My current fascination is with growing things that are ornamental as well as useful. The beautiful and medicinal echinacea plant meets the criteria. These seeds are from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and are one of a few packets purchased recently. The back of the packet recommends cold stratification to increase the germination rate. Huh? After a few quick internet searches, I discovered that some plants need the chilly, wet winter months to encourage the seeds to get started. Cold stratification is just a fancy way of saying that. Hmmm, so these babies need a cold, wet environment to wake up? OK, I can do that! In the refrigerator that is.
Here are the seeds in a nice moist paper towel ready to go into a zip top baggie and then into the chilly refrigerator.
I'm supposed to be checking on them every now and then to see if they're sprouting. As they spout, I'll plant them in some soil. One site online says the cold stratification process can take 3 months. Can that be right? That seems like a long time. I guess we'll see.......
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