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Guidance for Growing Echinacea

I would like to start a small plot of purple coneflower in my backyard, but I haven't found a good article on starting this seed. I have a small amount of wild seed available and prefer to stay away from domesticated stock if possible.

JERRY J
Brookings, South Dakota

Coneflower plants, also known as echinacea, were used by Native-American healers to treat a wide variety of illnesses ranging from snakebite to rheumatism. Contemporary research has indicated that echinacea is effective in reducing inflammation, easing the course of viral illnesses, and increasing the blood's supply of disease-fighting white blood cells. Echinacea's increased popularity as an herbal remedy has resulted in the overharvesting of wild plants, so enthusiasts are encouraged to grow their own, as you plan to do.

Of the three most common North American species, Echinacea augustifolia is most common in your part of the country. E. augustifolia is the most difficult species of coneflower to start from seed, but it also produces the highest concentration of medical ingredients.

For propagation, it's best to replicate the conditions under which E. augustifolia evolved on the harsh Dakota prairie. The seed needs to experience day/night photo periods, seasonal temperatures and cold-water flushes. It's best to plant seed outdoors in a nursery bed in late fall to early winter, lightly covered with fine potting soil, and let nature do the conditioning.

Indoors, you'll need to give it a bit of attention. E. augustifolia seed needs a prolonged deep-chill period to germinate - 12 weeks minimum. To mimic winter temperature fluctuations, move it from fridge to freezer every few days, or leave your well-dried seed on a shady porch in a mouseproof jar.

Some experts recommend priming seed that has wintered indoors by treating it to several soak/rinse cycles as it would encounter outdoors. This removes natural germination inhibitors that keep seeds from sprouting prematurely. Start seeds in seedling cells covered by one and a half inches of well-draining planting mix, or on a sheet of moist blotter paper. Grow in open daylight, but not on a windowsill where they may become overheated. Keep seed at normal summer temperatures - about 70°F, plus or minus 5°F - and keep flats or blotter paper moist but not soggy.

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