How to Grow Coneflower Echinacea

September 3, 2021

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener

Vibrant blooms on upright stems top this sturdy, compact plant. A fuss-free, cheerful choice for a sunny, easy-care low summer border. Drought tolerant and hardy, with prolific flowering over an exceptionally long season. These wildflowers are both heat and drought-resistant, easy to grow, bloom for months, make great cut flowers, and attract birds and pollinators.

Coneflower comes in glorious shades of pink, orange, yellow, red, and chartreuse and a range of flower forms—standard shuttlecock to horizontal ruffs to doubles with a powder-puff center.

Botanical name: Echinacea

Common names: Coneflowers

Growing Zones: Zones 3 to 9

Size: 2-3' feet tall x 1-2 feet wide

Light Needs: 6+ hours for best flowers

Water Needs: Once established, water occasionally; more in extreme heat.

Bloom time: June through Autumn

Leaves: Thick, leathery and sturdy hunter green

Flower color: Purple, pink, red, orange, white, yellow, even green varieties at Watters.

Problems: Resistant pests, disease, and animals like deer, elk, and javelina.

Wildlife: Attracts birds, primarily through winter.

Special features: Easy Care, Fast Growing, Pet Friendly, Waterwise

Companion Plants: Pampas Grass, Honeysuckle, Russian Sage, Gaillardia

Animal Resistant

Their spiny centers and strong aroma deter deer.

Birds and Pollinators

If you want to enjoy butterflies and songbirds in the garden plant coneflowers. Month during the summer and fall, the blooms and seed heads attract a multitude of winged beauties. Each flower offers a buffet table for butterflies. Other pollinators, such as honeybees and hummingbirds, visit this fantastic flower.

https://youtu.be/RldAJ6og3C0

HOW TO PLANT

When to plant: This perennial flower starts to arrive at Watters Garden Center in late spring through Autumn in most colors.

Where to plant: Echinacea should be planted in 6+ of sunlight during the growing season. Less than this, the stems flop over, and the foliage is susceptible to powdery mildew.

How to plant: Dig a hole twice as wide as the pot and deep enough so that the rootball will be level with the top of the soil.

Water: Regular watering of about an inch per week starting in April through October. A 2" layer of Watters Premium Mulch added in the spring over the rootzone greatly reduces needed water.

Pruning: Deadheading old flowers off the plant to stimulate new flowers to form. Many of the new varieties do this on their own and keep producing without snipping off spent blooms. Once your coneflower has finished blooming in November, the entire plant can be cut back to ground level. If you prefer to leave the dried seed heads, it can be cut down in March.

Soil: Average, well-drained garden soil.

Amendments & fertilizer: A 2" layer of Watters Premium Mulch added in the spring over the rootzone significantly reduces needed water. Feed twice per month during the growing season with Watters Flowers Power For amazing nonstop blooms.

Propagation: Divide clumps when crowded, about every 4 years. If spent flowers are left intact, they will reseed with little effort on your part. Deadheading can help to control this. Some gardeners choose a middle ground and collect the seeds and plant them in carefully selected spots for the following season.

Coneflower - Sombrero Sangrita — *Sombrero Sangrita Coneflower*

Diseases and pests: One problem worth noting in Echinacea is "aster yellows," a virus-like illness caused by a phytoplasma. Symptoms are deformed flowers, sometimes with weird tufts in the cones, and yellow leaves with green veins. The organism is spread by sap-sucking insects like leafhoppers, and can also be spread on pruners during deadheading. There's no cure, so once you notice a plant is infected, dig it up immediately and throw it away. They can also be bothered by leaf miners, powdery mildew, bacterial spots, gray mold, vine weevils, and Japanese beetles.