Frost desired: Sow cold germs now so that it blooms in summer
Created: 12/29/2022, 09:00
By: Ines Alms
Nothing to do in the garden in winter?
That's not quite right.
Certain flowers need freezing temperatures to germinate.
Some like it cold: Some plants that originally come from harsher climates need a more or less long period of cold to stimulate growth as soon as the temperatures become milder again.
So if your monkshood or phlox seeds have not sprout in recent years, it could be because they are cold germinators.
Garden in winter: sow cold germs now so that it blooms in summer
The phlox is one of the cold germs that can even be sown in autumn.
© Shotshop/Imago
Depending on the plant species, the seeds need from two to three weeks to four months of cool temperatures to sprout in spring.
Depending on the method, the sowing of cold germs is not always an easy matter: You can pre-soak the seeds and put them in seed trays with soil and sand or even in the refrigerator.
According to the magazine
kraut&rüben
, however, there is also the possibility of sowing the seed directly into the bed in winter - preferably in the cold frame.
The disadvantage of this is that a larger proportion of the seeds may not sprout or animals use them.
Therefore, it is better to dig a little deeper into the seed bag.
But as the
MDR Garden
explains, sowing seeds outdoors also has the advantage that it naturally saves work and that snow and wet weather naturally take over the irrigation and make the seed coat more permeable.
Cold germs include the following flowers:
lavender
phlox
cranesbill
hollyhocks
crying heart
aconite
peonies
poppies
columbine
bluebells
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Incidentally, not only flowering plants are cold germs, herbs such as wild garlic, chives, dill and sage also like it frosty before the seeds open.