Ready for Spring
start in a professional greenhouse situation. A few that can be successfully grown from seed even in the dry air of a winter-heated apartment include primroses, portulacca, heliotrope, and oxalis.
Perennial Medicine
There are still harvests out there from our wild and semi-wild friends. If you grow Echinacea (Coneflower), now is the time to harvest, tincture, and replant. Both Echinacea augustifolia and E. purpurea are potent medicinals--the ones you can spend a lot of money for at the health food store. They are also on United Plant Savers endangered/overharvested list, so growing your own rather than buying is an act of kindness to the diversity of native American plants. Echinacea does fine in containers, and the flowers are ornamental enough for you to enjoy and not mind that you can't harvest the first year plants.
It is the three or four year old roots of Echinacea that are most active medicinally. If you are starting from seed, be prepared for a long wait. However, now is the right time to start from seed, since Echinacea needs a period of cold conditioning before it will germinate. Plant the seeds 1/4 inch deep, keep moist, and leave outside. In late spring, the plants will appear. If you're reading this article after the last frost date in your area, try leaving the seeds in your freezer for three weeks before planting them.
If you already have 3 or 4 year old Echinacea, late winter is harvest planting time. As you dig up the clumps of roots you will notice the red-tinted buds. For some reason they remind me of dragons. Each of these fiery little buds with roots attached is a potential plant. As you pull the clumps apart, save those with the heftiest roots for tincturing. Replant some of the dragon buds, with some roots attached, at the same depth they were before you dug them up. A bit of bone meal or lime is always welcome by this plant, and you can work it into the soil as you replant the divisions.
Take the roots you've decided not to replant indoors and scrub them clean. Chop them and place them in a glass jar. Cover with vodka, label, and leave in a warm place for six weeks, shaking daily if you remember. Strain and store in dark (amber or blue) glass jars in a cool, dark place. Now you have Echinacea tincture, the same cold and flu remedy
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