They wintersow well but if I recall you might get a few blooms the first year if you start them indoors. I've never had the best luck with coneflowers for some reason. I think I need to try them again.

I WSed some purple ones last year and they did really well, but Gil is right - they didn't bloom. I don't have a lot of luck with them either. They only seem to last a couple of years and then they're gone.

I like them, but haven't had much success either. I have one right at the back of the house facing south in a sheltered nook that is the only survivor of my last batch.

Thanks everyone, I received some seeds in a trade, so maybe I will do both. Sounds like if I get some to grow maybe I should do some mega mass plantings and then hopefully they will reseed themselves.

I have had such poor falls here the last couple of years that getting seeds to ripen has been almost impossible.

Here hoping for a good growing year. I'm do for one. Cheryl

I wonder why they don't grow well for so many people? They are supposadly hardy, and they aren't supposed to be unusually short lived. Huh. Maybe they need super good drainage that many of us may not have. I have heavy clay soil, so even with raised beds and amendments I still seem to lose my coneflowers as well.

They do self-seed like crazy if you don't dead head though. All of mine died out over winter 2009, but this past summer I had tons of smaller plants that had self-seeded. None of them got big enough to bloom though, so I hope they survive.