Echinacea- The Perfect Summer Flower for Cottage Gardens
Echinacea (Cone Flower) has become one of our favorites in the garden. They are tall, sturdy, and really shine in the summer garden. Ours start to bloom here in Mystic, CT in time for July 4th, and they will remain blooming until frost.
We have seven varieties in our cottage garden, and are always on the hunt for more. Their blooms come in an incredible variety of forms and colors. Because they stand tall in the garden and their colors are so vivid, they tend to “pop" relative to other plants around them.
Our first echinacea was “Summer Sky", pictured below. Our garden designer, Christin Larson (The Garden Consultant: http://www.thegardenconsultant.com/) included thee stands of these in her design. They have a lovely peach color that tends to pink toward the center of the flower. It is actually the first bi-colored echinacea. You can read more about them and other echinaceas from the developer ItSaul here: http://www.itsaulplants.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=conecrazy.main In my experience, the flowers on this variety tends to fade as at the season progresses, so I deadhead them as they beginning to look worn.
The bees in this picture were VERY focused on their work.
Next to the planting pictured above is a stand of “volunteer" echinacea , commonly called “Purple Coneflowers". These came up from seed about three years ago. The cones on these are incredible. We actually haven’t had any others come up from seed that I am aware of. Typically, I’ll let the faded flowers just stay in the garden through winter so the birds can eat the seeds. That may explain it! I have grown native purple coneflowers from seed in other gardens. Its not difficult.
The echinaceas below demonstrate the strong variations in color, form, and height that can be found in these flowers. “Cheyenne Spirit Mix" is a new addition this year, so the plant below is not very mature yet. The color is outstanding. This variety is often started from seed, and results in plants with a variety of color.
“Hot Papaya" is one of my favorites. Incredible color with a double flower form.
“Tiki Torch" has a strong orange color. This plant is in its second year.
“Powwow Wild Berry" is an interesting variety. It has the densiest flowers of any I have seen, and tends to be about half the height of our other varieties… in this case, about a foot and a half or so. These flowers don’t fade. A mass planting of this variety would be impressive!
“Luckey Star" is a nice white variety. The green-orange cone really stands out.
Finally, there is this interesting hybrid plant that is a cross between echinacea and rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan). Both of these are members of the family Asteraceae. Its supposed to have the beautiful flower characteristics of rudbeckia with the sturdy stems of echinacea. Its called Echibeckia… not the most endearing name….
This plant is in its first year, and we got it from Petie Reed at Perennial Harmony Garden Shop (http://www.perennialharmony.com/) in Waterford, CT. We’ve gotten several of our varieties from Petie’s wonderful shop! That’s geranium “Rozanne" on the left… nice color combination.
So, echinacea is a perfect plant for the summer garden. Lots of variety, with some very compelling characteristics. You can read more about them here:
Medicinally, echinacea is an herb and has a variety of uses (I haven’t tried it): http://goo.gl/R5o8L
The photo below includes echinacea “Summer Sky" with rudbeckia and geranium “Rozanne" There is a gap in the middle of this bunch where I moved out some Siberian Iris… ready for some new coneflowers I’m thinking!
