Description
Large open flowers withy pale pink petals and burnt orange centres, flowering from July to September. Petals droop below the centres to make an interesting ‘shuttlecock’ shape often seen in Piet Oufolf’s planting schemes.
Echinacea grows wild in North American parries but has become one of the stars of New Perennial Style planting and looks equally at home in a border or a more ‘wild’ setting. Looks fabulous planted in drifts among wispy grasses or dotted through a border.
Height and spread: 1.25m Height, 0.5m Spread
Common name: Coneflower
Position in the garden: Full sun
Soil type: Most soil types except very dry or boggy.
Flowering period: June to September
Hardiness: Fully Hardy
Goes well with:
Flowers - Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’ (Russian sage), Sedum ‘Matrona’ (ice plant), Salvia nemorosa ‘Cardonna’ (meadow sage).
Grasses - Stipa tenuissima (feather grass), Miscanthus sinensis (Chinese silver grass).
Care of Echinacea pallida
Congested clumps can be divided and lifted in Autumn or Spring. Coneflowers will benefit from a Spring or Autumn mulch of well rotted compost and should be cut back to ground level before growth resumes in Spring.
Wildlife benefits
Open, easy to access flowers that are a pollen and nectar source for bees and hoverflies and a nectar source for butterflies.
