Growing Echinacea From Seed
Wear gloves and separate the seeds from the cone.
Growing echinacea from seed. Echinacea prefers growing in dry sunny spots and is drought tolerant. Here are some tips from our expert gardeners on growing echinacea plants from seeds. The seeds are attached to the sharp spines. Pre preparation echinacea seed can take about 1 to 3 weeks to germinate but in some cases can take longer to come out its dormancy stage and germinate so you should follow the instructions on the seed package for best results.
This is probably a week or two after germination. Before sowing your echinacea seeds plan where you will plant your seedlings when they are ready. Growing echinacea from seed. Fill pots with moist potting soil to about 1 2 12 mm below the top of the pot.
The seeds can be sown directly into the ground or started indoors and transferred to the garden later. If you want to start echinacea from seed start them indoors 6 8 weeks before the last frost date. Note that they now have a true leaf. How to plant echinacea or coneflower seeds in pots or in the ground.
You can also sow seeds directly in the ground in fall or winter. From march fill some small 3 inch pots with good organic potting compost. Start seeds indoors in january or direct sow in garden 2 weeks before first frost date. Coneflower seeds usually germinate in 10 20 days.
Growing from seeds. If you d like to save the seed wait until the cone has fully dried. Echinacea is easy to grow from seed as well but requires a cold moist period called stratification in order to germinate. Echinacea are one of the plants i direct sow in the garden in the fall see post highlighted.
It will be darker in color and stiff to the touch. Keep in mind that growing echinacea from seed may mean waiting for two years to see blossoms. Sow seeds thickly in the fall after hard frost in the north and before winter rains elsewhere covering lightly to discourage birds from eating them. Many claim they germinate better with some cold stratification but i have yet to test that.
The best time to plant echinacea seeds is towards the end of winter. How to grow echinacea. How to plant echinacea in a garden. Echinacea is easy to grow from seeds.