Planta
Back to Edible Gardening

Hello, I have a coneflower/echinacea plant I’m harvesting for tea.… | Edible Gardening | Planta community

Sarah

Hello, I have a coneflower/echinacea plant I’m harvesting for tea. I’ve plucked the petals and leaves to dry but my question is about the seed heads. I read online to wait til the petals are brown on the plant to harvest the seed heads. But how can I both harvest the petals and the seed heads if I need purple petals for tea but brown ones to dry out the seeds? Hope that made sense. Also, if I’ve already harvested the seed heads while the petals are purple, is there anyway to still dry the seeds? Thanks for the help!

4 likes 3 comments

3 comments

  1. Athannael

    Ah, I see the confusion. So typically the reason why the colors of the leaves are given for the collection of the seed head is because the seed head is not mature yet until the leaves are browned and the plant has withered, pushing all of its energy to the seeds. When the leaves are still fresh yet the plant is still collecting sunlight in preparation for finalizing its seeds. The seed heads you collected may have a very poor germination rate, if at all any. 😢 In any case you can still attempt to dry the heads in a dry area, or dehydrator. If neither option is available perhaps consider using sunlight with good airflow 😄 next time I would consider saving one plants leaves on the plant as a timer of sorts for when to pick all the seed heads, only if your plants are in sync. Otherwise if planted at different times I would leave 1 leave on each plant as a tell tale sign until I learned what to look for when the seed heads are ready. 😁 Happy Planting! 🪴

    2 likes
    • Sarah

      That’s very helpful info. Thank you!!

      1 like
    • Athannael

      No Problem! 😁

      0 likes