Purple coneflowers, also known as Echinacea, are attractive and rugged flowers that draw butterflies and songbirds to the garden! Here’s how to grow coneflowers.
Bright and colorful, these perennials are daisy-like with raised centers, and it’s the seeds found in the dried flower heads that attract birds as well as butterflies.
They tend to bloom midsummer, are relatively drought-tolerant, and can take the heat! Coneflowers also make great cut flowers!
Reader Comments
Leave a Comment
Planting in September
Can coneflowers still be planted this time of year and all the blooms are gone? My local nursery has coneflowers on sale for 50% off. I live in Columbus, Ohio.
Plant in fall??
Sure, try it! It’s still relatively early in season, and bargain plants can be a good way to increase your stock. Check them over closely; pick the healthiest looking. If for some reason they fail, be ready to accept that outcome.
Echinacea first year
I have a purple coneflower plant that i planted in the spring from seed in a container, however since spring there has yet to be any flowers just leaves growing and getting bigger. Is this normal? And what can I do to protect it during the winter? I live in Northern Alberta Canada so the winters here get very cold! Are there any tips or precautions I should take since it's the plants first winter?
Winter care
Keep covered with a frost cloth. Dead head the blooms and keep the plant nice an short. Put mulch around the mound of the stem and make sure you keep some kind of slow release fertilizer mixed in.
How to encourage more blooms
How can I do to encourage more blooms than leaves on the Cornflower plant in a container? When pruning the leaves, should I prune the bigger more established leaves or the smaller ones?
Pruning
Try and keep the bigger leaves green. If they are yellowing or turning brown cut them off. In order to coax blooms fertilize and leave in the sun for at least 5 hours a day.
Growth at center of coneflower
My cone flowers have green stalks growing up out of the middle of the bloom. The bloom still has purple pedals, with six or so green stems growing out of the middle of the seed cone, with more blooms. They look very strange.
why deformed flowers?
Well, what ever is the cause, it’s not good. The plant is either infested or infected by leafhoppers and/or eriophid mites. The leafhoppers carry a disease in their saliva that causes the plant to fail in a variety of ways. The mite feeds on coneflower. These bugs lay eggs in the grass and hatch to tunnel up the stems of the flowers. You need to discard the plants and keep the lawn trimmed.
Coneflowers
I live in North Texas. I planted some coneflowers I got at a nursery. During the day, they look wilted but the next morning, they have perked up. I thought they liked heat and sun. Is it because this is their first summer in the ground?
wilting then perking up
This is all a natural response to the heat and sunlight. Continue watering as usual, but not to excess in reaction to the wilting.
Coneflowers
I live in nebraska i have coneflowers in my yard they grow everywhere! Dry soil, wet soil, in the sun in the shade! They grow like weeds and tend to crowd out everything around them!! The only thing controlling them are the rabbits that chew some of them to the ground in the spring!
Coneflowers
I am 80 years of age and I have had many years of interest in the flowers. I did a water colour painting of an American “Lady tending coneflowers” copying from a photo sent to me by a lady in SAN ANTONIO. I still have the painting but no connection with anyone in America but it still hangs in our lounge. John Grice
Come flowers
Hi John,
I read your comment regarding your painting of a Lady tending cone flowers. I would be interested in seeing a photo of your painting. I love paintings that combine flowers and water. You said that you have no connection with anyone in the states. Where do you live? I'm from Michigan.
Rose
Coneflower division?
I've read that coneflowers should be divided occasionally. I've grown them for many years. All of mine grow from a rosette of leaves . . . they don't look like anything that would tolerate division. Can you elaborate on the process of dividing them?
Dividing Coneflowers
Coneflowers should be divided every four or five years, provided that they are healthy enough to tolerate division, and that they are indeed in need of it. To divide a coneflower plant, gently lift the plant out of the ground with a shovel and remove any excess dirt. Untangle any intertwined roots, and depending on the size of the plant and how overgrown it is, you may be able to pull it apart at the base with your hands, or you may need to use a knife or pruning shears to cut apart the base. Leave several stems (rosettes) on each division and lightly trim back the longer roots if they seem excessive. That’s really all there is to it! Dividing can be done in the spring or early fall.
Purple Coneflowers
I needed to move some coneflowers this spring. My soil is clay so I dug them up in pieces. I was not gentle. I planted them in a new bed. Aside from them needing some extra water until they established ( about 3 weeks) they have ALL flourished. Six weeks later they are all growing and flowering. I originally had two plants and now I have six. I would say you could divide them easily with just a shovel and plant them again. It’s a free way to get more plants.
Purple and red echinacea blooming white
I planted a red Echinacea in some cheap potting soil and all of its flowers bloomed white. I went out an bought a purple variety with purple blooms on it and many unopened blossoms. I planted it in the same soil, and in a few days, the new blossoms opened and were also white. The plant had only been in the cheap soil for 2-3 days, and there are now both white and purple flowers on the same plant. What's happening? I'm going to replant them in better soil to see what happens.
cone flowers not coming back
I have had cone flowers for MANY years in multiple gardens in my yard - this year not one of them came back. I live in Michigan and have never deadheaded them - I leave them for the birds to have in the winter. I can't imagine why none would have come back (?) any suggestions ?
Mine, too
I had the same problem this year, in northern Vermont. Perhaps the winter was too cold for some coneflowers?
Coneflower
Can I transplant the plants to another area in September or October?
Transplanting Coneflowers
Yes, you can transplant (and/or divide) coneflowers in the fall. When digging them up, try not to disturb their roots too much, as they do not appreciate it.
Conefowers
I planted a beautiful red coneflower in a small circle garden i have in the back yard.my back yard is completely fenced, so no deer. 3 days later, every blossom is gone not a petal on the ground even. Plant is fine just empty stems. A rabbit perhaps? Although we rarely see any. I live in Western WA so no woodchucks. What deters rabbits besides an ugly fence?
Rabbit Deterrents
Please see our Rabbit Pest Page for tips on how to keep rabbits out of your garden.
rabits - chipmunks - squirrels - deer
We live in the woods. I can hardly keep any flowers around outside because of these little pests. Finally after trying every thing I could think of.....spray bottle of about 4 ozs water with a tablespoon of Murphys Oil. Shake and spray. I do this every few days. Even my small trees I planted. IT WORKS. Finally
Transplanting
I have just merely pulled them up and planted them and they do just fine. I live in Zone 7 in NW Georgia.
What I need to know is do you cut them back in the late fall for the winter, If so how much do you leave of the plant?
COLOR CHANGE
Hi I see a few people have asked the same question about buying yellow orange or red cone flowers and they turn pink or purple. I had the same problem and it wasn't the wrong tag because the flowers were in bloom and my soil seems fine I have no problem growing flowers. I asked at the store where I purchased them and they did not know the answer but we're going to research and see if they could find out what happened. I was so disappointed for the colors that I had chosen to turn pink when I had plenty of pink LOL . I also planted the colored ones on the opposite side of my yard away from the pink ones . Is there any other answer or any way to find out what is happening?
the coneflower color puzzle
Thanks for taking the time to scroll through the comments, Beth. We may have found a hint of solution to this puzzle: hybrids. A U of Illinois extension service columnist noted (in 2014) that she had similar experiences with coneflower soon after the introduction of unique Echinacea cultivars in the early 2000s. She records “so-so” results with several of the new plants, including death of some. And she reports having one plant bloom in two colors—one as advertised, so to speak, and one the traditional purple. And after it all, she says she is sticking with the traditional purple variety, Ehinacea purpurea. If you would like to read the column, it’s here: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/dmp/eb259/entry_8671/
Finally! Thanks for being the one to bring this all to light!
cone flower color change
Many hybrid plants including turf grass return to there parent plants genes after a few years. Echinacea was the quickest return to original color that I have ever seen. We planted purple, orange, yellow and white echinacea and after 2nd year 90% purple. After splitting last year we had a few volunteer orange and yellow return but not the numbers that we planted. Good luck
Just a word of caution, buy
Just a word of caution, buy from a reputable dealer, don't buy from some random person on ebay. I thought I was getting "Cheyenne Spirit" with different color flowers on one plant, but when it bloomed they are all pink! Nothing wrong with pink but it surely was a disappointment.
2nd yield in one season
I have a well established crop of cone flower. I live in Missouri. If I cut them down after the first harvest of cut flowers will I get a second yield of blooms in the same season.
Pages