I have a precious single seedling from last summer doing well and presumably in its first year rosette stage. I kept it alive indoors during this past winter . I am hoping to keep it alive throughout this next winter under 400W HPS/MH if it doesn't surprise me by flowering this fall . Anyone ever tried something like this ? I am pretty aware of photo-period manipulation and what it takes to keep a plant in a vegetative state when necessary and then at the right time switch over to the flowering photo-period , but also recognize that there is a reason why plants need to go through the yearly outdoor cycle . The main goal is to have this plant now named 'Fergie' for being stubbornly persistent , in whatever size and type of planter and manipulated so that next summer around beginning of June to be in full bloom for my 3rd clan event at the Chicago Scots Festival . Any brainstorms are welcome ... I think ...

>> so that next summer around beginning of June to be in full bloom

Wow, a biennial?

I don't know if it can be propagated by cuttings; the database only says "seeds". But you could try taking several cuttings (leaf? stem tip?) and hope one or more root and grow to decent size by NEXT summer.

Do you have more seeds left? Did you try winter-sowing them? I couldn't find germination advice for any of the genus names in the database, other than Carduus, and that didn't say much. I thinm it was "direct sow outdoors in Sept".

This is a technical article and might not even be relevant, but it says:
"Carduus acanthoides required high temperatures followed by decreasing temperatures for dormancy release; however, low winter temperatures did not induce secondary dormancy as expected for a winter annual. To the contrary, low temperatures stimulated dormancy release in the long term."
http://journals.cambridge.org/...

I also found this:
"Carduus nutans L. and C. 42 acanthoides L. (musk and plumeless thistle; Asteraceae) ..."
"Both species are short-lived monocarpic perennials, and colonize exclusively by seed"
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t...

They stressed that "litter" suppresses their germination, so I would guess "sow on surface".

Wikipedia isn't very kind to them:

"Species such as C. acanthoides, C. nutans, C. pycnocephalus, and C. tenuiflorus easily become weedy in disturbed habitat, such as overgrazed pasture."

"Invasive species

Carduus acanthoides is well known in many other parts of the world, including parts of North and South America, New Zealand, and Australia, as a noxious weed. It is an invasive species in many regions of Canada and the United States, including California and West Virginia. [2] [3] The California Department of Food and Agriculture has an active program to control known populations. [4]"

[4] Cal-IPC (California Invasive Plants Council) — Carduus acanthoides (plumeless thistle)

But wiki gives a reading list at the end of this article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

A LOT of groups have a "down" on that thistle!
http://plants.usda.gov/core/pr...