Keep Your Perennial Coneflowers Coming Back Year After Year: Here’s how to overwinter stunning perennial coneflowers, which bloom all summer. Echinaceas (coneflowers) are summer border superstars loved by gardeners, birds, bees, and butterflies for their vivid colors. Some gardeners wonder which coneflowers are perennial.
Keep Your Perennial Coneflowers Coming Back Year After Year
“Today’s “purple coneflowers” come in a gorgeous array of colors beyond purple, and flower forms from upward-facing to elegantly draping—sharing their signature central cone of spiky seeds. While coneflowers are perennials with hardiness from Zones 3 to 9, their winter disappearances may deter gardeners. Some new varieties promise long-lasting living bouquets for birds, pollinators, and gardeners.
Are Coneflowers Perennials or Annuals?
Echinacea are middle-of-the-pack in longevity, but some are more reliable. Echinacea purpurea, the American prairie wildflower, can live for years, but flashier hybrids can vary. Consider breeding and plant conditions for reliable perennial coneflowers.
Several factors affect spring echinacea return. Heims says hybrids from Echinacea paradoxa have poor shoot growth in their first year, making them vulnerable to diseases, poorly drained soil, and extreme weather. Selecting the right cultivars, planting in good soil, and buying the largest, healthiest plants will help.
Recently discovered breeding methods have solved perennial coneflower problems. “The latest hybrids are MUCH BETTER at survival!” KISMET Red and ‘Intense Orange’ from Terra Nova’s KISMET Series passed plant trials with unprecedented 100% winter survival rates in Minnesota and Colorado.
When and How Long Do Coneflowers Bloom?
Three-year-old coneflowers can produce 150 blooms in May–September with loamy soil, consistent watering, and moderate summer weather. Flowering is affected by drought, heat, and poor soil.
Ideal Perennial Coneflower Growing Conditions
At least six hours of direct sunlight is best for coneflowers. Though tough prairie plants, coneflowers need more water than you think for optimal health. While drought-tolerant once established, they prefer an inch of water per week in well-drained soil.
“Compost-y with good structure” soil. Sandy soil can dry out too quickly and clay soil can be too wet, causing winter failure. Echinaceas don’t like rich soil and prefer lean. They require little fertilizer. Springtime balanced slow-release granular application. His preferred nitrogen-potassium-phosphorus ratio is 16-16-16.
Do Coneflowers Spread?
Border perennial coneflowers are well-behaved. If anything, you might want them to grow faster for more architectural flowers! Species echinacea may self-sow via seed (with help from birds!), but most hybrids grow by sending up new shoots and widening their crown moderately.
Should You Deadhead Coneflowers?
Deadheading is unnecessary because most hybrids bloom until September has cool weather. Echinaceas blooms can be enjoyed by pollinators instead of being cut for arrangements. Birds love seeds, so save some at the end of the season.
At the start of the season that can boost plant vigor. “I feel removing the first bud ensures significant rebloom and a fuller plant. This is especially helpful for plants under one gallon.
Dividing/Transplanting Coneflowers
Division every three to four years is the best way to multiply your perennial coneflower collection unless it grows true from seed. It can boost older clumps’ health. Heims advises dividing early spring when foliage is emerging. Divide the crown into sections with at least one leaf rosette using a sharp, clean spade.
Also See:
The Secrets To Growing Lantana – And Keep It Blooming Big!
Should You Cut Coneflowers Back for Winter?
Leave your coneflowers alone before winter—they may grow. Dark seed cones add drama and verticality to your winter garden when many perennials have died. Many unsung American perennials were popularized by Dutch garden designer Piet Oudof, who called using spent seedheads and stalks for winter interest the “fifth season”.
The seeds support chickadees, cardinals, and goldfinches overwinter. Apart from giving you more hammock time in the garden, leaving the stems up in mild and wet winter regions like the Pacific Northwest prevents rotting in soggy soils and may help coneflowers overwinter as perennials.
