Yes, take care of that knee, Woofie.
We older people need to watch how we do things!

Update on those echinacea seeds I started in vermiculite, the original topic of this thread. A few are starting to bloom.






Karen

Sweet!

I love the little yellow one.

Me, too. Thanks, Chelle.

The yellow is the shortest blooming one, lots of basal growth. One other yellow was just starting to open yesterday. It's tall and lanky, stretching for light because tall rudbeckia are trying to overtake it. I'll be yanking those ruds soon.

I think I might have to start more of these next year. Loving them so far.

Karen

Oooooh, I LIKE this one! Yum!

kqcrna said:

• coneflower (Echinacea Warm Summer)
• Uploaded by kqcrna

Oh, WOW! Very pretty!

Those are beauties!
Did you just germinate them in vermiculite and then transplant to pots of soil?
Or to the ground from the vermiculite? Just curious!

They went from vermiculite to a tray of cells to grow on. I planted them out in spring.
January February

May June

Karen

wow they are nice.. good seedling Momma!!.. the orange & yellow are stand outs for sure!!

I'm delighted with the Cheyenne Spirits. And I especially like that we now have pretty echinacea colors that can be grown from seed. I imagine as their popularity increases, they'll become more widely available, both as plants and seeds. After all, I think they've only been around for about a year.

Karen

I like anything I don't have to stake in my part shade!!!

Thanks for your pictorial reply.
I'll have to try these again, using your method.

It's not really my method, Caroline, I can't take credit. I got that idea from JonnaSudentis. Her article was on ATP once.

http://seedsite.eu/zaaiinstruc...

Karen

Thanks---bookmarked it for next season.

I was pleasantly surprised by how long seedlings will actually hold in the vermiculite. Some of my perennial seedlings didn't get up-potted or planted out for many weeks after sprouting, and they still did okay.

The seedlings wil hold quite long in the vermiculite, but you must keep the containers on a cool place in the shade. Sun and heat will kill them.

kqcrna said:It's not really my method, Caroline, I can't take credit. I got that idea from JonnaSudentis. Her article was on ATP once.

http://seedsite.eu/zaaiinstruc...

Karen

I renewed my website, so the link changed: http://www.seedsite.eu/article...

Thank you, Jonna! I couldn't find the new link to the article, and I was hoping you'd update the link for us. It's a great method.

Karen

Karen & others,

Which grade of vermiculite worked best for you? Course or Medium grade?

Thanks much!

I used medium.

Karen