Echinacea, How Well Do You Know This Plant? Take A Gardening Quiz!
Are you up for a gardening quiz game? Let's see how well you know this flower. This is one of the most famous flower in the world because of its homeopathic uses. It made a buzz when some studies claim that it could help cure cancer. I have it in my garden because I find them so damn beautiful and the pollinators love them.
I have never eaten any part of this plant - I'm trying to propagate it by thinning it and replanting the new shoots in pots every year. I started with just three stems in one plant but now I have more than 10. I just cut the stem that flowered when the flower withers and it seem to encourage the plant to send out shoots. I cut the shoot with the stem it is attached to and the roots and plant them into a smaller pot. Keep them in the green house in winter and they are okay. These are just the ones that still has sprouts. The rest are sleeping and all leafless as if the pots are empty. In due time, they start to send shoots again so don't throw them away, they are just observing dormancy in winter, too.
When I got sick due, to the mussel incident, I took this homeopathic medicine that says the active ingredient is ethanol extract from fresh organic blooming Echinacea sort on the pic below to boost my immune system, treat my sore throat, cold and fever. It worked, slowly but it worked.
Most of the gardening post I shared, I grow the plants because some of them could actually be used as meds, I lost my trust to the Western Meds and I actually grew up in herbal meds, too so when I moved here, I wonder which plant can cure what. When we were young, my grandfather's house is full of herbal plants, we caught a cold - there's oregano. Someone got a kidney problem, there's coconut water, acacia leaves and corn hair (back then they weren't GMOs) to boil. My grandparents only treated us herbal except when I had the worst asthma attacks we went to the doctor and was given meds that either gave me rashes, makes you nauseous or damage your kidney. Am perfectly healthy IMHO but we never know - so it's better to be prepared and if the meds could just come out of my garden, the better.
Why a quiz game? Well, am bored cause I never used the deduction method in my class. I am not one who'd spoon feed my students more so ... another person.
Yes, I am aware that am not in school but hey, I do believe there are others who also know the answer to these questions so let's hear you out ;) ! Prefer interaction really so let me ask you questions and let's see how well you know this plant? When someone got the right answer I'd reveal the answers and you're in for a surprise. What ever that is, take the quiz first.
Ready?
Here we go! In order to get the answers to some of the questions after question #1 you really need to nail the first question :)
4. When is the right month to sow its seed?
CLUE: It's is commonly used in flu, cold and infection treatments. Some use it to treat boils, wounds and other skin irritations. Like the other Echinaceas used in homeopathy it is believed to boost the immune system.
TRUE OR FALSE: If your answer is false, kindly tell us what the right answer is?
9. True or false: Some people could have allergic reactions to Echinacea, those with skin asthma, asthma and some even experience gastrointestinal side effects.
10. True or false: In order for the seeds of this kind of Echinacea to germinate, you can just throw it anywhere in your garden.
So how many have you got right?I took all of these pictures with my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 edition and have only shared them in Steemit. Yes, I'm going to bombard you with more flower post because it's nearly Spring and I am not just writing for the sake of being able to publish a post. I'd like to share one of my passions - that is growing greens and blooms. I could just throw you all the flowers but with the very short attention span we now have I prefer this approach - am after retention.
EDIT:Since no one got the right answer for questions #7 and 8, and this post is almost a day old let me keep my promise of letting you know the answer to those questions... here they are. I've also included the numbers of sepals anyway.
Here are my other gardening articles:
- Grow Your Own Tropical Mangoes in Western Europe and Other Countries with Hard Winters
- Grow Your Own Citrus Plant in Pots in Your Own Backyard or Veranda and Even Indoors in Cold Countries
- How and Which Tropical Plants Can You Actually Grow in Cold Countries
- My Log in Growing My Own Moringa Plant Indoors in A Cold Country, Half a Year Later
- Garden Hacks : On Propagating Sweet Potato Plants
- Gardening Hacks : On Planting Tomatoes and Other Nightshade Plants
- Follow My Experiment Log on Planting Chestnuts and Walnuts From Seeds
- Gardening Hacks : Basic Tips in Growing Cacti Indoors
- Which Cactus Is This?
- Tips on Propagating Succulents Like Echeverias
- Flowers That Are Still In Bloom in Late Autumn, 2016
- Firethorns in Autumn
- Mispel or The Medlar Fruit
I usually blog about cooking, gardening and photography and if you happen to be interested in all of those, too . FOLLOW ME @
I know this cheeky chap well!! I drink the tea daily and attempt to grow the flowers annually!!!
My quiz answers are
purpurea
Itchy coo, hoochy momma's & daddy's nubbin
Well drained, slightly acidic
Every month is the right month for me to sow my seed
September
20
1
This one - purpurea
False
True
Did I get any right? Apart from 4 obvs :0)
@meesterboom ah, chico love it to find you here!
I love answer number two but it's not hahaha
Is that what your daughter said to you?
hahaha
you got 7 right but let's keep it a secret which one first hahaha
EDIT: 6 actually haha miscounted, did you also count the petals on the pics of the ones looking up the sky? You try to plant every year? Come back when this is almost paid out and find out how you could germinate. I just bought one pot with 3 stems in the organic market in the city center and then propagated from there.
Haha, I got one, I am happy!! Lol!! Can't wait to find out what one it is!!
I edited mine too!! I added number 9 because it was missing which was weird!!
Yeahi grow them from seed!! Rarely works will. Think it is the wet weather up here!!
@meesterboom you still got 6 haha
I'll post the answer when this is paid out, I'm going to add the pics haha
no one is answering, I thought it would create interactions :)
Nice flowers. Nice shots.
However, too difficult questions for me
@ace108 thanks :)
if bleujay can you can, too :)
Thats right. :)) Thank you for the laugh. Cheers.
@bleujay always my pleasure !
<3!
Thank you for posting @englishtchrivy. Lovely photographs and commentary. bleujay has noted from the replies that @englishtchrivy is keen for readers to answer the quiz.
The answers are subject to where one lives....and are therefore relative..
no.3. any soil however its preference is for the soil not to be too rich
no.4. April, after last frost in England
no.5. August/late summer...in England
no.6. 20
As for the other queries...have no answer.
Additional information.....this is quite a large plant......a bit prickly....
interesting how like the artichoke this plant looks with regard to the stem and underside of the flower.
@bleujay thank you!
all 4 answers are correct :)
now, let's see who gets to answer the rest!
EDIT: did you count the petals on the pic? :D
yes, a bit like artichokes but tinier than that, as for it having pricks, no - just hairy :D
Thank you for your reply @englishtchrivy. bleujay's pleasure. Yes...will check back later for the answers.
bleujay is happy to see loads of flower posts...no worries.
All the best. Tot later.
Dear @englishtchrivy.....You are too kind....Thank you. Appreciate your e'spirit de corp even if it take a while for us to catch on.
To answer your query...of course, bleujay counted the petals...no horticulturalist here.
All the best. Cheers.
I do echinacea cures for a few years to strengthen my immune system ^^ You can find capsules easily in pharmacy.
@pickoum, yey! am not alone :)
can you answer the questions? try it :)
I can't now maybe later I have a friend at home :) I reply here and close the computer
@pickoum of course not now hahaa
me too Lovely nature medicine!!
I grow shiitake mushrooms super good to boost immune system also!
@eliowilson, so that makes us three :) can you take the quiz?
Nice 👍🏿 pictures
@achim86 thank you
I did not cheat and look up the answers but based them on my experience and zone.
@areynolds very good !
You got #1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 10 correct
so now am just looking for #5, 7 and 8's exact answers - EXACT :D
EDIT: did you count the petals on the pics? If you did you can try counting the sepals, too but goodluck with that :D
without looking at all the answers below...
How'd I do? ;0)
@gardenlady you got #1 almost correct only 1 r missing - purpurea, you got #2, - loamy would also do ...5, 9 and 10 .
However, I'm only looking for #5, 7 and 8 but then I want an EXACT answer :)
as for the petals - it's 8 to 21, if you count one of the 2nd to the biggest flower on one of the 3 sets of pics that came out consecutively, you'd see that one has a perfect 21. It's not a trick question - it's a fact :)
as for the sepals - you can try counting them on the pics, too however, there are sepals that can't be seen on the pics cause under those beautiful petals are actually rows of smaller sepals - that much :)
EDIT: NOW am only looking for answers for #7 and 8 and EXACT please :) I've just changed number 7 maybe it's a lot easier now? than the sepals :)
typo on purpurea!!! And thank you for the prize money! lol I did this for fun...but nice goodwill :-)
@gardenlady yes, wrong spelling wrong haha - strict teacher hihihihi
it's my pleasure, you played :) you're welcome!
such a beautiful and useful flower! great photos and interesting topics also!
@eliowilson thank you
so beautiful and useful....^^
@abdullar nim, thank you!
Fabulous and informative post. Well done!!
My children rarely saw doctors because I kept them well with diet, herbs and homeopathic remedies. My youngest is 27 and has yet to take any antibiotics thanks mainly to this lovely, lovely plant! When I had to have surgery 4 years ago, they insisted on giving me antibiotics (no choice on my part as it was emergency surgery) and at that point it had been 23 years since I had any of that stuff in my system.
I have a healthy stand of it growing in my herb garden right beside my front door!
up/fol
@areynolds, thank you !
how about taking the quiz, just try it :)