Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnifera), packet of 100 seeds
$2.95
Family: Aster (Asteracea)
Hardy to Zones 4 to 9
(Mexican Hat, Red-spike Mexican Hat, Upright Prairie Coneflower, Long-Headed Coneflower, Thimbleflower. This is NOT Purple Coneflower, which can be found under Echinacea)
Herbaceous perennial 1 to 2 feet tall, a wildflower native to western US. The ray flowers are bi-colored, crimson and yellow, skirting the upright conehead. Traditional usage (Cheyenne, Dakota, Navaho and Zuni): poison ivy rash, wounds. The plant prefers full sun and dryish, fast-draining soils. Good subject for prairie naturalization or as a bedding plant in the sunny garden. Sow in fall or give 60 days cold, moist refrigeration and then sow warm.
100 seeds/pkt., open pollinated, untreated, NO GMO’s
Out of stock
Question
Lyn Watson (verified owner) –
Howdy Richo – I am wondering if you think a method I read about to start cold hardy plants would work for some of my seeds, such as Mexican Hat, Ratibida column. 1st, I live in Michigan. 2nd, I have a passive solar cold frame. The method is to use milk jugs with lids off, cut around the base at the level of the bottom of the handle & hinged at the handle side, filled with growing medium. Used as mini-greenhouses. Inside a cold frame it would offer double protection, so this plant may not need such tender care…
Although I have grown many plants, mostly veggies and flowers, I have expanded in to the herbal field and just love them! Thank you for all the extraordinary plants you have nurtured! I am enjoying your book right now too – thank you for that as well!
Kind Regards,
Lyn
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Admin Richo Cech –
Wow, now THAT’S a sunflower head!
Seedlings of temperate perennials tend to be very cold hardy. If you have a cold frame already, and can wait until March or so to plant it, I don’t think the milk jugs will give you anything more than you already have. Sounds fussy. When I started experimenting with seeds like that I tried the “bury a flower pot and put a pane of glass over it” technique and soon abandoned it as a poor substitute for a flat in an unheated greenhouse. richo
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