Six on Saturday – 02JUL2022 – Echinacea

Chris Mousseau

Everyone loves purple coneflowers, right? Echinacea purpurea is a mainstay of the perennial garden, especially a native perennial garden, and they shine throughout July and August. Echinacea does well in my heavy clay, limestoney soil, and although drought tolerant (they develop fleshy roots that go really deep), they can look quite sad without regular rainfalls. Here are six different forms now blooming; to see six things in other gardens around the world, take a visit to The Propagator’s site.

First – a few purple coneflowers. The ‘straight’ species, and one that’s had a cross of some sort – the leaves are narrower, the flower petals and cone both a bit different:

This is Echinacea pallida – Pale Purple Coneflower. The flower stems are VERY tall – typically about a metre high – and the petals VERY narrow.

A variation of the purple coneflower is ‘Alba’ – the white one. It really stands out in a patch of purple and makes a wonderful cut flower.

The last two are crosses of E. purpurea, E. paradoxa (yellow coneflower) and E. tennesseensis (Tennessee coneflower). I was gifted seeds quite a few years ago and they’ve grown into a lovely patch. Pollinators have spread their traits to other coneflowers in the garden, if that’s possible, because I have some interesting looking coneflowers popping up in a few different spots now. I’m loving how some are yellow, some are orange and some are almost red.

30 Comments

  3. Yes, delayed gratification indeed. My seed sown ones were eaten by rabbits in the first year and are just getting ready to flower for the first time. I’m looking forward to seeing the flowers. Hope they are as pretty as yours.

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  4. I’ve seen Echinacea pallida growing wild in east Texas. You’re right about the height — it surprised me. That white one is a real beauty, and especially attractive to someone like me, who loves white flowers.

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  5. Gorgeous! I would add more coneflowers to my mix if it weren’t so loved by my arch nemesis the Japanese beetle! I am enjoying my immature flowers knowing that at any moment, they may be devoured by hoards of beetles.

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      1. Saul Nurseries in Atlanta patented these maybe twenty years ago. They have probably made a fortune by now! I like the natural colors better. ItSaulnatural is the company, or something close to that.

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  12. White coneflower looks whiter than I expected. Someone gave me seed for it, but I did not put it into the white garden, because I expected the centers of the flowers to be too yellow. Yours have more of a neutral greenish color. I suppose that they could get yellower as they mature.

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    1. Interesting and apt observation – ‘They always looked like hungry for attention’ – you’re right! My garden would be much less colourful without them, that’s for sure!

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  14. You have some lovely ones. The yellow really stands out. 😃 The original pink ones do best here, but there are some lovely colours available these days.

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