Echinacea plants

There are a great many new Echinacea plants on the market now and here's how to grow them and use them in the landscape.

Growing Basics

Sunshine:  Plant in full sun or very light shade (late evening)  Needs noonday sun.
Height:  from 24 to 36 inches tall (60cm to 1m)
Flowering time: mid summer to fall
Flower color:  whites, yellows, shades of red-pinks
Width:  18-30 inches (45-75 cm)  depending on  maturity
Hardiness: USDA zone 3
Soils: Just about all but prefers good drainage
Propagation: species by seed, hybrids by cutting or division

Coneflower are excellent plants for general garden use because of their hardiness, insect and disease resistance as well as their long bloom time.  It is easy to see why this plant has quickly risen to the top of the gardener's palette.

It's pretty much a plant and forget kind of perennial, something that every gardener can succeed with.


Having said that - do not allow first year hybrid plants to bloom. Cut off all blooms to allow the strength of the plant to develop good roots. Premature winter death is often the result of allowing an Echinacea to bloom in its first year.

To Get Optimum Blooms

Now, surviving doesn't necessarily mean thriving so if you want it to really grow and flower properly, you want to provide several things:

Full sunshine

Great fertility.   I feed echinacea plants first thing in the spring and again at mid-summer to keep them growing.

Well drained, fertile soils.  The better the soil, the better the plant.  This is basic gardening.  While coneflower are native North American plants, suited for prairie growing, they do grow much better when given a bit of food and good soils.

Landscape Value

This is an excellent plant for massed plantings.  I've seen large gardens just crammed with them and it is an awesome garden sight.

It's an excellent plant for naturalizing.  Use the species that will self-sow and come true (remember hybrids don't come true from seed).

It is an excellent display plant.  If you have just one of the newer hybrids, you can use it as a “specimen” plant to stand out in your garden.  You won't be disappointed in its blooming.

Echinacea plants make great cut flowers.  I can never stand to cut them but they do last a long time in the vase

Echinacea plants have great seed pods beloved of chickadees and other seed-eating birds.  It will be rare to see any of these seeds survive a serious bird feast.


Perovskia and Echinacea combination

Review Your Echinacea Variety Here

Want to tell us about Coneflower in Your Garden

If you have a favorite Echinacea, please tell us about it (and include a picture if you have one) so we'll all learn about it.

Please be as detailed as possible in the who,what,when,where information (what name of plant, where you are (province of state) and other details that will help us. :-) What do you want to know about a plant? Tell us those things. :-)

Click on the ? beside the titles for help instructions.

Enter the Title Here (a short description)

Enter Text Here [ ? ]

Close Help Just type!... Your story will appear on a Web page exactly the way you enter it here. Do leave space between paragraphs

Upload Your Picture if you have one [ ? ]

Close Help Do you have a picture to add? Great! Click the button and find it on your computer. Then select it.

Add a Picture/Graphic Caption (optional) 

Click here to upload more images (optional)

Add a Picture/Graphic Caption (optional) 

Add a Picture/Graphic Caption (optional) 

Add a Picture/Graphic Caption (optional) 

Author Information (optional)

To receive credit as the author, enter your information below.

Your Name	(first or full name)
Your Location	(ex. City, State, Country)

Submit Your Contribution

Check box to agree to these submission guidelines.

(You can preview and edit on the next page)

Here are some Echinacea other readers have reviewed.

Click on the links below to see other gardeners comments.