Another of the flowers that I am trying this year are Salpiglossis. They are cousins of the petunias, and can be quite spectacular.

Although you can direct-sow them, the best option for large plants is to start them inside.

They’re a bit fussy to start inside, so I’m not sure whether I’ll grow them next year. I love the stained-glass flowers, but in the mix I used, the yellow is more common and floriferous… pretty, but I have other yellows in the garden that are a lot less fussy to grow.

I really like the jewel-tones that some of them have, though.

We’ll see how my energy level is doing next spring!

I really appreciated the growing notes provided by Growing with Plants! I recommend the article if you want to give these a try, but a few key points are that the darkness germination requirement is probably nonsense, keep them fairly cool, use a dry/moist cycle, and use petunia fertilizer.

I might have fared better if I had found these notes before I had started my seeds for the year!

In the coming weeks, I’ll wait for each new bloom to open, to see what its patterning will be.