GROWING SNAPDRAGONS: How to Grow Snapdragon Seeds Start to Finish - Planting Snapdragon Flowers

Hello everyone and welcome back to the garden. Today we are going to be talking about how to grow snapdragons. Now admittedly I hadn't I didn't have much experience with snapdragons. I hadn't ever seen them before until I grew them in real life and wow I definitely just fell in love with them. They are just so tall and the colors are so creamy and there's a lot of different types with different kind of flower forms and structure that I get really really excited about. And best of all they start blooming here about the middle of spring here in my yard so it's the perfect time to kind of fill in that gap between the different bloom seasons as I'm waiting for my summer flowers to start blooming. And you may recall that I do already have another video here on the channel about how to grow snapdragons that is a little bit older. I'll go ahead and put a link to that in the cards right here so that you can find it. It's just how to grow snapdragons. Just in case I accidentally leave any very important information out of this video. So without much further ado let's get right on into this. Before growing the first thing you want to do is kind of plan a little bit. Plan ahead. It's really important. You want to determine what type of snapdragons you actually want to grow. Now the ones here in my garden these are all tall types and the main reason that I grow the tall types is because I'm growing for cut flowers obviously. That's what I love. But if you aren't growing for bedding or in containers or in pots there are so many different types of dwarf varieties that are so much smaller that'll grow and bloom and look beautiful in pots or like near patios and things like that. So you really have to pay attention to the type you're buying. There are absolutely a lot of these cut flower varieties available on the internet on various websites. But I have found when I'm shopping in person like at you know the home improvement store or something usually they have a lot more of dwarf types. Usually it'll say on the label the height and maturity and for the tall types I try to just pick types that are about 18 inches tall at maturity at least. Some of them will get up to 36 inches of maturity and I've even I think I've seen 48. I've never had snapdragons that tall here in my own yard but I think I've seen that listed on seed packets. The next step in growing our own snapdragons of course is deciding when we are going to plant these. Now there are several things to take into account here. Most snapdragon varieties are hardy to a certain USDA zone. I think it's usually about six or seven. Don't quote me on that. The main reason I use that figure is because here in my garden if I don't cover them it's really questionable whether or not they can overwinter. So you can plant these either in the spring or the fall. Here in my own yard and again I'm in zone 6b or 7 really on the border more like a 7. It also varies quite a bit just depending upon the winter. Here in my garden if I leave these uncovered it really is hit or miss. It's probably about a 50-50 chance that my snapdragons will overwinter. With that being said I've heard people much cooler than me having success overwintering snapdragons in their own yards. And one of the main factors I can imagine is that they get snowfall. They have a lot of snow cover in the winter so that might be a variable that is also something to take into account. Here where I am I usually don't have hardly any snow in the wintertime. So my little seedlings are exposed to the cold and the wet and the mud and it's just not a good recipe for fall planting without some kind of protection from the elements. Fortunately for me however I do have a lot of low tunnels, frost barrier, and different ways that I can extend the season and protect these little seedlings over the winter. So it's for that reason that I plant my snapdragons in the fall. In the past I have also made a spring planting and one of the things to note during a spring planting of snapdragons where I am, my springtime temperatures really heat up fast. Once May arrives you can almost guarantee the weather, you know, the temperatures are climbing into the 90s. So they really don't have that much time to get established before the heat comes. And since snapdragons are a cool season annual, most people consider them a cool season annual. There could be some debate there whether they're, you know, a short-lived perennial or not but we won't get into that. Since these do behave as a cool season annual I want to make sure that they are exposed to those cooler temperatures and blooming in that cooler weather as much as possible. Even though a spring planting for me is possible here, it should be noted that the plants are much smaller, the flowers are much smaller, and just less vigorous than those that were planted in the fall and had that long period of cool to get established. Determining when to plant these seeds in your own zone can be really difficult and admittedly it probably will take a lot of trial and error but once you kind of figure out what works for you and what doesn't work for you, growing these is just easy peasy I think. So getting into sowing the seeds, speaking of easy peasy, I bet I've read on the internet a thousand times that snapdragons are easy to grow from seed and you know what? I'll admit I don't think they are. I've been growing a lot of flowers for a long time and I think snapdragons are actually one of the more difficult flowers to grow from seed. When you first open up the seed packet the first thing that people usually notice is that these seeds are teeny tiny like little specks of dust. These things are so small. Oh it's so frustrating. I'm not a meticulous person so sowing these seeds is very very frustrating for me especially when you have a smaller packet of seed which can be extremely extremely difficult to separate all the seeds out to make sure you're getting your money's worth. Nonetheless it has to be done. I've heard of people mixing it with sand, mixing their seeds with sand. I've never tried that. I've heard of people using a toothpick to meticulously pick out each of the little seeds with a toothpick and put them in a sowing tray. I just I don't have the patience. I will be the first to tell you I don't have the patience to do that. What I like to do is I like to get a big open tray a big open bottom tray fill it with potting soil and I just like to gently cascade the seeds over the course of the entire tray over the length of the entire tray just barely tapping the packet very lightly so that one or two seeds comes out at the time as I'm packing as I'm tapping the packet. This personally works very well for me. Again I'm not an orderly organized person. This might drive somebody else just insane that I do it this way but you know by the time these germinate and get large enough to handle the transplant they generally have enough space to where they're not getting tangled and you know they're easier to handle and that's just the technique I use. Now that is the technique I use in the fall. In the fall I start my seeds about six to eight weeks before my first frost date and this allows for plenty of time for those seeds to start growing and the main reason I do it then is that the temperatures outdoors are an excellent temperature for germination. My outdoor temperatures are about 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day with the occasional warmer day in there and you know that's just the perfect temperature for germination to occur. The nights are nice and cool a really good variation in temperature and usually get great results. I usually start to see germination about you know one to two weeks after I've sowed the seeds. Another really great attribute of that of starting the seeds outdoors like that in the fall is that there's no hardening off period. I don't have to worry about hardening off. There has been some debate whether or not putting the seeds in the refrigerator helps germination. I find that putting the seeds in my refrigerator about one to two weeks before I sow the seeds increases the germination tremendously so that's something to consider as well just giving the snapdragon seeds that very brief period of cold stratification before the time comes to actually sow the seeds so it's very very important there. Of course like always you can start these seeds indoors under grow lights. That is 100% an option and that just really depends on you and your experience. I personally do not start any of my seeds indoors under grow lights. I think that the whole process is very difficult. Anytime I've ever attempted to start seeds indoors under grow lights I have failed. With snapdragons specifically they get tall and leggy and just before I know it they've all dampened off and it's just a big disappointing mess. So unfortunately I can't give you any tips or pointers on starting the seed indoor just because I don't have that experience. I'm sorry. The same can also be said if you are sowing in the spring. You can of course start them indoors in trays. I think usually people like to start their snapdragons about six to eight weeks before the last frost in general is what I see online kind of. But I would argue with that maybe even sooner would be fine to time out as soon as the soil can be worked so that these are getting transplanted in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked. The main reason for that is you want of course plenty of time for these to get established in periods of cool weather and since they are hardy annuals they can tolerate frost. So if there's a little bit of frost it's not going to be a big deal as long as there isn't a really hard freeze. I don't think it should be a problem. I know whenever I have planted out in the springtime before usually I use the transplant date about April 1st. You know the soil can be worked nice and easily then and I get pretty good results with that. As with a lot of these hardy annual flowers that can tolerate frost the key is really getting the plants out while the temperatures are still a little bit cool. And that's actually one of the reasons that I love the winter sewing method so much. Before I get into this if you are unfamiliar with the winter sewing method you definitely want to check out. I recommend the Complete Guide to Winter Sewing. I think it's one of the best videos that I've made just totally detailing the winter sewing process and everything that goes into that. Winter sewing is a method to start seeds using miniature greenhouses outdoors. The great thing about starting these seeds is you don't have to harden them off or really give them any special attention and you usually get great germination rate. I've had success winter sewing snapdragons in containers and in these trays for larger scale plantings. So it is possible. The great thing about winter sewing is also you don't have to do any kind of cold stratification first. Usually my snapdragons go into containers about the end of January to mid-February and by the time March and April rolls around I usually have seedlings that are more than big enough to transplant out in the yard and are just ready to go and ready to grow and bloom and be absolutely beautiful. But again choosing which type of seed starting is just a decision you'll have to make on your own. I can't I can offer the pros and cons of each as best I can but it really just depends on the gardener and your experience and your climate and just what's going to work for you. I know a lot of y'all are tired of hearing me say it but a lot of the flower growing process truly is just trial and error. So once I have gotten my seedlings transplanted outdoors, I should mention I transplanted these into well amended beds. I just use a lot of compost. I don't really fertilize or anything at planting time. Maybe I would if I were planting in the spring but I don't I don't when I'm planting in the fall. And when I'm planting in the fall and overwintering I am going to need a system in place trying to decide how I'm going to protect these seedlings. Now what I like to use is usually an Agribon 30 usually is what I use and some six mil plastic. This is not greenhouse plastic or anything fancy this is just regular six mil plastic from the home improvement store. What's great about it is it's relatively cheap and when you compare it to things like greenhouse fabric and it's um you know it's really accessible most places have it offered. Now this won't last as long as a lot of greenhouse fabrics but um or plastics rather I'm sorry. But when you take good care of it just take it in during the summertime and store it. I've had these plastics last every bit of four or five years. So I think personally it's a good investment. I do try to minimize my use of plastics when I am overwintering things like that. In general as long as there's only a light frost predicted I will leave my snapdragons uncovered. Usually I will leave the snapdragons uncovered until you know probably the early December. Usually before I add a frost blanket. Anything below about 30 degrees I'll go ahead and put a frost blanket on the snapdragon tunnel just to be safe. Make sure everything's looking good. Make sure everything's safe. And then anything below about 28 degrees Fahrenheit I'll go ahead and add the plastic row cover tunnel as well. So for the majority of the winter a lot of the time the cover will be on the tunnel. Just like the larger hoop house it will be important to kind of monitor the temperature. If it's a warmer day you know that that plastic is going to warm up inside that tunnel. Very very quickly I might take the plastic off and just you know leave the fabric cloth tunnel over the frost blanket tunnel over top. And this is again where we get back to just experimenting and getting that experience and learning what works. I have found that these snapdragons are surprisingly hardy. Here in my garden I've had temperatures get down to you know zero Fahrenheit before for a brief period of time. And even though the snapdragons didn't look too great they all will you know rebound and recover and you know start growing again once the spring arrives. So really nothing to worry about. I know if you've never grown hardy annuals before the whole process can be kind of nerve-wracking. Like can these plants really handle this cold weather? It is very cold out. Are you sure about this? Can this really happen? And just don't worry. I know some people have even ordered instead of starting from seed and investing time in seed. I know some people even order club trays, liner trays so that they can plan out and kind of eliminate a couple steps the first times they grow or you know after they've become more experienced so they can have an easier time. Even though the process is actually pretty simple actually doing it, getting the good germination, getting the good transplant size, getting the good growth in the spring, it can be a little bit time consuming and it can be a little bit more complex than some people let on. And again that could just be because of my growing zone since my growing zone is a little bit warmer. But it's definitely a challenge for me personally. Fortunately I think the results are well worth the effort. These things are absolutely beautiful. When the weather starts to warm and the days get longer in the spring and these things resume growth, they resume growth very very quickly. I generally expect my snapdragons to begin growing around the time that the ranunculus stops blooming. Usually there's about a week of overlap between my earliest snapdragons and my last ranunculus and it's also around the same time that the coral peonies start blooming. So there's this kind of magical period where you get these really beautiful flower arrangements during this time. Pinching is another thing to consider when you are growing snapdragons. Before I go much further I should mention that some people pinch their snapdragons. Of course with as with pinching any plant, pinching can encourage more branched growth. It's really up to you to decide when you think pinching should be done. I personally don't pinch ever. The main reason that I don't pinch is because I like the early flowers. I like them to arrive early in spring and pinching will delay the flowering about one to two weeks I found in my experience. If I were going to pinch I would do that in very early spring before the stems had started to elongate. But again the option is up to you. It seems like when I pinch my flowers are a bit smaller and the stems are just a little bit shorter and that might have something to do with the weather and how quickly it warms up. But it is a choice. I also begin to water more frequently and fertilize. I begin to fertilize in very early spring just as that growth is starting to kind of really kick into high gear before bloom. Once I start to see buds setting I don't fertilize or anything like that after more. But I do keep watering consistently. Watering from the bottom is very important especially as those buds start to form because the top of the stems can get very very top heavy. And the last thing that I want is my snapdragons falling over because these things are absolutely gorgeous and I am going to be so bummed out and disappointed if they're laying all over the ground. Which is one reason that some people might choose to use horizontal trellis netting across their snapdragons in order to make sure that they remain upright. Personally I don't do that simply because I have this small backyard and I'm not growing commercially. Most of these are just going to be donation flowers. So if they fall over a little bit and you know I can pick them it'll be fine. However if I was going to grow a huge row of these for cut flowers and I knew that they were going to sell and everything and I needed those tall strong long stems maybe I would consider horizontal trellis netting for that. Again it really just depends on you and your garden and what you want to do. You can allow these to go to seed if you want. Some of them like the open-faced ones are very attractive to pollinators. I see bees and hummingbirds in them all the time. If you do let them go to seed many of the open pollinated heirloom types will drop seed all over the garden and they will likely grow from seed very well direct sow in that manner. However I would never ever suggest direct sowing them as a means to start them. These seeds are so tiny and if you're growing an expensive variety just I would never ever direct sow. But they can volunteer so something to note I guess. If you want to pick them for cut flowers you can definitely do so because they have an awesome vase life. The vase life of snapdragons is seriously so impressive. I love it. Usually I can get about one to two weeks when open at the right stage. Here in this video most of the flowers you're seeing are the ones that are totally open just because I love to watch the floral display and like I said these are donation flowers so they are going to be actually used immediately. So I don't have to really obsess over super long vase lives with these fortunately. But if I were going to pick them for cut flowers usually I like to let about the bottom three to four three or four five flowers open on the stem and pick them at that point. So wait till the bottom three-ish flowers are totally completely open and then pick the spike there and store them in cool water. I haven't ever tried storing them in a cooler or anything so unfortunately I do not have any you know experience with that. Here in my yard the bloom time for snapdragons actually seems very short. As I already mentioned you know it heats up really really fast in the springtime here and even from a fall sowing it's a very limited period of time before these have bloomed and kind of reached their peak cycle to where they stop blooming because it's just too stinking hot. Now ideally in a perfect world I would love to leave my snapdragons in the garden and let them stay until fall which I have heard if you let them stay until fall they will keep blooming they will start blooming in the fall and keep right on blooming into late fall and even into the winter in some places. Unfortunately I haven't had this experience because I'm always in such a rush to you know get more plants into the garden get different plants in the garden. So if you have experience with that I would absolutely love love love love for you to tell me all about it in the comment section below. How late into the winter have you ever had them bloom into the winter? How did it go? I'd love to hear all about it but unfortunately that's not something that I have experimented with before so that's kind of a bummer. I think that that's all of the information that I have that's all of my experience with snapdragons. I hope I'm not forgetting anything that's blatantly obvious. I know sometimes when I make this video I'll just completely forget the most obvious thing. As always I would love to hear your experiences with growing snapdragons down below. Always be respectful and courteous of everyone down in the comments of course. Thank you so much for watching. All of the links to my blog and my patreon and all my stuff that you can click on is down in the description section right there. There's a free garden planner down there just all kinds of different stuff about growing flowers and everything else and how you can support the channel if you'd like to support the channel. It really does mean so so so much to me. Without every single one of y'all this just wouldn't be possible and I'm so thankful you are so appreciated. I hope that it is incredibly sunny and beautiful wherever you are and I hope that you're having a great day. Bye!