planting time would be when the flower head goes to seed .. and nature spreads the seeds in your garden in a variety of methods ...

so plant them then ... and i doubt if then is : February, March, April, May, and June

and most likely why coop had success planting seed in fall ..

ken

ps: were the seed fresh.. from a good supplier?

If you only have 10-15 seeds left, I reccommend winter sowing This will stratify your seeds and keep them protected from hungry birds. There is a winter sowing forum here. I’m not sure if you can still access the FAQs, but there are plenty more resources on the web— lots of youtube videos. I’ve grown echinacea using the winter sowing method, it’s in my garden now :)

*Be patient because my native perennials are always the last to sprout in spring.

were the seed fresh.. from a good supplier?

Probably not. They're Ferry Morse seeds from Lowes, and there's no telling how long they kept them in the warehouse or whatever. There's a date stamped on it, but I can't read it:

I bought them specifically to go with the black eye susans and butterfly milkweed. Both of those come up (well, the BES are iffy but I do get some), it's just the coneflower that's always a no-show.

I looked though the seed trays I set up in the greenhouse in March, the seeds are still intact and look untouched!

But OK, I'm going to try half of them in the Fall and the other half in the Winter. If that doesn't work, maybe I'll buy some sprouts in the Spring and hope that they'll cast seeds that come back naturally. If that doesn't work then I'm done with coneflowers! LOL

Echinacea is perennial, not annual, so if you bought some plants next spring you should not need to rely on their self-sowing. The original plants should come back every year.

https://joegardener.com/podcast/130-winter-sowing/

Maybe find a local gardener with some that are in bloom, or ready to deadheaded, and ask if you can have a couple of seed heads?

I have had good luck cutting off a few of the seed heads and crumbling them where I would like some additions the following year. I usually get a few sprouts. Although I do notice that the seedlings take awhile to get established and may not bloom their first year. So just need a little patience. I have an area where I have been growing them for a few years now, and as they are more established, I have noted more volunteer seedlings that show up on their own and can easily be transplanted.

I generally sow all my perennials around now, up until Xmas. All seeds are primed to germinate when certain conditions are met so it doesn't really matter how long they sit in the soil or pots. Compared to other hardy perennials, echies don't need a long period of stratification so you can get away with February sowing, keeping the pots in the fridge for 4 weeks. I do this if I am running out of space or if pots are vulnerable to mice and such. I doubt you will get any germination without at least a few weeks of cold though, so the choice is yours, whether to sow anytime from now until at least 4 weeks before planting out time

eta. I find that some echies will bloom in the first year of sowing but will fail in the second year, especially the seed strains with some paradoxa in the mix (such as Cheyanne Spririt). If you can bear it, echies do so much better if they are disbudded for the first year of growth (a common practice when raising some meconopsis). I had very poor luck with returning echies and practically gave up on them until I started being a bit more ruthless and allowing them a full 2 seasons growth before flowering.

I have never had echinaceas flower in the same year germinated any way. Sometimes it's even the third year before they bloom, despite our long growing season. They germinate very easily at any season and usually don't require stratification (it may increase germination percentage though).

I started some Cheyenne Spirit this year, not a single flower. I'm only waiting for rains (long mid-summer to fall drought) before plugging their pots into permanent locations.