I have never started perennials from seed before and decided to just try an uneducated experiment. I put starting mix in styrofoam cups (with a hole punched in the bottom for drainage), added 3 echinacea seeds to each cup, rubberbanded some clear plastic wrap to each cup, made a slit in the wrap, and put the cups on my north-facing front porch. I planted 10 purple coneflowers and 9 germinated. I planted 10 pow wow coneflowers and they are just now starting to come up, a week behind the purple ones. Am I accidentally on to something, or is this just freakish beginners luck?

Hi everyone, I am trying to prep my garden and wondering whether I should pull up all of my coneflowers. I didn't know that they had yellow asters until I looked up why coneflowers turn green. I noticed the weird look last fall, but thought, "Hmmm⦠I must have planted an exotic one and didn't remember." Do I really need to pull up all of them NOW or should I wait til they come up to see which are healthy? I have 50% perennials in the garden, much of which are resistant to the aster yellows. The coneflowers and rudbeckias are just the 2 that might be impacted.

Siam, do you have any salt in your soil? if you do these will need to be planted in pots, they will not survive if you have salt in your soil. They grow in my yard in San Antonio, and reseed themself, but at the coast I cannot grown one to save my life. I am also sending you seeds, but of the newer varieties. I am still waiting for some of my flowering perennials to turn to seeds. We just got rain, and everything is blooming at my home in San Antonio, its like spring. The only seeds I have at the coast are datura, and will also include them. Can I send bulbs to you? Barbra

Good luck to blueheronretreat. He can also make lots of Echinacea tea. It is made from the root. I know what you mean McPeg. I am also nuts about plants. I have a small greenhouse by the house. There is no more room in the "inn". I like to go and pull my plants by the hair, so I can transplant. I am itching to get my fingers back into the soil.