Lots to love...
Whether you are a long time fan of coneflowers or are just starting to notice them, they can become an addiction, once you start collecting them. Love the hot summer colors? Or, do you prefer a pastel or white palette? There is certainly an Echinacea for everyone… including the birds, bees and butterflies.
Start thinking about creating a new coneflower garden or keep it simple and add a new coneflower to your existing perennial bed every year. Here are a few of our favorites:
Echinacea ‘Tres Amigos’
Flower Power: Blooms with three colors at once! Petals begin with a peach-orange tone that deepens into magenta, and settles into a rich burgundy. It's a compact plant with lots of branching, which results in lots of blooms!
Mature Size: 18-20” tall x 22–24” wide
Bloom time: Late spring to late summer
Light: Sun lover
Water: Dry to medium
Soil: Average, well-drained soil
Reasons to love it: Tolerates drought, heat and cold extremes, dry soil. These coneflowers are a pollinator magnet and deer-resistant.
Echinacea ‘Intense Orange’
Flowers: Dazzling perennial with large blooms in vibrant, pumpkin-orange that turn to vermillion-red as petals mature.
Mature Size: 18-24” tall x 18-24” wide
Bloom time: Early summer to autumn
Light: Full sun, part sun/half shade
Water: Dry to medium
Soil: Average, well-drained soil
Reasons to love it: Large flowers stand on top of sturdy stems lined with deep-green foliage… a perfect combination for cut flowers. A great orange color for pollinator gardens.
Echinacea ‘Magnus Superior’
Flowers: An improved form of ‘Magnus’ the most popular, purple coneflower of all time! Large flowers with magenta-pink petals surround a copper central cone are the focal point with deep green foliage playing back up.
Mature Size: 40" tall x 18" wide
Bloom time: Mid-summer, late summer, early fall, mid-fall
Light: Full sun or partial shade
Water: Average
Soil: Well -drained, dry or moist
Reasons to love it: Drought tolerant, deer resistant, attracts butterflies. Birds love the seeds in fall.
Echinacea ‘Meteor Yellow’
Flowers: Sunny double-yellow, daisy-like flowers with fluffy pompons are real standouts in a perennial garden.
Mature Size: 19- 24” tall x 19” wide
Bloom times: July, August, September, October
Light: Full sun
Water: dry to medium. Drought-hardy & tolerant of heat and humidity, once established.
Soil: Thrives in well-drained soil…tolerates poor soil.
Reasons to love it: Puts the ‘wow’ into garden borders, as well as containers. This 'clumping' coneflower is a blooming machine with multiple crowns and sturdy stems that insure bigger and fuller flowering plants for years to come. Attracts butterflies and bees.
Echinacea ‘Solar Flare’
Flowers: The flowers are large, single and fragrant with petals in almost red…circling a dark cone. Petal colors fade as the plant matures…turning into a smoky-rose tone. Flowers are held atop a stron and bushy plant by nea-black stems.
Mature Height: 23-29" tall x 16-18" wide
Bloom time: June through August and beyond... if blooms are deadheaded.
Light: Full sun or partial shade
Soil: Normal, sandy or clay
Reasons to love it: Butterflies love them. Birds love the dried seed heads which also add interest to the winter garden, if left standing.
Echinacea ‘Evening Glow’ (pictured)
Flowers: This unique coneflower has lightly colored, two-tone petals. Yellow petals mature to warm shades of apricot and deep rose.
Mature Size: 20-24" tall x 18" wide
Bloom time: Mid-summer… more than four weeks.
Light: Full sun
Water: Needs regular watering in extreme heat.
Soil: Average, well-drained soil… tolerates dry soil.
Reasons to love it: A real showstopper in the garden. It grows well in hot, dry areas and is deer resistant. Attracts butterflies, birds and is bee-friendly.
Echinacea ‘Fiery Meadow Mama’
Flowers: What a way to add color to your garden! Bright golden petals are painted with a fiery red halo around the cone. The contrasting colors make this one a memorable coneflower.
Mature Size: 20-24" tall x 18-24" wide
Bloom time: June through August
Light: Full sun, part sun
Water: Moist but well drained
Soil: Average garden soil. Adaptable to most soil types but prefers a well-drained soil.
Reasons to love it: Not a finicky or uptight coneflower. Petals hang a bit lower than most so you can see the striking color combinations from quite a distance.
Echinacea purpurea ‘Virgin’
Flowers: Large & fragrant, pure-white flowers surround a green cone. The double rows of petals make the blooms look really full.
Mature Size: 20-24" tall x 12-18" wide
Bloom time: Mid-summer through fall…continues to bloom after other perennials are finished for the year. Deadhead for the extended bloom time.
Light: Full sun
Water: Needs low to average watering
Soil: Prefers average soil quality but can manage in a poorer soil.
Reasons to love it: Plant habits are upright and don’t require staking. Piet Oudolf, garden designer for the Lurie Garden in Chicago's Millennium Park, prefers this hybrid because of its superior performance over other white Echinacea. Finches love the seeds as a source of winter food and the flowers attract butterflies and bees, too.
