As always, give us a call to check availability before making a special trip (although we’re always happy to see you). Just plant it, and you’ll be glad you did.Īt Native Nurseries, we typically stock purple coneflower in 4” and 1-gallon pots. Plant it anywhere there’s adequate sun to invite more butterflies into your yard. Plant it in or near your vegetable garden to ensure plenty of pollinators for your tomatoes and such. Take root cuttings from autumn to early winter. Divide clumps in spring every 3 to 4 years. ![]() Cut back stems to promote more flowering and reduce excessive self-seeding. It is tolerant of drought, heat, humidity, and poor soils. I did touch on butterflies and bees, but the capacity of this wonderful wildflower for attracting these pollinators to your yard deserves another mention. Care Grow in deep, well-drained soil in full sun. So far you just cannot beat the native species for longevity and reliable performance. Donna says Kim’s Knee High was nice for two years but has not performed well since then. Lilly has had some success with Cheyenne Spirit, Pow Wow Berry and Pow Wow White but she’s only had them for two years, so the jury’s still out. While most probably do well for the season in which you plant them, many do not come back the next spring, at least not in this part of the country – or they are not as pretty if they do. There are many cultivars of purple coneflower and although they are beautiful, so far we are not very impressed. This will rejuvenate the plant and most likely cause a new flush of blooming that lasts till frost. If it starts to look tired or ragged in late summer, you can cut purple coneflower back by about a third. For best results, divide purple coneflower plants in the fall and no more than once every three to four years. It reseeds readily and can also be started from root division. Purple coneflower also makes a great, long lasting cut flower. Despite that height they rarely require staking. They occur on sturdy stalks, which may reach five feet in height. ![]() In the case of the purple coneflower, the flower head is orange and cone-shaped surrounded by pinkish/purple petals (bracts). It’s a member of the compositae family, so what looks like one flower is actually a flower head containing many small flowers. You (and the butterflies and bees) will enjoy almost non-stop blooming from summer to frost with this impressive wildflower. So unless you’re putting it in garden soil that’s been amended with mushroom compost over the years, adding a little dolomite lime to our acidic Tallahassee soil is a good idea. Although it’s tough and easy to grow - not fussy at all – it does prefer well-drained, neutral to alkaline soil. It’s a strong, drought tolerant perennial, for full sun to part. Purple coneflower ( Echinacea purpurea, pronounced eck-kin-NAY-see-uh pur-pur-EE-uh) is one of our favorite native wildflowers here at Native Nurseries.
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