Growing Coneflowers

How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Coneflowers

Rate this Article:

The Summer Solstice is Friday. Get ready!
Here are 10 things you should know about the first day of summer.

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!

Planting

Loosen the soil in your garden using a garden fork or tiller to 12 to 15 inches deep, then mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost. (Learn more about preparing soil for planting.)
Plant the seeds in the spring in humus-rich, well-drained soil about 1 to 3 feet apart, depending on the type, in full sun. Coneflowers can tolerate some shade.
If you are moving a potted plant outside from inside, dig a hole about twice the pot’s diameter and carefully place the plant in the soil. Bury the plant to the top of the root ball, but make sure the root ball is level with the soil surface. Water it thoroughly.

Care

In the spring, put a thin layer of compost around the plants, then a 2–inch layer of mulch to help keep the plants moist and prevent weeds.
If you receive less than an inch of rain a week, water your plants regularly during the summer.
If your plants are floppy, cut them to the ground after they flower.
Remember to cut off the dead/faded flowers to prolong the blooming season and prevent excessive self-seeding. To attract birds, keep the late-season flowers on the plants to mature.
Divide your plants into clumps every 3 to 4 years in spring or autumn, although coneflowers do not like excessive disturbance.

Pests/Diseases

Leaf miners
Powdery mildew
Bacterial spots
Gray mold
Vine weevils

Recommended Varieties

‘Robert Bloom’ (Echinacea purpurea), which has prominent, dark orange centers with bright crimson flower petals.
Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis), which has greenish-pink centers with dark mauve flower petals.
‘Finale White’ (Echinacea purpurea), which has creamy white flower heads with greenish-brown centers.

Wit & Wisdom

Coneflowers both attract butterflies and repel deer, so they’ll keep your garden just how you want it!
Applying an infusion of coneflower will help soothe a sunburn.

Reader Comments

form.antibot { display: none !important; } You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form.

Color change from yellow to bright orange?

I’ve had an echinacea passed along from a friend for well over 5 years. It is happy and healthy. It had pale yellow, almost white blooms, and would not have been a new hybrid since who knows how long my friend had it before she gave me a start. This year the blooms start yellow and turn bright orange. Doesn’t sound like a hybrid going back to the old purple, what could be going on?

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.

Echinacia First Year: Winter

Hi,

I live in Iowa. Our winters get a bit chilly -- hanging at -15F (-26C) for periods last winter. I cut the coneflowers to the ground in November. They are covered with snow for months, and they do fine the next year.

coneflowers

I had a pot full and cut the heads off but left the stems in the pot will they grow back or do I need the seeds. Not sure if these have bulbs or rhizomes.

purple coneflowers

This is not just normal as it is the rule. Thee purple coneflower seedlings do not bloom the first summer, the plants die back and go dormant in late summer. This first-year dormancy is important and when plants develop strong roots. Plants flower in summer of the second year, and every year after that.

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.

Dividing purpleconeflowers

In my experience with conefloweres 20 plus years I am not gentle at all just a shovel and split with shovel put em back in the ground they are tough plants just like hostas.

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.

Purple and Red Echinacea blooming white

It has to do with the pH/acidity levels of the soil. If it is too high or too low will affect flower coloring.

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?

Coneflowers not coming back?

Hi,

If you never deadhead them, they probably got overgrown and choked themselves out. I regularly and frequently deadhead mine. In late Fall, I leave the last blooms on for the finches when they show up looking for seeds.
Here in Iowa, our winters can get a bit chilly -- hanging at -15F for periods last winter. I cut the coneflowers to the ground in November. They were covered with snow for months, and they came back with a vengeance this year -- bigger, taller, thicker, and more populous.
Now, I have a lot of thinning to do. It's probably time for that, anyway, since they have been here a few years. Same thing with the daisies.

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.