Coneflowers, on the other hand, are tough and resilient once established. While purple coneflowers thrive in USDA hardiness zones three through nine, you may want to provide them with some winter protection in their first year if you live somewhere particularly cold. Summer and fall blooms are yours to choose, or you can pick just one season to enjoy a concentrated display of colorful blooms. By deadheading all of your coneflowers after blooming in the early summer, you’ll be rewarded with a stunning fall bloom display. Cut coneflowers will bloom again in the early fall if you remove their flowerheads early in the summer after they have finished blooming plants that are not deadheaded only produce summer blooms. Gardeners who want to extend the blooming period of their plants should remove some of the flowers from their plants. Taproots of coneflowers extend far down into the soil, allowing the plant to survive the hot summer days and produce its best flowers. In reality, you may only get a few small flowers or none at all from your garden.

The leaves of the plant can’t produce enough energy through photosynthesis to produce beautiful flowers when there isn’t enough sunlight. There is a downside to too much shade for coneflowers, however. If you live in an area that experiences hot spells during the summer, the coneflower plant appreciates some dappled shade in order to preserve the stunning color of its blossoms. To keep aphids out of the garden, coneflowers use summer’s extended sunlight period to produce these large blossoms that attract beneficial insects like soldier beetles. Between 4 and 8 inches, wide are the petals of coneflowers, depending on the variety. For a stunning display of blooming flowers, a thick layer of green foliage illuminating them from below provides the perfect backdrop. Coneflowers are also loved by hummingbirds and finches, who eat the seeds and disperse them.īetween June and October, coneflowers are at their peak of blooming power. Bees and butterflies love nectar-rich flowers like these. The daisy-like blooms of the coneflower are actually made up of several small flowers with sterile petals that attract insects to the numerous fertile flowers in the central disk or cone of the plant. Due to its fibrous root system, it is more adaptable to garden conditions and more forgiving of dividing and transplanting than other native species, which have long taproots and woody crowns However, it can take up to two years for coneflowers to bloom.īy far, the most popular variety of coneflower is purple or Echinacea purpurea. Coneflowers germinate in three to four weeks and produce leaves in three months if planted in the early spring (after the last frost).

At least one variety of flowers can be found in almost every garden.

Hardy, drought-resistant and long-blooming natives of eastern North America, they are cultivated in an ever-expanding color palette. Prairies would be incomplete without coneflowers.

Purple coneflower sprouts