Overwintering Flowers Webinar

Overwintering Flowers • How to extend your growing season with cold-hardy annuals

Welcome to the Resources page for our Overwintering Flowers webinar, a list of educational materials covering the basics of getting started with small-scale cut-flower production in the overwinter tunnel.

OVERVIEW: Joy and Hillary share what they have learned over 5+ years of working with overwintered flowers at Johnny's Research Farm in Zone 5. They walk you through the benefits of overwintering, provide crop and variety recommendations, and offer tips on getting set up for success. You'll also get updates on new crops and varieties currently under trial at Johnny's.

Joy, Molly, and Hillary additionally answer attendees' questions on overwintering flowers during the Q&A session.

About Our Presenters
Joy LongfellowJoy Longfellow is the Flower Product Technician at Johnny's, managing every aspect of the flower trialing program. Joy enjoys exploring the challenges and possibilities of growing flowers year-round in cold climates. When she's not busy trialing flower varieties, she can often be found tending to her own backyard cutting garden.
Hillary AlgerHillary Alger is the Flower Product Manager at Johnny's, with 7 years of experience managing the flower program. Hillary and Joy have worked side by side to grow, document, and share their experimentation with overwintered flowers for early-season blooms.
Molly SadowskyMolly Sadowsky is a former Commercial Sales Representative for Canada and Southern Oregon. With more than a dozen years of experience in wholesale and retail floral sales, Molly has worked closely with flower farmers to provide crop planning assistance and sales insights.

Overwintering Flowers Webinar Resources

Overwintering Flowers • Webinar • VIDEO
Here is the full presentation of our Overwinter Flowers Webinar, followed by a Q&A session. Video runs approximately 90 minutes. Watch…

Flowers for Overwintering • A Series of Video Clips on Crops & Methods

OVERWINTERING METHODS & CONSIDERATIONS




TOP 5 FOR THE OVERWINTER FLOWER TUNNEL





+15 MORE CROPS FOR THE OVERWINTER FLOWER TUNNEL

Note: Below are crops with videos, in alphabetical order — for the complete list of our trialed crops, download our Overwinter Flower Trials • Results by Crop • Workbook (XLSX)…
















Articles & Worksheets for Overwintering Flowers

Guide to Overwintering Flowers

  1. Intro to Overwintering Flowers • Methods + Recommendations from Johnny's Multiyear Overwinter Flower Trials • Article
    Many types of flowers can be started in late summer/fall for overwintering. Here is an intro to scheduling, method, and recommendations from our overwinter flower trials, so you can achieve blooms about a month earlier than with spring-planted field crops. Read More…
  2. Choosing Flower Crops to Overwinter: Results from Our Trials • Article
    Here is a compendium of our trial results by crop, including our top 5 crops for beginners and a comprehensive review of all crops we have trialed. Read More…
  3. When to Start Seeds for Overwintered Flowers • Article
    Crop planning for overwintered plantings can be a challenge. The timeline can seem counterintuitive, because seed-starting for many overwintering varieties takes place amidst the bustle of summer harvest (July and August for Zones 5a–5b). Read More…
  4. Overwinter Flower Trials • Results by Crop • Workbook (XLSX)
    Covering all 25 cut-flower crops we have successfully overwintered in our Zone 5a unheated tunnel, this workbook provides information on yield, rate of survival, and specific variety recommendations. Set up as a spreadsheet for you to download, save to your system, sort and filter for your own planning and recordkeeping purposes. Download Workbook…
  5. Overwinter Flower Trials • Seeding Date Calculator • Workbook (XLSX)
    Download our Overwinter Flower Trials Seeding Date Calculator to determine the best seeding date range in your area for the 25 cut-flower crops detailed in our overwinter trial results. Download Workbook…
  6. 5 Cool Flowers to Plant Now • Lisa Mason Ziegler's Secrets for Growing Hardy, Cool-Season Annuals • Article
    Here are Lisa's Mason Ziegler's 5 recommended "Cool Flowers," ones for "shoulder-season" growing, fall and spring. While degree of cold-tolerance varies, depending on your Zone and microclimate, many can be planted in the fall, to overwinter and produce blooms the following spring. Others can be planted in very, very early spring. Read More…