Last autumn, with my Carol Klein hat on, I harvested a lot of Echinacea
seed from several varieties which we like. Ones such as "Fatal
Attraction", Harvest Moon", "Sundown" etc. They provide such a beautiful
splash of colour.

I'd be grateful for any advice based on members' experience on the best
way to germinate these seeds. There is a lot of conflicting information
on the Internet - much of it US based probably because coneflowers like
Echinacea are native to N. America. As recommended somewhere, I have
sown a few seeds in a heated propagator in the greenhouse which gets
loads of sunlight. This was 2-3 weeks ago - so far not a sign of life.
The seeds were properly collected, dried and stored, I believe.

Any thoughts, tips or advice would be very welcome.... apart from
learning to be patient:-)

Many thanks.
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

In message , Sacha
writes
On 2010-04-01 18:14:29 +0100, Gopher said:

Last autumn, with my Carol Klein hat on, I harvested a lot of
Echinacea seed from several varieties which we like. Ones such as
"Fatal Attraction", Harvest Moon", "Sundown" etc. They provide such a
beautiful splash of colour.
I'd be grateful for any advice based on members' experience on the
best way to germinate these seeds. There is a lot of conflicting
information on the Internet - much of it US based probably because
coneflowers like Echinacea are native to N. America. As recommended
somewhere, I have sown a few seeds in a heated propagator in the
greenhouse which gets loads of sunlight. This was 2-3 weeks ago - so
far not a sign of life. The seeds were properly collected, dried and
stored, I believe.
Any thoughts, tips or advice would be very welcome.... apart from
learning to be patient:-)
Many thanks.

Okay, I finally remembered to get hold of Ray and ask him what he does.
First of all, he buys seed in and he plants it in autumn in plugs. Then
he pricks them out and over-winters them in an unheated tunnel. But of
course, they are started on heated benches in the propagating house.
Unnervingly, he says, they die back as all perennials do, even though
they're such babies and then they re-emerge. Ours have just been put
into 2 litre pots. He suggests you wait another week or two but also
says that he really doesn't like to say whether they'll come true or
not. Worth a try is his verdict, you may get something gorgeous that
you weren't expecting! But it is quite possible they won't flower this
year but will next year so x fingers they do work this year, too.
Ours took a long time to grow up a bit this year, because of the
weather, so don't be surprised if they have to wait a year.

Thanks Sacha. We really appreciate you taking the trouble. Am also
waiting for NZ lupins to start to emerge - flowering in 2011 perhaps?
--
Gopher .... I know my place!