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When to plant out Aqulegia seeds?

I have grown some aquelegia seeds from a plant in the garden. They have all germinated, and are about 1cm at the moment and they are indoors. I need to know when to plant them out. If I harden off and plant out now will they last over the winter. Should I keep them in my greenhouse and plant out in the spring. Should I keep indoors until next year. Help needed from an expert please.

Public Comments

1. Let them get a bit larger, and plant them at least a month before the soils become very cold. I live in USDA Zone 4, and try to have all my seedlings and divisions in the ground by mid-September. I'd grow them on outside though, not in the greenhouse.
2. Aquilegias are pretty hardy but it would probably have been better to have saved the seed until next Spring, when the young plants would have had all summer to grow big enough to survive the winter. They are still too small to plant out. If you have an unheated greenhouse I'd be tempted to overwinter them in it, but as they are so easy to grow from seed why not risk planting out half of them when they have grown a bit more and overwinter the rest. If you have a suitable spot to let them grow on outdoors it would start the hardening off period and give you a bit of a start. You may well find that you have some self sown ones next year anyway.
3. I'd transplant them to small pots, and transition them into growing outdoors, or 'hardening off' as it's called. This means giving them a little bit more time each day outdoors, starting with an hour or two, and increasing this over a couple of weeks. Aquilegias are hardy, and my small self-sown seedlings, which are now about the same size as yours, live through the winter each year. It may take another year before they start to flower, as they're small at the moment, but they will live and flower for many years. If you keep them in your greenhouse they will grow at a faster rate this year, so that's also an option for you, the choice is yours. I wouldn't put the seedlings straight into full direct sunlight at first, as they'll need to adjust to get used to it, so use a shady spot for hardening off to start with. If you grow the seedlings in small pots then it's your choice when you plant them in the ground, as they're so hardy - just aim not to do it when the ground is frozen. I'd add some bone-meal and rotted compost into the planting holes too, after you move them out of their pots, as this will help them to get established and provide nutrients for growth. Keeping them pot grown in the short term will give them a better chance to get established, and a potting soil is likely to be more nutrient rich than garden soil. Hope this helps. Good luck! Rob