22
Aug

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Purple Coneflowers look wonderful planted either singly or massed together. Photo by L. H. Spence

– Light:  Full to part sun.

– Soil and water:  Medium-wet to medium-dry soil.  This plant will let you know when it is thirsty – the leaves will droop – and this will be obvious.  In my experience, it is somewhat drought and heat tolerant.  Some of mine are planted in a narrow, raised bed in full sun along our cement driveway, and they need no watering unless we get a week or more of temperatures in the high 90’s to low 100’s. Here in central Illinois, this generally happens in August.

– Hardiness Zones:  Zones 4-8.

– Size:  About 4 feet tall.  If you deadhead them (see the next paragraphs), when they bloom a second time, they will not be as tall – anywhere from 4-8 inches shorter.

– Bloom period and color.  Deadheading:  Blooms pinkish-purple in July and August.  Flowers are daisy-like and large.  Lovely orangish centers.  Flower stalks are stiff and upright and generally do not need support.  The stalks are a bit bristly so consider wearing gloves when working with them.

 

In the top photo of a coneflower stem, Cleon is using his finger to show you where a tiny bud is forming below the current fading or finished flower. The second photo shows you where I cut the fading/dead flower’s stem.  This bloom will swell and bloom and you will see the flower.  If you do not remove the dying/dead flower that is above the bud, the bud will still bloom, but the flower will be harder to see as it will be below the dead flower – within the plant. These secondary blooms will be smaller flowers and there will not be as many as in the first bloom.  When you deadhead the first flowers, the plants will be about 4-8 inches shorter as these second blooms have shorter stems.  I generally allow about 25% of the first blooms to form seed heads. I deadhead the rest – either right above the secondary buds or at ground level if there are no buds. This will allow the secondary buds to bloom and show. I allow almost all the secondary blooms to form seedheads. Photos by L.H. Spence.

To deadhead as the first flowers are fading, check the flower stalks.  Look carefully at the pairs of leaves below each fading bloom and if you see a tiny bud starting to form right at the base of a leaf, cut the faded flower’s stalk about a half inch above the bud as shown in the 2 photos to the right.  Check your coneflower’s fading flowers once a week and deadhead the fading flowers in this way.  If there are no buds forming below the fading flower, you can either cut the flower stalk at ground level or allow it to continue its cycle and form a seed head. I always allow the secondary buds to form seed-heads and remain on the plant until early spring.  In late March, I cut them all at ground level.  In this way, birds and small mammals can use the seeds all winter.

I think winter coneflowers look great.  The straight stalks and textured seed-heads make what we nurserymen like to call ‘winter interest’.  Your garden can look as lovely in winter as it does in summer – it will just look different with all sorts of seed-heads and shades of brown.  I always take a good look at my coneflowers, and I will remove any flower stems that are broken or leaning in the wrong direction, but most will be straight and will look great through the winter.

Butterflies love coneflowers – here is a Monarch all settled and drinking nectar from one of the daisy-like flowers. Photo by L.H. Spence.
American and Lesser Goldfinches will pull at and eat the centers.  In my experience, they never eat even a quarter of the center so there is plenty left to produce seeds.  After the flower fades, the center will turn into a seed-head and both finches will eat the seeds. Photo by Melody Arnold.

Insects, butterflies and birds?:  Butterflies and moths love coneflowers. The daisy-like flowers are the perfect platforms for each one to sit, lower its long proboscis, and take in nectar.  Finches love the seed-heads.  American Goldfinches, Lesser Goldfinches, and House Finches relish these seeds and can often be seen acrobatically perched on the seed-heads just munching away.

– Deer, rabbits, and other pests:  Deer and rabbit resistant.  I have grown coneflowers for many years and have never had them bothered by aphids, Japanese beetles, or any other destructive inset or spider.  Mine have also always been disease free.  In my opinion, this is one of the easiest perennials to grow.

–  Propagating and transplanting:  Coneflowers reliably self-seed.  It is not invasive, but this plant will move around.  The coneflowers I planted are in my front gardens, but I now have some in my backyard gardens – all from seeds from the front yard plants.  My guess is these were ‘moved around and planted’ by birds and small mammals.

Coneflowers can be transplanted.  Even plants that are 4-5 years old can be moved, but you will have to dig fairly deep as this plant does have a tap root.  However, in my experience, this taproot is not as long as some taproots of other native plants – just be aware of it and be careful not to break it.  And remember, not all older plants will survive transplanting – coneflowers are easiest to transplant before they are 4 years old.  Early spring or in fall are the best times – do not transplant on hot, sunny, summer days.  The later in spring you transplant, the more likely you are to lose that summer’s bloom. If you transplant in fall, you will not lose the next summer’s bloom.

Coneflowers have been extensively hybridized by botanists.  There are now all sorts of colors besides the traditional pinkish-purple. I have white and green flowered ones in my garden.  I have watched the butterflies, moths, and finches, and they rarely/never forage on any of the white or green flowers – or their seed-heads.  It is the pinkish-purple flowers and their seed-heads that butterflies use.  Your experience could be different. But if it is butterflies, moths, and finches that you want to attract, I would recommend planting the straight species Echinacea purpurea – none of the hybrids.  Also note that the straight species tends to be taller than the hybridized plants.

Coneflowers with Black-eyed Susans in my garden. Photo by L.H. Spence.

The roots of Echinacea were traditionally used to boost the immune system to ward off colds and flus.  You can buy capsules of Echinacea in health food stores and some pharmacies.

What to plant with Coneflowers:  Asiatic lilies (not native) – the lilies bloom first. Black-eyed Susans (native) – both bloom at the same time and create wonderful color when massed together.  Butterfly Weed (native) – coneflowers in back and Butterfly Weed in front – gorgeous pinkish-purple and orange colors go well together and both are butterfly magnets.