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Planting, Growing, and Caring for Coneflowers
Coneflowers, also known as echinacea, are one of America鈥檚 native wildflowers, beloved by butterflies, bees, and songbirds. Learn more about growing coneflower care鈥攆rom planting to pests to deadheading.
About Perennial Coneflowers
Echinacea are tough perennials in the daisy family (Asteraceae) and hardy in Zones 3 to 9. They are native to the eastern and central United States, blooming in mid-summer and continue to flower sporadically until frost.
The genus is named after the Greek word for hedgehog, echinos, because of its cone-like center, which attracts butterflies and bees. Leave the seed heads after bloom, and you鈥檒l also attract songbirds such as goldfinches!
Of course, this plant is good for humans, too, with many medicinal properties; today, it鈥檚 especially popular as an herbal tea to strengthen the immune system.
Do Coneflowers Spread?
This is not an aggressive plant, but it will naturally self-seed and spread, which you can encourage if you wait to cut back until late winter (or prohibit self-seeding if you deadhead the flowers right after they fade). Hybrids will not self-sow; most are sterile (they do not produce viable seeds). Hybrids aren鈥檛 of much interest to birds, either.
The Purple Coneflower
The purple coneflower (E. purpurea) is the most common and readily available. The flowers measure 2 to 4 inches in diameter and have a mounded, brown, central cone of disk flowers surrounded by long light purple rays that droop down the center cone. Up to nine naturally occurring echinacea can also be found in purple shades or yellow (E. paradoxa). They have dark green lower leaves 4 to 8 inches long.
Coneflowers are striking when planted in masses, especially as a mix of various colors. They are trouble-free once established in a traditional garden or wildflower meadow. They are commonly seen in perennial flower gardens.
Growing
- Coneflowers are drought tolerant, but new plants need water occasionally and more often if the spring season is especially dry.
- Native in-ground coneflowers seldom need fertilizer.
- To delay blooming for fall enjoyment (and compact growth), cut back stems 1 foot when plants come into bloom. For staggered bloom heights and times, cut only a few stems.
- Beneficial, wasplike soldier beetles may appear in August. They feed on insect eggs and larvae and pollinate plants. Do not harm them. Learn more about insects that help out around the garden.
- In late fall, lightly spread mulch in colder regions.
- Cut the stems back to soil level when they wither or after frost.
- Divide or transplant coneflowers in spring or fall.
Deadheading Coneflowers
Should you deadhead coneflowers? There are pros and cons. Deadheading right after a flower fades prolongs blooming and prevents reseeding. However, if you can wait until late winter, your birds鈥攅specially goldfinch 鈥 will enjoy those seedheads. Plus, coneflowers self-seed prolifically, so where you had only one, you鈥檒l have multiple places in the garden with lovely blooms that attract butterflies and bees.
How to deadhead coneflowers? After the flowers fade, cut back stems to a leaf near a new flower bud or a set of leaves. Use sharp, sterilized shears as coneflowers are too thick to snap back the spent flower head with your fingers.
Growing Coneflowers in Pots
We tend to grow coneflowers in the ground as perennial plants, but you can certainly grow them in pots if the containers are deep enough for the plant鈥檚 taproot.
- Use 2- or 3-gallon (or larger) pots with drainage holes. Spread crushed gravel in the bottom of the pots for drainage.
- Fill the pot halfway with the potting mix. Tamp down. Plant the root ball an inch below the rim of the container, spreading out the roots. Add soil slowly until it is even with the top of the root ball, tamping down lightly. Water deeply.
- Keep pots in partial shade for 2 to 3 days, then place in full morning sun and partial afternoon shade.
- Always water deeply at the soil level, and the soil is dry to the touch. Water on leaves can cause fungal disease.
- Fertilize every couple of weeks with a water-soluble 10-10-10 product.
- Deadhead just below the base of the flower for continued bloom.
- To overwinter, prune plants to soil level when plant growth slows in fall.
- Move to a cool (40潞 to 50潞F) area, with low to moderate indirect light.
- Check the soil every couple of weeks and water lightly when the top 3 inches are dry.
- When new growth appears in spring, move to a brighter, warmer (60潞 to 70潞F) area. Moving the plant helps to prepare it for living outdoors in the spring and summer.
- Do not water leaves from above, as this can encourage fungal disease on leaves. Instead, water at the soil level. Use an insecticidal soap or neem oil solution spray if you see any aphids or pests.
- Every 3 to 4 years, in spring, after new growth has started, divide and repot echinacea plants.
Types
These are native, unless noted 鈥
- 鈥楻obert Bloom鈥 (Echinacea purpurea): red-purple petals; prominent, dark orange centers
- 鈥楩inale White鈥 (E. purpurea): creamy-white petals; greenish-brown centers
- Narrow-leaf coneflower (E. augustifolia): similar to E. purpurea
- Pale purple coneflower (E. pallida); native to Ontario
- Sanguine purple coneflower (E. sanguinea): red-purple petals with streaks (sanguinea, Latin for 鈥渂lood鈥 refers to streaks in petals; native to southern states
- Smooth purple coneflower (E. laevigata): narrow, drooping, pale-pink petals; endangered
- Tennessee coneflower (E. tennesseensis): upturned mauve petals; greenish-pink centers
- Topeka purple coneflower (E. atrorubens): deep pink short petals; rare
- Wavy leaf coneflower (E. simulata): yellow pollen distinguishes it from E. pallida (white pollen)
- Yellow coneflower (E. paradoxa), aka Ozark coneflower: yellow petals
- 鈥楥濒别辞辫补迟谤补鈥 (E. hybrid): soft yellow petals; copper-green centers
Read about our favorite coneflower varieties here!
Catherine Boeckmann
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rabbits and coneflowers as soon as the new growth starts with those fresh wonderful greens here comes the bunnys, I put buckets with the bottoms cut out of the buckets and put them over the baby coneflowers until they get a big bigger
The rabbits decimated most of my coneflowers last year.
I'm stumped. Over the course of two years I planted 7 or 8 various echinacea. They came up, flourished and even self seeded for a year or two and then, for no apparent reason, two years ago not a single plant came up. A few of these were pretty healthy, large specimens. The care they received was always consistent and I never use herbicides or insecticides near them. Have UFO's invaded my garden and carried them away?
Denise, that very thing happens to me sometimes. Especially with my Vinca. They'll be doing fantastic, then it's like a switch is turned on or off and BOOM, they die. It's very frustrating isn't it??
I'm not sure if UFOs had anything to do with it, but from the research I've done on herbicides, some are water soluble. This means that they can evaporate with water, be collected in rain water clouds, and then be dispersed throughout an area. If you have neighbors using herbicides, it's quite possible this happened. It's a really big and unspoken problem, especially since these chemicals can poison ground water and local ponds and lakes. Just some fruit for thought. I'd suggest should and water testing in the area. Truth is, if it's affecting the soil, it's probably affecting you too.
I have a 30 x 60 greenhouse. I purchased a tray of echinacea plugs from a reputable company, and they were beautiful. I potted them each into 4 " pots of sterile potting mix. I also added just a very small sprinkle of timed release fertilizer.. They sseemed fine for 2 weeks. I did fertilize my entire greenhouse with miracle grow liqua fertilizer with an injector a week ago. It is very warm in the ghse when the sun is shining. Today I notice that the leaves on the plants are turning brown and crisping. The centers of the plants look fine. Too wet? too dry? Too hot? to much Fertilizer? Or too much salt in my well water? Nothing else in the ghse is affected like they are..
Your article states that coneflowers are deer resistant. The deer here in Connecticut must not know that because the love the new buds!
Hi Nancy, When it comes to deer, they’ll eat anything if they’re desperate enough and lacking in habitat. Coneflowers are rated as 鈥淪eldom Severely Damaged.鈥 There are some plants that are more deer-resistant (鈥淩arely Damaged鈥) and many many plant that are occasionally, frequently, and/or severed damaged. For perennial plants that are rarely damaged, consider Russian Sage, Allium, Iris, False Indigo, Bleeding Heart, and Forget-Me-Not.
I bought echinacea transplants in the spring and planted them in large pots, along with a tomato and a zucchini. After my neighbor sprayed Roundup in his yard I didn't get any female blossoms on zucchini and cucumbers. My strawberries and tomatoes stopped producing. Strawberry leaves still look healthy, but tomatoes leaves are slowly dying. Now, months later I'm thinking the echinacea was affected because there are no blooms, just healthy looking leaves. Do you think the echinacea (and strawberry plants will be ok, and safe to ingest if they come back next year? Or, do I have to pull entire plants?
A University of California expert suggests this: Round Up can linger for a while, maybe even longer than a month especially in a sandy soil in which it is not adsorbed to fine soil particles as it would in a clay. The solution to this predicament, and indeed in all cases of Round Up toxicity, is to let the plant grow out of it.
A U of Michigan Coop Extension source is more cautious; read here:
Then there is the old adage, when in doubt, don’t. Maybe you can talk to your neighbor and come to some agreement about how/when he applies it … or you can share your health concerns about both of you.
