Encelia Farinosa

I just drove by a roadside that was covered with Encelia farinosa plants (Brittlebush...it has blooms like sunflowers) growing wild. I stopped and picked three seedheads. Two were too old and didn't have any seeds left. BUT the other seedhead has had about thirty-five seeds already picked and about that many more still on the seedhead which I will harvest.

Does anyone have any tips on getting the seeds to germinate? I am planning on mixing them with fine sand so they will be staggered over a small area. I understand that they must have a lot of water (simulating a rainstorm) in order to germinate. I would appreciate any tips on how to proceed.

I know they are weeds here but they have beautiful flowers that feed the nectar loving organisms..i.e. hummingbirds and butterflies. This year I had a lot of butterflies and even more caterpillars but I didn't have enough late summer-early fall blooming nectar plants for them.

Thanks,

Chuck

This message was edited Sep 20, 2008 3:47 PM

These two sites says seeds are very easy although nothing specific given as to germination.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Asteraceae/Encelia_farinosa2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Asteraceae/Encelia_farinosa.html&h=376&w=250&sz=12&hl=en&start=6&sig2=rgLcredIn0PJ5UJu-r7c9A&um=1&usg=__vMUCjvxydS12P6f672cEWMAzxsA=&tbnid=WVHuYkCRcdOHcM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=81&ei=jJnWSLOGM46OsQPYquG_Dw&prev=/images%3Fq%3DEncelia%2Bfarinosa%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ag.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/images/Encelia_farinosa.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ag.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/Encelia_farinosa.html&h=238&w=350&sz=63&hl=en&start=10&sig2=RFWT3329FTiTjL7mqm4m5Q&um=1&usg=__l-nWqkoMolI79CSLXXWJyE3KcjU=&tbnid=O3_aphJbM8zBTM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=120&ei=jJnWSLOGM46OsQPYquG_Dw&prev=/images%3Fq%3DEncelia%2Bfarinosa%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN