I've wanted to harvest some of my Purple Cone Flower/Echinacea seed, so I picked some of the head pods some time ago and have had them in a baggie to dry them out. I've rubbed the pods on several occasions, but wasn't sure what was coming off was actually the seed. So I googled to find out how to harvest, etc. Wow - harvesting these seeds is definitely not as easy as most flowers!!

So I set about following some of the info I found, I believe I've got it down now - but if any of you that are more familiar with this know otherwise, please let me know!

Here's what I did, and my result:

Here's my Cone Flowers when they were blooming:

Here is one of the dried flower heads:

I found it easier to remove all the fibers off of the pod by cutting it in half first:

I liken removing all the pod fibers to removing the fuzz off of the heart of an artichoke. Here's what the pod looks like afterwards (sorry, I know it's a bit out of focus!):

It was much easier to find the seeds by spreading all the fibers out on something white (paper towel or plate) and under a bright light. They are sort of conical shaped, but with a flat end. They are the only thing in all the fibers that has any substance (all the other stuff will be very brittle, and the seed will sort of feel like a small nut). Here's a pic of the fibers and I've circled the seed:

Hope this will help any one else who wants to harvest their Echinacea seeds!