PA Farm News

April 7, 2007

It's Garden Time
By Mary Ann Ryan, Extension Consumer Horticulture Educator
CARLISLE -- This time of year we think lots about what we want to add to our gardens. We’ve been looking through catalogs throughout the winter and dreaming of getting those new perennials, shrubs or trees into our landscape. We’ve made lists, long lists, of wanted plants and drawings of where we need to put them in our gardens.

My two favorite groupings of plants are perennials and deciduous shrubs. These groupings of plants have so much to offer in not only flower color but leaf and sometimes stem color as well. My list of “must haves” is a long as well. But the group of plants I’ll focus on is the echinaceas.

There have been lots or work done on this genus of plants. Many new varieties have been introduced in the last few years and are taking “front stage” in many magazines and catalogs. As a whole, this genus is very easy to grow. They like well drained soils and full sun, although some cultivars can tolerate part shade as well as wetter soils. Depending on variety, heights of this plant group range from 18 inches to 2 1/2 feet.

Echinacea tennesseensis, Tennessee coneflower, is a native to Tennessee and is adapted well to Pennsylvania. It has slightly upturned, narrow petals. They have an orange to green center and the petals are a rose-pink. The leaves are linear, unlike many other echinaceas, and will reach 1 ½ - 2 feet high and 1 foot wide. This is one that can handle medium to wet soils, but will also tolerate dry soils. It will bloom from June through September, and grow in zones 5-8.

Echinacea paradoxa, yellow coneflower, is native to Missouri and Arkansas. As its name suggests, it is a yellow coneflower, unlike most other coneflowers. The prickly centers are brown, and the yellow petals are drooping. It too has narrow foliage, much like the Tennessee coneflower, and has its best bloom time from June through mid July. It is hardy in zones 5-8. This is probably one of my favorite coneflowers because of its unusual yellow color.

Echinacea purpurea, purple conflower, is the plant most familiar to us. This species is native to eastern US, and is commonly grown in the industry. This is hardy in zones 3-8 and can be seen growing in our meadows. Like all other coneflowers, it is not picky for soil type. It will grow in dry to medium wet soils. It does self sow easily, so be careful when weeding in spring that you don’t pull any seedlings! The flower petals are rose pink, droopy and broad. Depending on the cultivar, the petals may overlap, giving a showier flower. The flower centers are a coppery color, turning dark brown to black as it matures. The leaves are broad, dark green at the base of the plant.

There are many cultivars of the species E. purpurea that have been introduced. Commonly grown are Bravado, Magnus and White Swan. Bravado has been selected for its dark rose pink flower color and less drooping petals, Magnus for its up to 6 inch wide flowers and White Swan for its white flowers and green-orange prickly centers. All of these cultivars will reseed, and often the seedlings will revert back to its species.

A new series of Echinaceas that have been introduced and are becoming available in local nurseries are the ‘Big Sky Series’. These echinaceas have been crossed with E. paradoxa and E. purpurea, with many years of breeding work done by Richard Saul in Georgia. This series is fragrant and hardy to zone 5. This series includes ‘Harvest Moon’, ‘Sundown’, ‘Sunrise’, ‘Sunset’, and Twilight’.

‘Harvest Moon’ is a golden yellow with droopy flower petals. It will grow up to 30 inches tall. ‘Sundown’ grows to 36 inches and has coral tipped with salmon edges for its flower color. The petals are less drooping, making it an unusual coneflower. ‘Sunrise’ is a very strong grower and will also reach 36 inches. It opens to a yellow color, fading to a lemon yellow. Its petals also are less drooping. ‘Sunset’ reached 30 inches and is bright coral while ‘Twilight’ is a red-purple color with a dark red center.

All of these Echinaceas are not only easy to grow but attract birds and butterflies as well. If seed heads are left, you’ll see an abundance of life in the garden even after the flower petals have long faded and blown away. They are low maintenance plants that have few insect and disease problems. They look great planted in a grouping in the perennial border. Keep an eye out for some of these new cultivars and try them in your garden.

Mary Ann Ryan is the Extension Consumer Horticulture Educator serving the Capital Region. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce. Penn State Cooperative Extension in Cumberland County is located at 1100 Claremont Road, Carlisle, PA 17015, phone 717-240-6500, office e-mail CumberlandExt@psu.edu.

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