Eigenvector wrote:

"Paulo da Costa" wrote in message
...
[...]
Echinacea has a rhizome and spreads out bigger and stronger every
year, after dying back in the fall. You can also grow it very easily
from the seeds that are in the "cone" that remains when the flowers
die out.

Paulo

Okay, that's certainly reassuring. I was about to clip off the dead
flowers but wasn't sure what effect that would have on them. I was also
going to pull weeds from around them, but not knowing what an echinacea
looks like when just starting out I didn't want to take the wrong
thing. It's been rather warm and wet here (Seattle) lately and the
weeds are coming out in force. I wanted to tag them before they had a
chance to establish, and since I have the day off I can do it at my
leisure.

Right, the flowers are probably brown and dry by now, and full of seeds.
You can clip them off and save the seeds or spread them around if you
want your garden covered with them.

The new leaves coming from the old plant with be strong and big and
unmistakable. The first leaf from one growing from seed is dark green
and heart-shaped, anything else is a weed

Paulo