Everything I've read and heard from others indicates they self sow freely, some people say too freely. They need cold so I wouldn't worry about them germinating early since nature has its own protection against that. I already sowed some I collected, I almost always direct sow perennial seeds in fall, especially natives. I also direct sowed some rudbeckia & brown-eyed susan's. I got a red spotted pod from a gorgeous mesquite tree I stumbled across the other day which had 5 plump seeds that I nicked, soaked and planted in a pot too.

You should be able to plant the seeds now. I would only do it if I had a lot though. (and I can help you that if you need more :) ) I am a fan of the "wintersowing" method. There's a forum for it on here and a FB page too. They usually start their planting around the end of December.

Bon, I have a bunch of echinacea seeds for you. I need to send them your way.

Yay! Been working my tushy off for bedding spaces. Yay!

I like the wintersowing method too for special seeds, ones I spent a lot of money on or unfamiliar seeds when I only have a few and want to closely monitor them. I used to buy lots of pkts of native seed from Plants of the SW and the packets that need cold all say "Sow in fall" or "Cold stratify in the refrigerator for three months" so I got used to sowing in fall before I ever heard of the term wintersowing. Sowing in either fall or winter works just fine for seeds needing cold.

If you have lots of echinacea seed and it sounds like generous and nice people are offering them, they are a good one to sow directly. Any native that self sows that easily is a good candidate for sowing where they are to grow, it saves lots of time and trouble and expense on potting soil especially if you want lots of plants. I also found that some plants take off better direct sowed since they are anchored in the soil so nicely compared to the ones you have to disturb by transplanting from containers & you don't have to worry about the soil moisture in the jugs or the temps in jugs when we have warm stretches of weather.

Yes, indeed, I will be happy to send you seeds. I have more just sitting out in the garden waiting for birds to hopefully eat them!

I get better results with WS, but for many reasons, I direct sow more than I WS. Last year I discovered that the natural stores sell poppy seeds in big packages. Like sizes I could never afford from the seed store :) Guess what I will be planting again this year? I got some beautiful purple ones this year.

Lisa

Lisa, I have a seed packet from David's Garden Seeds. I'm not sure how many are in the packet. Why do you have to have a lot? It looks like about 100 seeds. So...I should sow them in December? Not now? Do I just sprinkle them and add a half inch or so of soil?

I do have a flower that I picked in the spring. I could use it for additional seeds, I guess. I was surprised to see it growing wild in a field not too far from me. It's in a jar in my pantry of herbs. I thought they were over harvested and it was a crime to harvest them from the wild...I left the root, which is the medicinal part, I think. Anyway...thanks!

When you plant this early, a lot of things can happen to the seeds (birds, squirrels, weather, too wet, ect) so over sowing will give you a better chance at the number of seedlings you want in the spring. The WS method gives you an edge on those issues because they are in containers, but still outside. It's late enough, I don't think it matters on planting between now and December. I'd say you could plant them now just fine.

I usually have seedlings for the Spring Fling, if you decide you would like some seedlings in the spring. They self sow in my pathways, so I dig them up and send them a new home. I joke that eventually Oklahoma will be covered with echinacea from my pathways!

Its really a matter of your own personal preference, time & space issues, the condition of your planting area and many other factors that vary. People who are loyal devotees to the WS method swear by it and won't use any method except that one for all types of seed. They collect & store lots of jugs, buy lots of potting soil and use this method even for seeds which only require warm moist conditions and which germinate easily in a week or 14 days. Then they typically wait to sow in December (often on the solstice) but never before that. Thats perfectly fine but its sort of a made up law on that forum.

Other people prefer to sow the 'needs warm/moist only' seeds directly in spring or sow indoors to get an early start on plants and use the WS method only for the ones needing cold. Personally, that makes sense to me while WS'ing those does not so that is what I do. I always sow hardy annuals in late summer to early fall. They come up, put in time for good root growth and then spend winter as green rosettes ready to take off much earlier in spring than if I'd waited or WS'd them. Tender annuals OTH are sown in spring.

Shrubs and some other native seeds need a warm period followed by cold followed by warm so fall is the best time, especially if you are unsure about conditions necessary to break dormancy, some seeds have several 'locks' on dormancy to protect them from germinating at the wrong time so these conditions must be met.

Many seeds naturally drop to the ground during fall. If you wait too long into fall, you won't find seeds to collect from some plants as next years seeds are already naturally sown.

Some seeds need soaking and scarification. The point is, there is no single one size fits all answer as the only best way to sow seeds in general. WS'ing is a good method generally speaking, but not always. I've had some types of seeds rot doing that while others do fine. It also depends on which part of the country you live in, up north they stay frozen and have snow most of the winter, here in Oklahoma we do not.

Echinacea is an easy one so choose whatever appeals to you. I personally do all the types of sowing mentioned above, it depends on the type of seed and which is the most efficient method.

I always let my echinacea (and everything else) self-sow. Even when I deadhead plants, I just drop the seedheads on the ground wherever I want new plants to sprout. I've already got sprouts now from many of those self-sown seed heads. The issue is whether they'll survive the winter. Usually they do, but an extra cold or extra wet (or extra cold and extra wet) winter sometimes gets them. That's okay. All the seeds do not necessarily sprout at one time, so usually even more of them will sprout in spring if they didn't already sprout in fall or winter.