Echinops ‘Globe Thistle’ – Flower, Seed Head and Seeds

Flower                  Seed Head            Seeds

Zone  3  – 10      Herbaceous perennial   -  Attracts  Birds Bees Butterflies

2 – 4  Feet tall   2  Foot spread  Full Sun/Partial Shade   -   Asteraceae Family

Deer and rabbit resistant   -   Blooms  summer to early fall   –   Clump forming thistle  plant

Globe Thistle Echinops bannaticus has long prickly stems & is a very striking & showy flower.

Great ornamental cut   flower for arrangements before during & after it has bloomed.

Globe Thistle does well in any well drained soil  is  Drought tolerant and will reseed itself.

Sow seeds indoors or outside in early spring.  Do not cover the seeds as they require light to germinate.

Will bloom in the second year.  I found that harvesting the seeds was a bit difficult and time consuming.

Below please read an email received from Jonna on harvesting and sowing Echinops seeds.

Jonna’s website is  http://www.seedsite.eu

The seed is in the individual parts of the seedpod.

The best time to collect these seeds is when they are loose in the seedpod. That means that you can only harvest a part of the seedpod at the same time, because the ones above will be ripe earlier than the ones below. Never use any pressure to harvest them. If you do that you’ll harvest unripe seeds. If you want to harvest a lot of seeds you’ll have to check the pods 2 times a week.
Or you can use organza bags to gather the seeds. The ones who fall in the bags are potential ripe.
After harvesting you must put them in paper bags and take out the seeds of the individual parts of the seedpod. You’ll notice that not every ‘seed’ is viable. Only the seeds that are thick and can’t be crushed with your nail are potential viable seeds. It’s a lot of work.

The seeds must be sown in autumn or winter, they prefer (or even need) a cold period. If you prefer to sow indoors you’ll have to stratisfy the seeds a few weeks.

Thank’s Jonna for your wealth of knowledge on seed collecting!