Has Anyone Started Coneflowers From Seed?

[Elayne]

I bought coneflower seeds this year. (The plants are too expensive!) Has anyone started these seeds before? Any advice on how to start them?

[Barbee]

I start coneflowers almost every year. They are super easy. Just follow the directions on the packet and don't sow them too deep. Mine usually germinate in 2-3 days and then I pop them under the lights.
I have started them in peat pots, Miracle grow, pro mix, and winter sown them. I have not noticed that one way is better than the other. Supposedly, they will not bloom the first year but I have never found that to be a problem.

[Tom C zone 4/5]

Augustifolia does need some cold stratification. Any echinacea will do better with a slumber in a cold frame.

[montanamato]

I stick the container and seeds in the fridge for a few weeks and get great germination that way...

Jeanne

[PaulF]

We planted purple coneflowers on a hillside at our house and since they are a native plant in our area, they naturalized very well. Friends have seen the coneflower explosion and wanted to collect seeds. I have grown purple coneflowers successfully for several years. I stored the seeds in the cold garage until I was ready to plant.

For the last couple of years I have noticed lots of other colors being advertised in the catalogs. Are these hybrids and do they self seed like the purple ones? Does the color then revert to the parent plant? Or are they also OP flowers? I love the look of the dark red and the gold.

[Polar_Lace]

Originally Posted by PaulF

We planted purple coneflowers on a hillside at our house and since they are a native plant in our area, they naturalized very well.

For the last couple of years I have noticed lots of other colors being advertised in the catalogs. Are these hybrids and do they self seed like the purple ones? Does the color then revert to the parent plant? Or are they also OP flowers? I love the look of the dark red and the gold.

Yes Paul, many of other colors are hybrids, and may not come true from seeds. But I'll tell you that roots do grow massive from them, hence they will take over a place just by roots alone. One that comes true from seed besides the purple is the "White Swan," but it must not be near the purple, otherwise the plants will cross-breed and the seeds saved may produce either the white or the purple.

If you do dig up roots (the big ones) let me know; I grow them for a reason; the "Echinacea Root." For making my own Herbal Remedies. I usually use the 3 year old roots.

~* Robin

[Elayne]

I don't know much about coneflowers---I bought three plants two years ago from Burpee's. They were called "Twilght" The first year they were pretty, and the second year they just exploded! They were gorgeous and required almost no attention. I want to try some other colors along the side of my house. Almost every catalog I have looked at only sells the plant and they are about $10-$20 a piece. I did buy some seeds for a coneflower called Magnus. I assume that most of the colored ones (with the exception of purple) are hybrids, but I don't really know. The only place that has a variety of seeds is Ebay. I bid on some seeds for one called Razzmatazz that was really cool! The bid is up to $11, so I stopped bidding.

[remy]

Originally Posted by Elayne

II did buy some seeds for a coneflower called Magnus. I assume that most of the colored ones (with the exception of purple) are hybrids, but I don't really know. The only place that has a variety of seeds is Ebay. I bid on some seeds for one called Razzmatazz that was really cool! The bid is up to $11, so I stopped bidding.

Elayne,
I'm glad you stopped bidding. $11 for seed that won't come true is ridiculous! You would need a large grow out of plants and hope that you get something interesting. Often times they are ugly or look like regular Echinacea purpurea. When it comes to coneflowers, the hybrids should be bought as plants.
If you want seeds of a few varieties that will come true, I'll send them to you if you send me stamps to cover the postage in a Bubble Envelope. I have lots of Bubbles, so I just need stamps. I have Echinacea pallida and Echinacea tennesseensis. I have a few wild white seeds, not sure if they will come true or not, but you could try and see. I also have Ratibida columnaris(Yellow Prairie Coneflower) seeds. Not an Echinacea, but it will give you a similar look in yellow.
Remy

[Elayne]

Remy, Thank you so much for the information and for the offer of seeds---please PM me with your address and how many stamps and I will get it right in the mail. I am interested in all the varieties you mentioned and only need a few seeds of each. I want to establish coneflowers along the side of my house and there isn't alot of room. If I have several different hybrids in close proximity, will they eventually cross to a single color? Thank you again for your help!

[remy]

Elayne,
I'll send you a PM after I write this.
I copied a post I just wrote to someone on a seed saving forum who asked a very similar question. It has all the info I think you need to know:

Being that they have different second(species) names I think crossing is probably low. I'll try to explain.
If you are growing E. purpurea(regular purple coneflower) and E. purpurea 'White Swan', they will cross being they are both E. purpurea varieties. Most of the popular cultivars are E. purpurea. A baby I saved of a E. purpurea and E 'White Swan' cross came out paler pink than the regular.
But if you are growing E. atrorubens and Echinacea pupurea 'White Swan' and E. paradoxa, you should see no crossing of seeds.
You do have to be careful though. Some species of echinacea are not thought to be true species and can cross. An example of this is Echinacea tennesseensis. It is thought to be a sub species of E. purpurea, and if so, cross breeding would readily happen between E. tennesseensis and E. purpurea.
Did all of that make sense? lol. I hope so.
As far as keeping seeds pure if you are growing two crossable cultivars, you need to bag blossoms. They are probably outbreeding flowers meaning you need insect pollination to get viable seed. In that case, you need to bag a few blossoms, uncover them when full of pollen and pollinate them yourself(a small brush works if you can't rub the blooms together) then recover them immediately to stop any further pollination that could happen from insects traveling.

If anything didn't make sense let me know,
Remy

[Tomstrees]

sure have - I start them the same time as tomatoes - and treat them the same way .....

[habitat_gardener]

My echinaceas have started to reseed themselves, after a couple years or so. I usually cut the seedheads and leave them on the ground for seed-eaters. Last year I was weeding around the echinaceas and pulled up an unexpected echinacea seedling! Since then I've noticed a few more, still small, still crowded out and fighting for light under the wildflowers.

One of the local nurseries sells 6-packs of Echinacea 'Magnus' for $3! I was surprised to see them and when I went back the next year, they had more, from the same wholesale grower. (And I divided the 6-pack into more than a dozen plants, still awaiting a spot in the garden.) So maybe you can write to the wholesale growers that supply your local nurseries and suggest they grow echinaceas, particularly in their native range?

I keep intending to harvest some roots but still haven't gotten around to it. I do eat a leaf now and then. The leaves have the same medicinal constituents as the roots, according to my herb teacher, but are useful as fresh leaves only, not dried.

My oldest plant, which is about 6 years old, was a lot smaller than usual last year and the leaves are, so far, coming up later and smaller than the other plants. Do echinaceas need to be divided to continue to flourish?

[sfmathews]

I went to an herb seminar this past weekend, and the speaker said she will eat 3-4 seeds that are still attached to the flower in the winter. She said they give her energy.
Has anyone ever heard of this before?

[puttgirl]

Someone a few years back gave me seeds she only called "colored coneflowers". I wintersowed them and got a few plants that I transplanted late in the season. Last summer, I was surprised to find a cantelope melon colored one and a clear yellow one! So maybe the hybrids do come true to type. Not sure what they started as, but they're beautiful. Hopefully, I'll have bigger plants this year to save seeds from.