I keep getting baby coneflowers sprouting up all over one of my beds that has a big purple coneflower on. I have been carefully digging them up and moving them to different areas where I want them...do you think they will grow next year? They seem to get a little 'shock' for the first few days, but then look fine and are growing. Or am I wasting my time and should just leave them and do this next spring?

If they perk back up I guess they'll be fine. I think they come back by dropping their seeds off the cone.

They should be fine if you keep them well watered until they re-root. If you don't want them to pop up all over your gardens you will need to cut the blooms off when the flower fades. They re-seed very quickly.

My transplanted coneflower seedlings almost always live. The colors the flowers come back are usually a dull and dusky pink. They are a little different then the showy cultivars but I like them.

Yippee, the more free flowers the better!

They just keep popping up all over!

I'm stil curious as to planting the entire conehead instead of searching for the seeds. Going to try that one this fall.

I never plant the whole cone head. When the cone dries (on the plant) enough take your thumbnail and gently scrape down inside the cone and the seeds will pop off. The seeds are pale colored and are of good size.

I am going to try that. Even though - the darn things are doing great themselves seeding all over - but I promised some seed to somebody on the seed exchange - I'm so scared I'm going to send the wrong thing. Does anyone have a picture of opening the cone and the seeds? It's not the obvious cone with the things sticking out right? Something on the inside? Somebody here said they tried planting the entire head and it worked. I'm going to try that - just to see.

Patty, if it were me I would just leave the baby coneflowers until next spring because I like to let them get their roots well-established before winter and then I would transplant them in the spring, but I'm sure what you are doing will work too!

Hi Patty. The Purple Coneflower seeds look like little monster baby's teeth! lol! I know it sounds funny, but that's a really good way to describe what they look like. They're a wheat color. They really didn't look like seeds to me, so I was surprised when I found out that those were the seeds.

I think I'm going to sow mine in the Spring. Does anyone have any suggestions on that? Should I sow them this fall instead?

You might try my method of harvesting Coneflower seeds, Patty. I try to avoid anything that sticks, punctures or harms my dainty little fingers in anyway so I came with this.

After the seed heads are completely dark brown, cut the stems about 6" - 8" long, place them upside down in a small, paper bag for a few days to allow them to dry completely. Then whack the sack a few times and the seeds fall to the bottom of the sack and you can toss the stems in the compost pile.

This is what the seeds look like after all the other debris is cleaned up. (Mine never look this good :rolleyes: )