Perennials from Seed

The easiest perennial flowers to sow this spring

Here in Britain it’s still pretty cold and temperatures are set to drop again next week, but if you have windowsill space indoors you can get ahead with your seed sowing now. I have been experimenting with sowing different perennials for a while, trying a few new ones each year, and the earlier in the year you can sow them the better. Some are notoriously tricky, needing stratification (periods of cold) and then heat before germinating. Others are slow to grow, producing flowers only in their second or third year. But there are plenty that are easy to germinate and flower in their first year, and it is these that I recommend here. With the prices of perennial plants soaring in nurseries and garden centres, not only will you have the satisfaction of raising them from seed, you will save money too which is particularly relevant if you need multiple specimens for a planting scheme. Plus - once these plants are established they should clump up or self seed to regenerate each year, so you’ll have them in your garden for ever.

Digitalis grandiflora and Cenolophium denudatum in my garden, both perennials grown from seed.

I don’t have a sophisticated sowing regime, but I do have a greenhouse. As a rule I germinate things indoors at this cooler time of year and then take them straight out to the greenhouse when they have germinated. But growing from seed is all about juggling and looking at the weather and, dare I say it, using your common sense. If it’s freezing outside, then cosset your precious seedlings in the warmth until the cold snap has passed. By the same token don’t keep them too cosy otherwise they will grow too quickly and get weak and leggy. You have to dance around and find the right place for them at different stages of their growth - over a radiator to germinate, then in your cool spare room, outside in a cold frame if it’s warm enough, back inside if there’s a frost, and finally - at last - after weeks of scurrying around in service to these precious living things, it will be time to plant them out in the garden and watch them come into flower. I make it sound complicated. It’s not, really, and the excitement of sowing seeds and watching them germinate makes it all worthwhile. As I write this I am checking my boiler room seed trays perhaps twice a day for signs of life, and the joy of discovering those tiny green shoots never leaves me.