Flower Seeds to Plant in Fall, Winter, or Early Spring

Some cutting flowers grow better in cooler weather. That means you need to plant them in fall, winter, or very early spring, depending on your climate.

To name a few: Agrostemma, Ammi, bachelor’s buttons, breadseed poppies, Calendula, larkspur, Nigella, and Persian cress.

If those same flowers were planted when the days are longer and warmer, like when you would plant sunflowers and zinnias, they wouldn’t get as tall or full as they would if they were grown in cooler weather and shorter days, or they may not germinate at all. And they wouldn’t flower as well or for as long. They’d only grow to get some seeds generated for next  year’s crop. After all, that is what flowers are all about.

I’m in USDA Zone 8. We have a nice long growing season where it’s important to plant the cool weather flowers early. I get most of my cool weather flower seeds in the soil in fall or in January to mid-February. It does snow here, and freezes, but the soil rarely freezes.

If you’re in a colder zone the seedlings may freeze. Or the soil can be covered with snow for a long time making it hard to plant.

If you live in the colder zones your time window to plant is shorter. So you’d plant the cool weather flowers just before the warm season ones. And they’ll bloom as your warm weather flowers are gearing up. You most likely have a window where you can mix the cool weather flowers with the warm ones in bouquets, which is nice.

Is there an advantage to planting early?

Yes! Cool weather seeds can sit in soil, and when conditions are right, they’ll germinate. Their first little root, the radical (really!), grows down into the soil and starts working on growing  and developing its feeder roots. That gives it a head start for the plant to grow well in the spring. Unless the ground goes into a deep freeze.

Soil freezes when the soil temperature goes down to 20°F. That’s when tender young roots can die. If that describes what you face, you’ll be planting your cool season seeds in early spring, before the warm season flowers, like sunflowers. So it’s best to know your zone.

How to know your zone

The USDA Zones are plant hardiness zones which tell you what plants won’t freeze and die in your winters. It shows what the average winter low temperatures are for your area. You can find your USDA Zone on  this map. 

While the zone only tells you the lowest average winter temperatures where you are, this number will help you determine what you can and cannot grow when you’re reading plant labels at a nursery or in plant catalogs where they show the plant hardiness zones.

A zone with a lower number tells not only the lowest average temperatures but also indicates the severity of the winter, and whether snow will cover the ground, and for how long through the winter it may be present, and whether the soil may freeze.

Of course, plant hardiness applies to perennial plants only because they live through the winter. But it gives you an idea of when you can plant the cool weather annuals: fall, winter, or early spring.

But you probably know if your ground is frozen almost all winter or, like in my area, if it rarely freezes at all.

Also, there’s likely a Master Gardeners group near where you live that has a handle on the facts of the zones and sub-zones for your area if you’re in the US if you need guidance.

Which flowers are best planted in fall, winter, or right after the thaw?

The cool weather cutting flowers that you want to plant early before, during, or right after winter include: Agrostemma, Ammi, bachelor’s buttons, breadseed poppies, Calendula, larkspur, Nigella, and Persian cress. When planted early they’ll give you the best flower harvest, and some have cool pods to use in dried florals. These are all annuals.

Remember, by early, that can mean fall for people in Zone 7 or higher, or April or May for those in Zone 5 and lower. And don’t be fooled by a prolonged warm spell. Our weather is getting less predictable these days and late freezes can happen. Though, these plants can weather a light freeze even if they’re already emerged.

Plants that self-sow, that is, they drop their seeds, overwinter, and come up voluntarily the next spring, offer the perfect clue that you can plant those in fall, or February if there’s no snow on the ground where you are. They can survive the winters.

So if you can safely plant those cool weather growers in fall or in winter, you’ll get the best from those plants. If you’re in a colder zone, you can plant after the thaw in early spring and you’ll benefit from an overlap season that has both cool growers and warm ones at the same time.

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