soil

That it will have a hard time sprouting so just a little bit of gentle pressure is good enough now let’s do Snapdragon next I started snapd dragons in a bit of a different way they are very tiny tiny tiny tiny see it it’s almost like sand

They’re tiny so small it’s hard to plant them so last year I tried something different I start started some normally and I also watched a video from oh my gosh I don’t have a lot of teeths from flower farmer in Canada and she starts them in a different way so I mean she’s

Growing for a farm so she starts a whole tray but she basically just sprinkles them on top of the soil and once they germinate you can separate them and put them individual cells because they’re so small it’s very hard to put one or two in there and then not all of them

Germinate also so I think that was a very good idea so that’s what I’ve been doing so so you see how small the seeds are it comes in this little pack inside and all of the seeds are here in this corner they’re tiny so I’ll try my best

To show them in camera and I will put them pick them with my fingers and sprinkle over the soil so I have this here I’m kind of going to even up the soil a bit because I’m not covering them after but I would lightly press with my

Fingers for that seed to soil contact to so we’re going to press a bit before so they don’t get buried in there and then I am going to add them here so first let me put it in my hand hopefully I don’t lose it again cuz I kind of do want to

See you can get an idea how small they are maybe I’ll do it like this there you go so is small I won’t have a lot of plants in here also but this is all of the seeds that I have on that pack and we’re going to gently sprinkle

Them on top of this poting soil here I’m just going to grab for my hands I’m not going to pick them all at once cuz I kind of want to somehow distribute them I already all fell it’s very hard from in the soil so it’s easy for me to separate them when this

Time I saved some seeds from my own Snap Dragons last year and those are the ones that growing outside I’ll talk about it when I go outside too but that’s how I started and this one I’m going to spray with water very gently not pour water on

Because I don’t want to misplay still seeds also but that’s all it’s going to happen for this and I’ll do the same thing for the other two that’s why they’re in this kind of trays I’m not going to touch it now actually I changed my mind I’m not going to press it

Because I’m afraid that might come in my finger or something I’m going to do theelen poppies first which are also very tiny very very tiny seats I think they’re just as small as the Snap Dragons if not smaller all right let’s open this up and see how many we have

Here also in the container yes and they look very similar to this snapdragons just maybe I put against the light you guys can see it I don’t think so that with the camera so put it in my hands again and I’m going to sprinkle exactly the same way I

Did with the Snap Dragons okay so those are tiny seeds number two I’ve seen some other YouTubers and flower Farmers kind of do like this you know and I’m afraid of doing that and pouring everything in one so I’m going to do it again put it in my

Hand I also saved some puppy seeds from my garden but I’m going to try to use these ones first maybe the other ones I will direct seed in the fall this year but here go let’s pick it up and O and sprinkle lot more seeds than snapdragons

But I’d say they’re kind of a small smaller just a little bit flatter than those that’s it my whole seed pack in there also next one up there will be this pansy here the seats for the panies are big but I didn’t want to dedicate a

Whole other six pack there cuz a lot of soil I’m going to just do a few peny seeds in here maybe four to get this blacking ones so you’re going to do that end then separate maybe I will just a couple seeds per cuz those are older seeds so

I’m not sure if all them are going to germinate so I’m going to get the pencil again just do four little holes kind of separate from each other so it’s easy for me to separate them before and after and because they’re bigger seeds too I’m going to cover them slight

Slightly very slightly I going have some extra ones and put some in the middle here let me see if they need light for to germinate doesn’t say but it says that oh it says Surfer so so actually yeah let me not cover them very much oops should have red before I started it’s

Okay hopefully still work hopefully they still be able to get some light in there at least now we know for the next ones so let’s do the other penes next I will put them right here and I because they also need to be surer some

Just going to press the soil a bit to even out right before I throw the seeds in and because the seeds are a little bigger I will press again after because I can see them I’m afraid to press this too because I can’t see them they just

Became the soil once I pour it in there so brush Strokes on this side penes are actually also Part Shade flowers so it’s great to tuck them in into some you know smaller spaces they don’t take a lot of space also so it’s very very good to have them around I

Like to put them in my green stocks and in smaller pots they do well but you can grow them in Shady conditions too which is good which also helps them to stand the heat of the summer cuz they prefer to be a little bit on the cooler

Side so let me in fact my pants is the seedlings that s seit in the garden from last year which I don’t know what will be because the could have be crossed are all growing right now very happy even with the they’re just enjoying being there okay so now that was serer seed

And we’re just going to lightly press this one I can see the seeds I don’t feel scared so let’s do that just to make sure they have good contact with the soil the other ones are so tiny these guys here that I’m sure they have contact with the soil but let’s press it

Out that’s it we’ll spray them too with a little bit of water after now move on to the Vintage Brown which is going to be exactly the same thing okay let’s do rebea next let’s check on the back before what it needs lights needed for germination so kov is lightly okay same

With the root back here here oh this is a triloba oops that’s going to go with this tray I’ll do this one first I don’t remember how small the the Vaca seeds are so let me check here oh there’s M but not too bad I

Don’t have a lot of seeds in this pack I might just do the thing also but I’ll do maybe two to three seats per cell see if I’ve got enough of them here on my hand just going to sprinkle because also needs light for oh there was three okay

One two it needs light for gamination one two oh I’m going to need a little bit more two more okay set just going to do the same with this Sahar with back here here I had a lot more seeds in this this pack this is the same from last year too

So that was a generous packing let me even out a little bit more cuz it looks a bit all over the place there there we go now I’m going to do the same exact same and just sprinkle them over I will do the pink cushion flower

Next and then the St flour the picano flour actually have really big seeds check this out they’re huge and for this one sold a/4 of an inch dip so we’re going to use our little pencil again I’m going to do two per cuz they’re so big one two three Four okay straw FL next I’m going to put it right here in this hill and let’s read the requirements for a straw flow really quick from what I remembered straw flowers are very easy to grow um this one is a different pack from Hudson Valley seed company so cute

So supposed to be in the back oh yeah it does have the it says a half an inch so definitely we are going to make some holes for this one as well and bury them and we’re going to kind of do the same thing as the pink flour so

I’m going to put two to three seeds per hole oh there’s a lot of seeds in this pack here are the seeds oh my gosh I put way too much in my hand we’re not going to S off this I’m going to do three let’s just say three per Cell okay so now I only have two left and now we have the Cara flux and the status here the camera FL says an eighth of an inch so I’m counting this a surface so and the status it does do say in the pack it just say start seeding

Door 6 weeks before the last frate so I’m going to also kind of surface all this just to be Safe so that feels amazing we just seated the first seeds of the season and now let’s water them I’m going to water these guys in two ways today because we have very tiny seeds and of them I’m going to get a spray bottle and this is

Just water and just spray the top but I’m also going to add some other water to the bottle of the tray so I’ll start with the spray wow it’s really good spray bottle I got this from in the giveaway from Arbor and uh really like it first time

That I’m using PL to use their product soon too but there we go nice spray this one will be a bit more gentled gentle because you remember how how tiny those seeds were so just do that these guys are a bit bigger they can be they’re a bit bigger to so we

Can just bit more faster so here it is for this that’s the first step number one watering and then because I have a lot of soy in these These are Dipper cells I am also going to add water to the bottle off my bottom of my tray hopefully you

Guys can see what I’m doing move to this side so actually let me do it the middle here so you can kind of see so but I’m going to do right in the middle just add to the water to the bottom of the tray and then the seeds the soil is going to

Suck it up from the bottom and hopefully keep everything nice and moist in there I’m not adding too much maybe just a quarter of an inch there you go and then I use the rest to water in here but I’ll just basically repeat the same process right

Now all right and last stop for this would be to cover them I have this humidity Doms here that I’m going to be using I washed them look a little Dusty they’re washed and sanitized so what this humidity domes do they will create a great environment for germination so seeds you usually need

Some moisture to germinate you know think of spring it’s a lot of rain and so kind of trying to mimic that a little bit my basement especially is really dry so I tend to have a bit of a harder time with germination in the winter so for me

It’s very important that I’m using these domes to keep the humidity trapped in there we just watered right with a lot of water so that’s going to just condensate to the top and fall back into the seeds which is really good now even though there is a lot of sun on this

Table I think I could just leave those in here and wait for them to come I’m not going to do that I’m actually going to move them to my grow rack downstairs I just cleaned this it’s ready for the season and I’m going to leave this here

Under these lights with the Dome on into the germinate after the germinate I’ve remove the domes and let them grow with a bit more access to air all right so now that that’s done we’re going to take a walk outside real fast and I’m going to show you the cool

Flowers that I fall planted let’s start up here real quick cuz I have to live to work but I already have some plants are are here on my balcony and these guys here they self seated so this is a viola that I guess a perennial and oh look at that there say

A bud oh I didn’t know that how beautiful we might have some flowers now in January in the winter how cold this is a carrot that’s s SE in here how funny is it in this small container but those two are some of the same varieties

As we planted and look how beautiful and healthy they’re looking even though it’s cold outside same here here with this one this is a Cula they do have some bug damage because they grew before it got very cold and then they had some leaf leaf Hoppers but it’s okay they kind of

Still look strong they are oh no wait there’s a bud in here but they are supposed to be dormant and just working and growing stronger roots to kind of establish themselves for the spring but this was also a fall planting but most of them are down here on this spot and

There’s also some guys that haven’t died yet from the frost but here are I think this is actually straw flower it said there that was zone eight right but this is our straw flower that’s still kind of alive and the leaf looks exactly the same so these guys

Here self seated almost everything here in these spots and I planted some other stuff in the plot too but these are doing really good they’re nice and healthy seedlings even though it’s January now it’s been cold we haven’t got snow yet but they’re supposed to even handle some snow once it com so

This is let’s say flower you’re going to find out this season and this is definitely laxer It’s s CED too from a plant that I had here last year and once this is sprouted I knew that was time to plant the cool season flowers it’s kind

Of about that same time that like 8 week before the last FR dat it’s kind of amazing to see and then I planted some other things in the plot we’re not going to go to the plot today I do have a video about it that I can link but today

We’re just going to stay here in the backyard cuz unfortunately I am a little bit short in time and this is some other things too I think this is a bash button because of the way the leaf is that definitely it’s a lot of plants in here

A flower probably fell in here and self seated this one is a a carrot flower Amy Major it’s in the carrot family but it’s this beautiful white flower I put a picture in the screen that I tried to grow for my wedding last year and more

Lur in here I have like lur seedlings everywhere which is a really cool thing I can’t wait to have lots of them popping up in the garden here coming to the RIS bed sorry about the mess I have some Snap Dragons I put the straight in here because the squirrels you can see

Come here and dig everything and kind of damage them so I tried to put this little grid to try to protect them a bit but they’re not looking as healthy as I wish they would but they’re alive you know this one looks good that one it’s okay that one’s good so I transplanted

Them here a bit late not at the correct time I just wanted to show you guys that they stay alive through the winter and I have some sweet peas in there to that I start in those little pots they like to germinate in the cold so I started them

Late but they still germinated and grew and now I transplanted them in here and they’re looking really good those are just toilet paper rolls that I tried to reuse and that’s how they’re looking and the things that are still green here in the garden are also all cool season

Flowers that have not died yet from last season so this is a fever feel it’s a penal in my area in some other colder areas is grown as a cool flower but she hasn’t died yet I’m just going to let her be there but she also self- seated

You see there’s some Little Sprouts that self-seed from a flower from here so that’s going to over winter as a baby plant like cool flowers would do and over here this is a pink of flower scabiosa which we seated some of that today too and still hanging there but I

Think there a panial variety I have to double check the other one’s going to grow big like this this was just alive and got knocked down so and here oh look at that a huge Bud here for kangela this is very early spring planted last year and it’s still here still hanging these

Are some Snap Dragons also planted in the spring they flowered All Summer Long kind of you know stopped flowering for a bit in the fall and then now they’re just happy and healthy and kind of back again so they’re still alive the straw flower in here is kind of dying but I

Have another fever Fu in here more Snap Dragons F few and over there sorry it’s messy Snap Dragons Snap Dragons and fever F so it’s cool right to see the oh there’s a flower let’s take a look there’s a Cula that’s flowering I just harvested some flowers too and she’s flowering

Again that’s very nice so Little Flower in January the cing and the green stock flowering too let’s take a quick look at that I’m going to collect seeds from the scula soon it’s not looking as healthy as good but it’s still flowering still good I actually saw a little wasp the

Other day here still eating the nectar like wow you guys are still awake but I think a few days ago there’s still some pollinators up but this has a bunch of seed pods look this is perfect beautiful example of a dried out seed pot that’s ready to be harvested I’m not going to

Harvest right now cuz I want to make a little video about it but this would be perfect harvesting stage for this gangula and that’s it for today thank you so much for watching I hope you’re having a great day and I’ll see you next time