If you’ve ever been to our home you know that we love our outdoor plants, and those plants are not cheap! I’ve tried starting seed indoors only one other time, and while it did work I didn’t love the plants we chose. I toyed with the idea of starting plants indoors this year that we have planted annually for many years now and then quickly scrapped that idea because I have quite a few other irons in the fire…and then I walked past the seed packet aisle at Target the other week and with warmer weather teasing us here in the midwest I caved.

I looked through the seeds and told myself to stick to what I know (or usually plant), and I came home with four seed packs! #1, Zinnias!! We’ve planted these for years in our front window box. They are a butterfly favorite and we love watching all the wild bug life enjoy them on the other side of the front window. #2, Coleus. This plant I have used in the shady part of our backyard, aka “The Oasis”, and it gets crazy huge. #3, Butterfly Weed. I have this planted in our front yard as part of our native garden. I started with two establish nursery plants (we did a pre planned garden back in 2020 via Prairie Gardens, highly recommend) but one of my butterfly weed plants died. They sent a replacement and it died two years later. Last year I planted yet another one and it too died by the end of the season. When I saw the seed packet I thought why not try from scratch. And lastly, #4, Lavender!! I am the most excited about this one. We usually plant purple Angelonia in our patio planters. I couldn’t find any of those seeds but when I saw the Lavender I was intrigued. Based off the back of the package Lavender should be okay in place of the Angelonia and I am so excited to see if we can get some whiffs of lovely lavender this summer as well as harvest it for use in the house later as well. Yay!

I did learn a trick last time I germinated from scratch. Wet a paper towel, squeeze out the excess and empty your seed pack onto the towel. Cover with another layer of wet paper towel or just fold your towel in half and place in a ziplock bag for a day or two. The water helps speed up the process of the seed sprouting! Don’t believe me? I placed these in wet towels and left them for less than 48 hours and…check out my Butterfly Weed seedling here.

Or the Zinnia seeds, which REALLY came out of their shells! HA!

Bubba and P both helped me plant our little seedlings today and Bubba was so shocked at how the Zinnia had already begun to grow! He is learning about plants in school right now but he helps me plant our flowers every spring.

I found these awesome seedling trays at Aldi this week and they were PERFECT for our little gardening project. Complete with clear lids that really help with the greenhouse effect to keep warmth and moisture where the plants need it! The best part is I ideally reuse these next year!

Pictured above is the Coleus seeds…they were so small…almost smaller than poppy seeds! Who figured?

They were stuck to the wet paper towels..ugh..so I took a chance and just cut up the towel and planted it with the seeds. Will it work? Who knows! But I plan to update you all here weekly this spring, partly because Bubba wants to keep everyone informed about his plant progress as well!

All done! I misted the trays with water and snapped the lids on! We have many many music stands in this house and what do you know? Two trays fit perfectly on a stand! I did add some tape to the bottom of the tray to keep them from sliding off when the 7 year old gets too rowdy in the house.

We’re all really excited that spring seems to be just around the corner and I look forward to some weekly updates about our seedlings as the weeks go by!