Echinacea: Growing Coneflower Succesfully

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Coneflower or Echinacea are one of the best perennial flowers in the garden. http://www.youtube.com/user/headgardener2u/ The entire family of cone flower or Echinacea loves the open sunny garden. It thrives in drier gardens than most other plants so it is a good plant for that hot, dry spot. Do water it to establish new plantings but once established, it can thrive on its own. The really nice thing about this plant is that it will also tolerate some light shade and good soil. The only thing that will shorten an echinacea lifespan are heavy clay soils or constantly damp soils; it does not like to have its roots constantly wet. It likes good drainage. I have found the plant does really well in moderately fertile soils and if there is enough water in mid summer when it is setting seed, there is no problem with obtaining more plants. Other perennial flower tips along with Echinacea can be found at http://www.doug-greens-perennials.com You can find me at G+ here https://plus.google.com/u/0/107836847806083557330/posts Facebook is here https://www.facebook.com/DougGreensGardening Twitter is here https://twitter.com/douggreen

Comments

Thank you, good information!

How do they naturalize, if we can't grow them from the seeds they produce?

i grew mine from a pack of seeds.

Jacquie - check the next video I did it to answer your question. :-)

Is it best to trim spent flowers in late fall or do you just leave it be until spring clean up?

Thank you Mr. Green, that cleared it up for this novice gardener!

Seed from Echinacea will germinate nicely in the garden. For sure. However, seed from fancy hybrids will germinate and NOT come true from seed. The hybridization of the plant means the plant will give you a range of colors and sizes etc but not necessarily the same as the mother plant. You want more of that exact same wonderful new hybrid, you have to buy another one or divide it with a shovel in a few years.

I am confused by your comment that you have to buy them from a garden center.I have watched other videos that say the seeds can be gathered when the cones turn black and then put back into the garden to grow more flowers.Which is true?

I purchased 2 reduced priced coneflowers today,thought they were purple but tags say they are Echinacea Paradoxa Yellow.Can't wait to get them in my garden!Love your videos.

I love the purple cone flower. We call it snakeroot around these parts. I live in Kansas where it grows wild in the pastures around the area. I used to make really good money digging the root on the weekends. The variety that grows here is Echinacea Angustifolia, but it's commonly know as snakeroot or black samson.

i love the purple coneflowers i have many in my garden and they keep blooming for at least 2 to 3 months!

i love them did you know that the name is greek from ἐχῖνος or echino it means sea urchin. because of the flower pad in the middle looks spiny. :)

@LotaOldstuff - hybrids don't come true from seed so these have to be purchased at a garden centre. They are mostly tissue-culture propagated and then grown by a nursery. Seed generated plants are stable (hopefully) open pollinated forms and can be purchased / started from seed. Home gardeners can either start from seed or dig/divide existing plants to get more. There's a video up on my lists about digging and dividing that applies to this plant as well.

Wonder how propagation is done is it by thinning your plants? The video did not cover "how" only said that a person would have to purchase Enchinacea from the garden shop? If Enchinacea cannot be propagated from seed why can you buy seed at the store?

@headgardener2u second point - doing transplanting during the gardening season when the plant is growing isn't the best idea - a lot of shock on the plant. Make sure you put it into the shade for a week or so after transplanting so it doesn't get even more stressed

@ericbelify get it out of a small pot - into a garden. Soil temp is too high or not enough water - or conversely you've overwatered it and you have root rot.

my one plant is withering in its pot here in Texas. I've re-potted it in potting soil and compost in a large pot. It's still not doing well, any advice?

I really like these as well. I find they also attract bees - especially bumblebees which are great for a photo :) I have a bunch from a few years ago and I recently added another four in another part of the flower bed.

@Sarash00 - glad it helped.

Thank you for the video.. I have been looking one talking about cone flowers' sun requirement but was not able to find one until yours. Thanks.