Should I start my morning glory and moonflower downspout trellis seeds indoors or wait and plant them outdoors?
FREE Morning Glory & Moonflower Seeds
The answer is … where do you live? Locate your growing zone at the National Gardening Association. Here, you can locate your growing zone by your zip code. For example, zip code 60030 is in zone 5a. With that information, Find your average frost free date from the local extension service. I searched for ‘local extension zone 5a’, and found the University of Illinois Extension Annual Flower Planting Dates for USDA Hardiness Zone 5. I look at the list of flowers and find Morning Glory which is a Half-Hardy Flower and can go into the garden April 15. You may be given and “In” date for starting seeds indoors and an “Out” date for planting seeds outdoors directly into the garden. If you are not given both dates, simply count backward to the date you should plant your seeds indoors.
For my Moonflower seeds, I will use the seed manufacture instructions….evening soil needs to be 50 degrees and I’ll use the date of May 15 as an estimated date that the evenings will stay above 50 degrees. I will start my seeds indoors to provide a strong transplant to grow more quickly in May.
Remember, Moonflowers are a tropical plant and need a bit warmer conditions, so we will wait until our evenings are a little warmer for transplanting than out Heavenly Blue Morning Glories.
Next steps….germinating the seeds indoors!
