Sowing perennials - Echinacea

Sowing Perennials - Echinacea

Don't be daunted by the thought of growing perennials from seed. It can save a lot of money, giving you the quantities you need for bulking up your borders for a fraction of the price of buying plants. Let's look at the sowing process and some of the simplest perennials to start with.

Sowing perennials from seed is easy for many perennials. Some are trickier because they need specific circumstances such as cold stratification, but there are many that are really easy and will flower in their first year.

• Cold stratification essentially means the seeds need to be kept in the fridge for a while before sowing. I'd recommend avoiding any plants that need cold stratification if you're new to sowing from seed, as the results can be mixed.

Why is it worthwhile growing perennials from seed?

Perennials will generally be slower to grow and take longer to develop than annuals. This means most perennials need to be sown quite early in the year – January or February – and need to be sown inside or under cover, so a windowsill, greenhouse or cold frame.

• Perennials can be sown at any time in spring; they just might not flower in their first year if sown later in the spring, but you can grow them on in pots or plant out and they'll flower the following year.

Growing perennials from seed is a really good money saver.

• Verbena bonariensis for example will cost $9.99 in a garden centre, and because you want repeat planting in a border you might need a dozen plants, so it gets really expensive.
• However, it's easy to grow from seed for just the price of a packet of seed and some compost.

Some good choices to start off with

Some perennials that are easy and rewarding to grow from seed include:

• Verbena bonariensis – great as an airy filler in borders
• Echinacea purpurea (e.g. 'White Swan') – great for prairie planting and borders
• Digitalis grandiflora – will self-seed and naturalise in your garden
• Dianthus carthusianorum – great for dry gardens and gravel gardens
• Lychnis chalcedonica 'Carnea' – great for cutting
• Agastache such as Agastache aurantiaca 'Navajo Sunset' – great for pollinators

How to sow Echinacea purpurea

1. Fill a modular tray with peat-free compost, even the top off and gently firm down.
2. Water using watering can with fine rose.
3. Place two seeds per module.
4. Gently press the seeds down into the compost, with a pot tamper or your finger.
5. Echinacea needs light for germination so cover with a light sprinkling of milled cork.

Echinacea need a sunny, open spot but with soil that doesn't dry out completely. They don't like being crowded out by other plants so make sure they have enough space when planting out.

Storing unused seeds

Often a seed packet will contain more seeds than you need at once. You can either:

• sow some now and some later on for successional sowing and flowering times
• store them – out of the sun in a cool but frost-free, dry place, such as in a shed. If storing seeds for a long time put them in a sealed Tupperware box in the fridge.