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foxglove and coneflower question

15 years ago

Hi All, If I save the seed from the (kind of new) yellow and orange coneflowers, are those the colors I will get?

Also, what is the best way to collect foxglove seed? I tried looking for it elsewhere but had no luck. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! What a beautiful day.

Thanks, Sybil

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Comments (5)

sophiarose
15 years ago
I really need a good answer to this question,too! My just DH and I just bought 2 Razamatazz Echinaceas for our 19th wedding anniversary last weekend, and we are having a little contest to see who can propagate more from "their" plant. I thought I would try WSing the seeds, but he laughed at that! He was a Hort major in college and he said they would not come true because they are a hybrid. Is he right? I need the BEST ideas----I want to WIN!!!! Please help! Thanks :-)
ramazz
15 years ago
I am betting that, if you get viable seeds, you will get a mixture of plants. You might get a few that are close to the original. I got seeds (from trades) from several gaillardias that were supposed to be fancy ones, and so far none of them look like the parent plants. Plus, I got very few seedlings, as most of the seed wasn't viable.

I traded for seed for echinacea razzmatazz and I got 1 seedling. So far it has no buds, so I don't even know if I will get to see the flower until next year.

I bet someone else will be able to give you ideas on how to get some clones.

Becky
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Generally, the growth cycle for my foxgloves were to produce foliage and roots the first year, flower the second year, then some of them would return a third year to bloom again. Since they are not reliable for the third year, texts do not generally give that information. The third year's bloom stalks would generally be shorter, but produce several at once. During the second year, the first stalk would usually be single and tall. If the tall stalk was cut back after bloom, several shorter side stalks would form and bloom. It may be that a long growing season would allow time for this, and in a very short season location, perhaps not. Your plant may bloom again. If it gets some shock from being planted, the change in conditions etc., it may sit until next year. Or it may decide it is done and wither. Hard to say. Sometimes nursery stock is pushed hard to grow to market size, plus they are in a root confined growing condition, so they may be more likely to not be strong enough to bloom another year. You may find that plants put out into your garden at a young age, or started from seed and not disturbed, will be more likely to live longer. If stalks are left on the plant after bloom, the seed will disperse and you would often get seedlings popping around the garden. [Count on them choosing the most inconvenient of locations, such as between stones in the middle of the walkway. lol] In my garden, they would be found the next spring and that would be their first year of growth. Now there is a relatively newer foxglove, Foxy, that has been bred to bloom in the first year/season. The rules may be different for that one. I have not grown it in my garden, so I cannot say.
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No need to worry at all. Enjoy the foxglove, like millions of others do.
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I just bought a camelot rose foxglove plant today and I immediately planted it in a pot in less than an hour. The pot is a little over a foot tall and the plant is almost 3 ft tall. It was beautiful and sturdy. Lots of dark green leave and just starting to bloom. That was around 9 am. I left it with a bunch of my other full sun loving plants outside (all of which are doing fabulously) because it said 6 plus hours. By the time I came home from work at 5:30, the plant was in the shade. It was so droopy and and the leaves lost all shape and the stalks drooped so bad. I did not water it at all since it says to keep the soil moist but not wet. And the potting soil I used to fill the pot was already moist. Please help! I've had this plant less than 24 hours and I'm so worried for it! I've never had a foxglove before
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Foxgloves are a biennial, but that does not mean you won't get foliage. What will happen is this, year one you plant the seed, they grow, but just produce foliage. The foliage dies back over winter. Year two, the foliage comes back, and the plant puts up a stalk that blooms. Usually after that the foliage dies for good. Now in my area, my foxgloves that were first year last year, did not come back. This means they died over winter, could be for a number of reasons, but I expect that it was just to cold for them here. If you have dead looking roots still, my instinct says that the plant is gone. HTH Jenny P
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remy_gw
15 years ago
They will not come true because they are hybrid is correct, I'm sorry to say. You can still have fun growing the seeds if you have the room. You might get lucky and get a cool color or a double in the case of Razamatazz, but the single pink flower form is from dominate genes, so many of the babies turn out that way.
Remy
evonnestoryteller
15 years ago
I read this years ago, but recalled it when I saw your discussion. Your friend is correct though, that none of the plants, including the ones that look like Razzamataz are correctly called by the cultivar name. For most people, who cares though!

Here is a link that might be useful: Percentage of Razzamataz-Like Plants from Seed
northforker
15 years ago
I have no expertise on the "hybrid" question, but I can tell you how I save foxglove seed because I just did it today!

First, as ratty as it looks, the seed pods do need to ripen on the plant, so don't even think about harvesting until they are brownish and starting to open. The tricky part is getting there before the seed spills through the opening! I carefully cut 3 ripe stalks today and, holding them completely upright till I found a long manilla envelope, dumped them inside. Hung the envelope up on a hook in my kitchen with the top open for air. They will dry for a few weeks, then I will shake the whole envelope and dump the seeds out on a paper plate to dry some more before packing into tiny zip locks for storage/trading.

Hope this helps. My family can not BELIEVE I am starting this "seed saving business" already when I do not even have all my seedlings planted out!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck,
Nancy

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