Has anyone grown these from seed? Are they easy to grow from seed and how long will it take to see blooms in zone 6/7?

thanks
Maureen

It might take as much as 2 to 3 weeks for germination to occur; count on another 4 weeks until you can transplant the seedlings to their individual cell packs or pots. How quickly the plants grow after that depends entirely on your fertilization, temperature and sunlight. The sunnier and warmer...the better.

Under typical winter/spring germination conditions, it can take 16 plus weeks from sowing to blooming. If the conditions are bright and toasty, it can take as little as 10 to 12 weeks.

I bought seed (which are pelleted) and only had one seed germinate. The little plant appears healthy but is very slow growing. At this rate of growth, I think it will be a long time before it gets big enough to set blooms.

I've had excellent luck with taking tip cuttings and rooting them and you would see much quicker blooms using this method.

Late last summer I picked up 6 potted Penta's that were on the sale table at my local nursery to use for practice cuttings. Naturally they were the left over's from the season and pretty poor looking plants. I repotted and fed them and they quickly grew into lovely plants. The hummers and butterflies love the blooms. I took tip cuttings to overwinter. They rooted in little mini greenhouse's made out of 2 liter cola bottles and the plants are now planted in my garden. If you can find a mature plant to use as a mother plant, I suspect that would be a quicker way to grow blooming plants.

Mary