I start both the L. nepetifolia and the L. leonurus in late January indoors under lights. Both species germinate in two weeks at 70F. Using this protocol, seedlings are ready to be set out in the garden about two weeks after my last frost date (for me it's April 15th). I wouldn't recommend winter sowing either of these --they are both natives of Africa and as such do not need cold temperatures to germinate. It would make sense to start yours indoors since you are in Zone 5, and have a shorter growing season. Leonotis prefers heat and humidity, and really reach their stride in late August. Mine are still blooming, but I expect the deep freeze predicted for this week will end their display. Both species are perennial for me.

Thank you for the advice seedmoney. Now that I have plenty of information on growing them, do you mind trading me some of your seeds after the seedheads have ripened??

It looks like seedmoney has covered anything I was going to say :) You do realize these are not perennial in your zone?

I've WSed them in zone 7 and been succesful.

Warning on this plant--other names are Lion's Paws, but should be called Lion's Claws. The whirled flowers end in needle-sharp points. Do not plant this by a walkway--my shouders and were constantly scratched by the needles, like cat scratches! This plant gets humongous...mine grew at least to the top of the roof but then the stems tipped down under their weight and rooted where they touched the ground, then they grew tall again, tipped and rooted, and so on and so on. The plant spreads in this creeping manner. I rarely see hummingbirds in my garden but this plant attracted them all day long.

T

Welcome to this forum perennialfan

Wow! Trudi, those really went crazy in your yard! Ive seen them about 6 ft tall here, maybe a little more, but UP TO THE ROOF!!! Holy cow!

I didn't feed them. But before transplant I did dig in some grass clippings into the flower bed. That was it.

I grew them for the first time this past year. Since we have a short warm season I started them indoors. Not being familiar with them, I put most of them in huge pots with other annuals on the front steps(sixteen 24" pots). They grew as tall as 7 1/2 feet and bloomed in Sept. The smallest one was 6 foot. The front steps in partially shaded so I was surprised they did as good as they did. Next summer they get planted in the back along the fence and in sun most of the day, they should like that area better.

Sandy

Thanks for this thread. I have seeds to sow this year. Last year I bought a plant, thinking I could save the seeds, but although it grew to about 8 ft. tall it never did get to the bloom stage. It had just started to make the whorl where it blooms and then we got a frost and that was the end of that!

Anyway, I got some new seeds and I plan to sow some on the solstice for a Leap of Faith, and save some for next year just in case. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Mary

I would love to see ya'lls pic's..I have some seed I was going to put in a Traveling seed box..BUT decided to grow them out..

Kylie

Chena - I don't have photos because I'll be growing leonotis for the first time this year. But I keep looking at photos of them on Flickr and thinking of Spring!

Link to a leonotis slide show is attached.

Lynda

Here is a link that might be useful: leonotis