Winter Sowing Native Perennial Seeds

It’s January which means it’s the PERFECT time to plant native perennial seeds. Why? Because if you live in an environment that experiences temperatures below 55 degrees in the winter, your local native plant seeds need a cold treatment to germinate in spring. Whenever we’re growing native plants, we need to think about replicating the environment they naturally thrive in. Perennials flower in the summer so that they can create and drop seeds in the fall, and those very same seeds are exposed to all the elements of winter before they sprout in the spring.

Growing native plants is different than growing food for a kitchen garden. When starting seeds for your food garden, you typically plant in the early/mid spring as most of those plants are annuals (they have a lifecycle of only 1 year). They need warm soil, light, and moisture to germinate and usually sprout in a couple of weeks.

But native perennials have lifecycles that span years, and most need that cold treatment before the soil warms up so that they sprout on time. Let’s walk through the easiest way to sprout your native perennial seeds so that you can create a thriving, low maintenance habitat for pollinators and songbirds!

Where to find native perennial seeds

I got literally ALL of my native plant seeds for free at a Wild Ones native seed swap at my local library last winter. I would highly recommend trying to find local resources as a first resort, and ordering seeds online as a backup.

Look to see if you have a local Wild Ones chapter! They’re an organization with chapters across the country, dedicated to connecting people and native plants for a healthy planet.
Check your local library calendar to see if they host any seed swaps throughout the fall, winter, or spring
Look up “[your state] native plant society” to see if there’s one that you can connect with. Many native plant societies have sales in the spring with seedlings ready to plant, or they’ll sell/give out regionally native seeds!
Connect with the botany/ecology departments at a university near you. They might have seed swaps or know of places where you can get some!
For online native plant stores check out these (but be sure you do your research on which seeds you want that are native to your ecoregion first!)

Download my Planting for Pollinators ebook to get even more information on how to choose the right native plants for your space, how to design your yard, and why it matters so much!

How do I know which native perennials to plant?

First, you’re going to completely throw the notion of USDA growing zones out the window – we don’t need that! Growing zones just tell you where something can grow, not where it should. What you want to do is find out your ecoregion. If a plant is native to your ecoregion, it will grow where you live (no growing zone information needed!).

If you’re good with maps, you can use these maps from the EPA to see the ecoregion breakdowns for each level.
If you want to enter your zipcode or address to find your ecoregion, you can do that here.

I live in Colorado, so in the most general sense I live in the “Great Plains” ecoregion (Level 1), but more specifically, I live in the “South-Central Semi-Arid Prairies” ecoregion (Level 2). So when I’m looking up native plants, I want to look for plants that are native to these ecoregions. (Some resources list plants at the level 1 ecoregion, some resources get even more specific and list plants that are more niche for the level 2/3 regions).

Once you know your ecoregion, I would HIGHLY recommend taking a look at this list of keystone plants from the National Wildlife Federation. Keystones are plants that play crucial, irreplaceable roles in your ecoregion, so planting those should be your first priority! If you’re gardening in containers, Homegrown National Park has a list of keystones that grow well in containers (or in the ground!).

How to grow native perennials from seed

The method I’m about to lay out is the easiest way to grow *most* native perennials from seed. (I say most because some native perennials need more intense methods like scarification or acid washes to replicate being eaten by an animal and excreted before they sprout, but this simple method will work for a lot of native perennial varieties.)

Note: If you want to buy native plants that have already been started, please make sure you do research first! I’ve seen so many big name garden centers list plants as “Native” if they grow anywhere in North America or they’ll even completely mislabel things that are not native to the U.S. We really really really need to be focusing on plants that are native to our ecoregion. The native plant organizations that I listed at the top are the best resources to use when looking for native plant starts!

Creating winter sow bags for native plants

Need a visual? Check out my video tutorial on Tiktok or Instagram! You can also check out this video on Youtube!

Pick the native plants that you want to grow and get seeds! Depending on how many plants you want to grow, I’d recommend starting 15-20 seeds of each plant at a time. You can expect 80%ish to sprout. And if you have too many, give them away to neighbors to create pollinator corridors!
Prep and label gallon-size ziplock bags. Cut or poke small holes along the bottom of the bag so that excess water can drain out and seeds don’t get flooded. Then label your grow bags: 1 variety of seed per bag
Wet your soil. Use potting soil! (Seed starting soil is too light and fluffy for native plants, and soil from your yard might not have the right quality or nutrients.) Dump some into a large bowl and mix with water until it’s damp/wet – you want to be able to grab a fistful and squeeze and have water drip out (but you don’t want too much water, it shouldn’t be runny).
Fill bags 1/3 to 1/2way with soil. You want there to be room in the bag for airflow and for the seedlings to sprout and grow!
Sprinkle your seeds on top of the soil and lightly press them in. If the seed looks like it has a “shell” around it, you can smoosh that to break up the shell and release the seed so that it has an easier time sprouting. You don’t want to cover them with more soil as most need light to know when to sprout.
Add a stake to keep the bag from collapsing, and zip it 1/2 way to 3/4 closed. You want to make sure that the bag stays open for airflow and to get moisture from snow and rain. You can also use clothespins on one side of the opening to ensure that it stays open!
Leave your bags outside until sprouted and ready to plant! Place them on a porch, or somewhere easily accessible so you can check on them. They need to be exposed to the elements, but make sure that they’re not so buried in snow that the bags collapse and there’s no airflow. When it snows I add a light layer of snow inside the bags on top of the seeds if not enough made it in through the opening, and I brush it off the sides of the bag so that it doesn’t collapse.
Plant your seedlings! Once seedlings have sprouted, keep them in the bag until they have 2+ sets of true leaves (the first leaves that appear are called cotyledons and are not true leaves). Once they have 2+ sets of leaves, you can gently take them out of the bag by *gently* digging them out with your fingers or a fork/spoon. Dig a hole in your garden to the depth of the roots, and plant your seedling. Water it well, and add mulch to help retain moisture.

Caring for native perennials

Part of the reason why I LOVE and advocate so strongly for people to plant native perennials is because they’re so low maintenance. These plants have evolved and adapted to thrive in the conditions of your ecoregion, and don’t really need any assistance from us once they have a strong root system.

You’ll need to make sure seedlings get consistent water throughout the first spring and summer as they put all their effort into establishing strong roots. In year 2, only water when it’s been dry or hot for a few days in a row, and in year 3, they shouldn’t need supplemental water unless you’re experiencing drought conditions and the plants start to look stressed.

When growing perennials, please be aware of Sleep, Creep, Leap!

Year 1 they seem to sleep, putting most of their effort into building a dense, deep, and strong root system. Year 2 they creep, and start to put more effort into green leafy growth. Year 3 they leap into action and their strong roots enable them to thrive! If your plant doesn’t flower the first year, that’s normal, don’t stress out!

They don’t need cut back and I encourage you to leave old growth standing! It provides shelter and food for pollinators and songbirds throughout the winter and early spring. Nature doesn’t cut back perennials and they still flourish every year. If you *have* to clean them up, wait until May to clear any old growth/stems as most pollinators will have left their hibernation by then.

If you want more support, I’d be happy to help! You can download my ebook on Planting for Pollinators or I can create a Custom Native Plant Guide for you and go over everything on a coaching call.