Well, all is not lost in my little seed-sprouting laboratory. Yesterday, I transferred many seeds into their “cells” or little pots for growing. Here’s a plant-by-plant update:

• The pink California poppies sprouted quite well. They weren’t on the heat pad, so no damage happened to them. The packet had about 125 seeds, and I got 72 good ones that were sprouting into little “Jiffy Pellet” planters. These are just a peat-moss/soil mix in a little net sac — I think they’ll be easier on the poppies when I transplant them, since these poppies don’t like transplanting.
• The white coneflowers may have been damaged by the heat problem. They started sprouting almost immediately last week, but since the heat problem, not many have sprouted. I got 12 good ones that I planted in little “Jiffy pots” which are degradable little cell packs made of peat. I also gathered some new coneflower seeds outside and placed a bunch of them on top of the soil in 10 or 12 little cells under the lights. We’ll see if they sprout any better than the ones in the ziploc bag.
• The Salvia nemorosa also may have been damaged by the heat, but I got 12 sprouting seeds into the jiffy pots, too. I also went out and found more seeds yesterday in the yard for these, and I’ve put those in another ziploc to see if they’ll sprout better. This time, they’re just on top of moist paper towels, without a layer of paper covering them.
• The Salvia transylvanica turned out to really be Nepeta transcaucasica seeds! I looked more closely at the old dead plant stalks, and they don’t have a basal whorl of large leaves, which the Salvia do have. I threw those seeds out, because I’ve read recently that Nepetas are invasive and will self-sow in many places they aren’t wanted. Perhaps I’ll transplant some to the area against the south wall of the house where the invasive Anthemis tinctoria plants are. The yellow and purple combination might be nice, and they can just invade each others’ territory.
• The Coreopsis grandiflora ‘Mayfield Giant’ seeds are doing great. They weren’t on the hot pad, so they didn’t get scorched. I planted perhaps 20 of them yesterday in jiffy pots and plastic cells with a seed planting soil. I think they’re going to do well. I also left room to plant more of them.
• The Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Double Click’ seeds seemed a bit scorched, and some of the sprouts were killed. But the seeds that were left that hadn’t sprouted are now starting to sprout, and I think they’ll be OK. I planted about 12 of them in the plastic cells, and I think more will be sprouting today or tomorrow.

The poppies are starting to grow already — several have started some vertical growth and are putting out their leaves now. The cosmos that I planted in the cells are also starting to rise. It looks like it’s going to turn out OK.