Tip of the Week: The Color of Coneflowers

Posted in Gardening Tips on September 14 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.

Life used to be so simple. When asked the color of coneflowers (Echinacea) the answer used to be…well, actually now that I think about it, the answer was never simple. What is the color of a coneflower? Is it purple, mauve, pink, carmine, rose, or magenta?

Does it have a registered name and color number? Do Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams have a swatch? Whether we could put a name on it, or not, we all knew the color we were talking about—that pinkish-purplish color.

These days if you browse the catalogs of many reputable nurseries searching for coneflowers, you will think that you have landed on the wrong page. The color spectrum of these understated native beauties has exploded. The flowers have also taken on a new form. Some are now crimped and coiffed like poodles, in fact, to celebrate this coming out, one of the newer cultivars is actually named ‘Pink Poodle’.

We have seen hybridizing initiatives in the past that have experimented with color, but many of these introductions had kept their native prairie features, and these selections had wiry stems that begged for support from tall grasses and looked out of place standing alone in a perennial garden.

The newer introductions that we are now seeing have strong stems as well as a good head on their shoulders. A number of these new hybrids have come from Holland from the Dutch designer and nurseryman, Piet Oudolf. Oudolf is rigorous in his selection process, choosing only garden-worthy plants that not only flower well but die with dignity and keep their appearance through multiple seasons.

Some of his Echinacea cultivars that we are growing this year on Seasonal Walk include ‘Fatal Attraction’, ‘Green Jewel’, (pictured in photo) ‘Vintage Wine’, and ‘Virgin’. ‘Fatal Attraction’ makes an excellent cut flower with its robust black stems and vivid purple flowers while ‘Green Jewel’ is a compact cultivar that lives up to its name. These cultivars have been causing a riot on our seasonal border this year. They get a “10” for performance.

If you are more interested in the American breeding programs, Dan Heims from Terra Nova Nurseries has a few new introductions that will whet your appetite: the bright yellow Echinacea ‘Mac n Cheese’ and the bright red Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’. In terms of coneflowers with froufrou flowers look for ‘Meringue’, ‘Milkshake’, ‘Pink Double Delight’, and ‘Pink Poodle’. I have yet to try these, so tell me what you think!

One of my favorite colors in any perennial garden is orange. It is sublime with burgundy, scintillating with silver, and blends beautifully with reds and yellows. There are some wonderful warm-colored coneflowers on the market. Echinacea ‘Evan Saul’ or Sundown™ is one of Richard Saul’s glorious introductions—it will take your breath away with its iridescent orange-honey blooms. Another contender is Echinacea ‘Tiki Torch’. These are not as sturdy as the old standbys but they are worth trying.

Coneflowers are tough, native plants with ornamental seed heads that attract birds and butterflies. Many of the newer cultivars make wonderful cut flowers. Once these tough native prairie plants are established they are drought tolerant. Deer will eat just about anything these days, but often these coneflowers go untouched, so don’t be afraid to splash out with one of the newer cultivars.