Still have enough growing season if they'll germinate. Do you know if your seeds were stratified/chilled? Is recommended, but don't know how particular they are about it. Could try a few and see if they'll start.

Bostedo I'm not sure if they were chilled first. I planted some seeds in my flower bed and planted a few in a starter tray. Hopefully one or two will germinate? This is the first time I've grown mistflower but I've read a lot of good things about it.

I started with plants, but the blooms that formed flowers this spring are currently dropping seed. No idea if they will germinate, but once you get a start, they do multiply at the root level.

I hope I can get a few of the seeds to germinate so that I'll have a nice clump of mistflowers? The lady who gave me the seeds sent a sandwich bag filled with seeds.

You'll surely get germination from a baggie full of seeds :-) Message me if it goes south and I'll send you a start.

Thanks PKponder. I'll also try sowing the seeds in Fall to see if they need more cold stratification. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

The variety of blue mistflower that I had needs a large sunny bed of it's own. It's a good butterfly attractor, but I took it out because it was an aggressive spreader and wanted to take over the whole bed.. It was not easy to remove as it kept coming back from every little piece of root that was left. Just so you know ...

Thanks for telling me that roselee. I have a bare patch in my flower bed that I need filled. I used to have French hollyhocks but I pulled them up because rust was making them look ratty. They attracted all types of pollinators and beneficial bugs. I definitely want more butterflies in my garden. The bare door is a part in my flower bed that's unamended clay soil and baked because of the parking lot nearby.

The Gregg's/palm-leaf {blue} mistflower (Conoclinium greggii) has been a slow spreader for us in shade and have heard it is less agressive than blue mistflower (C. coelestinum). Neighbors have had a small stand in part sun for many years that has not taken over their mixed xeric bed - they're around the corner, so don't see it enough to know how much, if any, periodic shovel pruning it's taken to maintain it.

Guess will know better once we get a start of c. coelestinum from the fall swap into the ground; sounding like it might be best to put it into one of our concrete enclosed beds.

So both types are good xeric candidates? I may grow the mistflower seeds in a large container.

I grow my mistflower in the ground in a nursery pot with the bottom cut out of it. It keeps it from spreading and is easy to lift and divide if someone wants a bit of the clump. When it blooms in the fall, it is covered in butterflies, so I wouldn't want to be without it. Oh, and it's a wonderful xeric plant --- I might water mine three times a year.

Michelle

That's a great idea Michelle. I'll try that if I can get any seeds to sprout. I've been switching to xeric plants with the exception of my banana plants.

I have killed C. greggii and C coelestium on my porous limy hill. It was not xeric for me. I even watered i. I think they will like a richer soil than I can provide. When I lived in town on a clay based humous , it spread like crazy.

I have lots of clay soil so I wonder if it will still so well for me?

It will do better there than here. I would amend the soil with humous. They say that the C. gregii is from West Texas and New mexico. These places have moist canyons with a cool down at night.

Ok I'll get some topsoil with compost to amend the area.

Amount of sun is likely another factor in how much water it needs. They will grow in almost total shade, though growth rate and flowering will suffer. Ours is in a full to partially shaded blackland prairie clay bed with fragrant sumac, Lantana montevidensis hybrid, Turkscap, lyreleaf sage, inland sea oats, Texas betony, and other "medium" water use plants - all of which require less water than the St Augustine they replaced in this shaded space.

I'll probably try some in both my shade garden and in an area that gets a little shade in the morning but afternoon sun the rest of the day.

I have both varieties, but the C. greggii is more of a thug here (increased it's size by 6 times easily in 2 years). It gets only morning sun for a couple of hours. We garden on sand and compost. I mulch mow all of my fall leaves and scatter then all round as a natural mulch to help retain some moisture. The C. coelestinum (which I mistakenly thought was an ageratum) has grown in overall size but hasn't yet spread. It gets less of the morning sun than the greggii but has been planted for the same length of time.

Both are getting ready to bloom lightly, nothing like the fall show.

Are the blooms fragrant? I can't believe the greggii one grew that big in just two years.

Oh wow that's a pretty plant. I really like the leaves. Your yard and garden look much nicer than mine. Do you know how long it usually takes for the seeds to germinate?

No idea on the seeds, sorry.

Ok thanks. :)

Does anyone know where to get the blue or Greg in the FW area?

I don't know where in FW. I live in Carrollton & can pull it up from the root if you want some. I have the Blue Mist.

Weenerdogg, I have enough of the Greggii to share. Send me a message if you are interested.

Blackwillow, Have heard Conoclinium germinates in 1 to 2 weeks. This NRCS growth protocol says 7 to 10 days is typical for stratified seed. So looks like 2 weeks is a good estimate if seed is ready.

PKponder, Glad you clarified the amount of spreading on Gregg's mistflower; I was thinking more of it not coming up by sprout or seed feet away from the parent plant, so easier to keep in bounds with a shovel. We have a big spot where ours still look "small" but have increased the areas they cover a lot more than I realized from their original 4" pots planted in Oct, 2014. Both were from the same nursery lot placed about 10 ft apart in what looks like identical light (full summer shade), soil, and slope. They were recently trimmed due to getting somewhat sparse and leggy from the lack of light. This one has spread ~4-6x similar to yours:

Sorry for poor photos - angle of the stems make the areas look larger than the actual footprint, but second probably does cover at least twice that of the first..... not sure why. They should look better once an adjacent hedge comes out and they can catch some sun.

Weenerdogg, We got our Gregg's at Jim Miller's in Richardson and the Blue at the Denton County fall swap. Have also seen them at Rohde's in Garland, so should be able to find them in season at most nurseries that are well stocked with natives. Redenta's in Arlington is a bit closer to you and would be one worth checking with.

Thanks bostedo for that information. I'm keeping the area I sowed the seeds moist.

I'm so happy. Today I got a couple of Gregg's mistflower plants for $3 from a local gardener.

What a great find. Lucky you!

Michelle

Thanks Michelle! He also had some Indigo Spires salvia for a dollar but I don't have room for a big plant lol.