Looking Ahead | A Note from Rick Bogusch
January 30, 2026
By Rick Bogusch
Curious about what seeds can be sown now? We just sowed the first seeds of the year, yellow coneflower, 3-leaved coneflower, foxglove beardtongue, sneezeweed and Hello Yellow butterfly weed, all native to the prairies, meadows and woodland edges of eastern North America. We sowed them in small pots, but they are not indoors on a heat mat or under lights. Instead, the pots are in a tray right outside the backdoor, next to the house and protected from wind.
Certain seeds, including many native wildflowers and pollinators, need a month or two of freezing and thawing before they germinate in spring, a process called stratification. We often wrap pots with frost cloth for added protection or cover them with a crate to stop squirrels from digging them up. We usually sow the seeds thickly and then separate and transplant small seedlings into individual pots, ideally when plants have a couple sets of true leaves.
If you want to try stratifying your own seeds, there are many choices, both native and non-native. You can collect them yourself or buy them from the Long Island Native Plant Initiative or from the many nurseries that can be found on-line. By the way, all milkweeds are easy to grow from seed, if given a cold treatment.
Seed-sowing begins in earnest next month, so now is a good time to get in supplies and clean up equipment and of course, order seeds. Artichokes and all the brassicas will be among the first on the sowing roster.
January is a good time to prune. Wisteria, the apples and pears in the orchard, raspberries, blackberries and many small trees and shrubs are routinely on our list of tasks for the month. Removing dead wood and crossing branches and pruning to give plant neighbors room to coexist peacefully is easier to do when there are no leaves. Pruning also keeps rambunctious plants in bounds, encourages some plants to bloom more, can increase production of small fruits and can be done even when there’s snow on the ground.
Even when it’s cold and snowy, Bridge Gardens is open and a good place to enjoy the tranquil beauty of the winter landscape. I hope to see you soon! Stay warm, but make sure to get outside, too.
As always,
Rick
Rick Bogusch
Garden Director, Bridge Gardens
rbogusch@peconiclandtrust.org