


Leaving your dormant plants up will provide many ecological benefits. Once this plant is done blooming and beginning to go dormant, don’t cut it back. Make sure you keep the rabbits/deer at bay when seedlings are young or when it is emerging from winter. As long as it isn’t in a wetland and gets sun, it should do just fine. This plant lights a lot of sun, and well drained soil. Another consideration is to avoid putting it in a space that collects too much water, or if it doesn’t receive enough sun. A big threat to Echinacea Pallida is deer and rabbits when the plants are young, or emerging from winter. It is native to the prairie, where it would receive sun all day, occasional droughts, high wind, etc. Another benefit is that bees absolutely love this plant, as evidenced by the picture at right. This is a hardy perennial, and pretty easy to grow.
PURPLE CONEFLOWER SEED HOW TO
Be sure to check out how to start your own micro-prairie to get maximum color throughout the year, while doing the most to help bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.Ī bee doing the Happy Dance on a soon to be dormant Echinacea Pallida! They add some graceful pink hues in Early Summer while most of the other plants are still growing. We have several specimens growing in our backyard micro-prairie. Another difference differentiating this plant is the leaves are much narrower than the more common Echinaceas. But, it probably won’t survive if it is semi-wetland, or just a general moist area that doesn’t drain. This plant can thrive in any type of soil, even clay. So, if you like coneflower then you should consider adding a few of these to your garden, as it will allow you a longer duration of having ‘coneflowers’ in bloom during the summer! Another difference with Echinacea Purpurea is that the leaves are much narrower, which helps in identification prior to blooming.Īlso, the roots of echinacea typically go to around 5’ deep (1.5 m), making it very drought tolerant. In my experience this will bloom 2-3 weeks earlier than Echinacea Purpurea. The first being the flower itself, as it has very narrow petals that hang down, almost like a more delicate and graceful coneflower. There are several differences with the more common Echinacea Purpurea, which is the common Purple Coneflower. It has a long bloom time and is very showy, also being very tall (3-5’, 1-1.5 m). When your cornflower blooms begin to look spent, cut down the plant by 1/3 of it’s height, which will help re energize the plant as well as store energy for subsequent seasons.The native perennial, Pale Purple Coneflower, (Echinacea Pallida) is a good choice for landscapes and prairies. Typically Coneflowers won’t need any fertilization, but if flowers are small or not developing well, use a high phosphorus fertilizer.
PURPLE CONEFLOWER SEED MANUAL
In areas with normal rainfall, manual watering won’t be necessary. However, do not cover, as Coneflower seeds require sunlight to germinate. Soil that is too rich may encourage green growth, but diminish your flowering.īroadcast sow your seeds directly onto the surface of the soil, and compress firmly. However, they can tolerate Partial Shade.
PURPLE CONEFLOWER SEED FULL
Plant in the late Fall, after the frost, or you can start indoors 6-8 weeks before your final frost date (after a period of 8-12 weeks of cold stratification).Ĭoneflowers do best in average, well-drained soil, exposed to Full Sun conditions.

This flower produces blooms that are daisy-like, with attractively drooping petals in a wide range of colors. Blooms: Spring, Late Spring, Early Summer, SummerĬoneflowers are course, rough-hairy, herbaceous perennials that are native to most prairies, meadows, and open woods of the central to southeastern United States.
