Something wonderful has happened in the world of purple coneflowers and that is science to the point it would probably even impress an astrophysicist. The science here, however, is with the selections, the breeding, crosses, and backcrosses, stuff that makes a rusty horticulturist like myself amazed and a little envious that I wasn't part of the project.
The result is our native coneflower species have simply gotten better; more colors, flowers, and habits to include in your garden. Your designs will be more intriguing, colorful and all the while bringing in so many pollinators it will appear it was specifically done at their behest.
It was just a few years ago that I wrote about the Sombrero series that was developed by Darwin Perennials a Ball Horticultural Company. At the time I raved about Sombrero Hot Coral part of a series of four. Today there are a dozen colors and if you ever get to see a garden center or nursery growing all of them, you will not only want one of each, but you will lose all rationale and want the whole inventory.
I thought Sombrero Hot Coral was my favorite but the orange selections like Sombrero Adobe Orange and Sombrero Flamenco Orange have a color that I just can't pass up. Partnered with blue, like the new Mysty salvia or even the soft blue of Russian sage creates a partnership that I just can't have enough.
Terra Nova Nurseries another innovative leader in perennial plant breeding introduced us all to the Prima series this year. Prima comes in Cinnamon, Ruby and an artistic designer looking Ginger. Though compact in habit the flower quantity is most impressive. I loved watching bees in what seemed to be a pollen ecstasy.
Early spring is still my favorite time to plant purple coneflowers. Select healthy growing transplants not yet in flower, these are the ones that are still producing roots and green leaves. But to be honest the industry has changed offering us healthy blooming, vibrant transplants all season.
Last fall when I was at the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens in Savannah we had the opportunity to plant these blooming echinaceas in September. As crazy and as scientifically wrong that it felt, I can truthfully say it worked and they were great, go figure. So, should you live in an area that has a nursery offering fresh blooming coneflowers in early September, don't be afraid, you have not lost your mind.
Whenever you decide to plant choose a site in full sun for best flower performance. The soil need not be luxuriantly fertile, on the other hand, if it takes a pickaxe or jackhammer to break apart plan on incorporating 3 to 4 inches of organic matter. While tilling go ahead and work in two pounds of a slow release 12-6-6 fertilizer per 100 square feet of bed space. Space your plants 8 to 14-inches apart in an informal drift or sweep. If you have the mucky soil consider planting on raised beds using a prepared landscape mix.
Your partnership opportunities with these new echinaceas are unlimited. Some of the prettiest beds I've seen this year had them partnered with multi-colored coreopsis and blue salvias. You'll love them in informal sweeps or drifts with rudbeckias or gloriosa daisies like Prairie Sun or Indian Summer. They also look so natural in a prairie-like companion with ornamental grasses swaying in the breeze.
Purple coneflowers still come in purple and they will always be recommended. Keep your eyes open however for the new multicolored Sombrero and Prima series as well as Cheyenne Spirit an All-America Selections Winner from 2013.
