Echincea purple and white , Black eye Susana. Clematis auqilla
and it works awesome. i am going to have to try the Malva tho' it never grows for me..and Lupin.

Seed sowing and saving by Carole B. Turner shows pictures of laying the entire liatris plume into like a trench and covering the entire thing and says that is where the next years flowers will sprout up. I want to try that. This is a great book. It shows you what the seeds look like and how to find them with a diagram of specific flower/plant. I'm going to put that on my Wish list to buy or look for used book for sale at library used book store. Good to have for reference.

On Mr. Brown Thumb blog, he tells and I think he post a picture of him planting the entire coneflower seed pod with a few inches of the flower stem sticking out of the ground. He says it's the lazy way but it works but suggest you still mark the location with a plant marker.

I think that would be great for liatris as I remember not all seeds are viable. This is one where you have to feel for the egg like gaillardia. I would definitely mark the liatris as the sprouts look like grass.

I'm definitely going to try that with the liatris. I bought a ton of white liatris bulbs last spring, but since we had a wet rainy spring, they all rotted in the ground. Maybe I'll have better luck with the spent flowers. At least it won't cost me any money this way.

Worth a try. Those who love liatris and want to try this, sow, mark, and report. Sounds like a fun experiment.

I can't imagine Liatris not germinating. For me it's like a weed. And when I have wintersowed it, I get 100% germination. I don't know what specific variety I have. My seeds are from a plant that was growing at our cottage when we bought it. The seeds I've sent Bakemom for the newbie project are descendants from that plant. I have lots more I collected yesterday, or I could dig up bulbs if anyone wants flowers faster. In fact, I have volunteer sprouts scattered all through the garden that I could send. At least they have one year of growth behind them, but wouldn't weigh too much for postage. Let me know.

Martha

Martha I would be interested in some of your bulbs for postage . I have had zero luck getting the seeds to go.
Let me know.
Ivy

Ivy,
I'll dig some up in the next day or so. I've never shipped bulbs. Should I let them dry first? Leave the leaf attached? Or should I wait until they go completely dormant before I dig them up? I'l plan to send you some mature bulbs, since I have plenty. They'll probably benefit from thinning. I'll check back with a post soon. In the mean time I'll check with the bulbs forum on safe transport.

Martha

I'm not finding much info on liatris and how/when to ship or dig. Maybe I'll just dig some up, leave the leaves on and send some seeds along just in case. If you plant them as soon as you receive them, I'd bet they'll do fine. I'll plan to dig this weekend. E-mail me your address and I'll stick them in the mail.

Martha

I harvested all of the echinacea seeds I wanted a few weeks ago. I was out "cleaning" the garden this morning and had many more echinacea seed heads. Instead of tossing them in the brush pile, I buried the seed heads in strategic spots around the garden. For about 5 minutes labor, I could possibly end up with a dozen new echinacea plants.

I buried my liatris seed heads a week or so ago.