{"id":3449,"date":"2021-07-19T06:20:59","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T14:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3449"},"modified":"2021-07-19T06:20:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T14:20:59","slug":"the-universality-of-coneflowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/the-universality-of-coneflowers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Universality of Coneflowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Echinacea\"<\/a>It occurs to me as I peer out over the happy array of coneflowers\u2014Echinacea\u2014in my front yard that the coneflower has become the \u201clittle black dress\u201d of the world of ornamental horticulture.\u00a0 Every woman and a good number of the men of my acquaintance know that \u201clittle black dress\u201d is metaphor for something that is appropriate for almost every situation, can be plain or embellished and can be elegant in its simplicity.<\/p>\n

Coneflowers check all those boxes.\u00a0 Now, thanks to the combined efforts of merchandisers, plant breeders and public relations people, just about every gardener has access to coneflower varieties that suit their gardening ethos and style.<\/p>\n

Suppose you are an organic gardener interested in tough, hardy native plants.\u00a0 You want something that will meld with your New Jersey tea, goldenrod and prairie-style grasses into a sustainable landscape.\u00a0 Your ideal plants never need supplemental water, even on summer days when a walk outside feels like being wrapped in a wet plastic shower curtain while imprisoned in a steamy bathroom.<\/p>\n

Native coneflowers, like the three-foot pale purple coneflower\u2014Echinacea pallida\u2014are for you.\u00a0 The pale purple variety features elegantly drooping mauve-pink flower petals surrounding prominent cones.\u00a0 For something a little more purple and a little less droopy with the same ecological bona fides, you can grow the shorter and rarer Tennessee coneflower or Echinacea tennesseensis.\u00a0 Plants of this unusual variety, endemic to Tennessee, are not widely available, but if you are brave enough to let your grass grow long in the suburbs, you are brave enough to grow Tennessee coneflower from seed.<\/p>\n

Purple coneflower or Echinacea purpurea is an ancestor of most of the modern coneflower hybrids, but it too will fit into your sustainable garden.\u00a0 Better yet, it is perky, purple and widely available.<\/p>\n

But suppose you are a garden fashionista who wants either a specific garden color scheme, like orange and chartreuse, or a Lily Pulitzer-like array of large hot-hued daisies.\u00a0 If that is your inclination, you live in boom times.\u00a0 Since the 1990\u2019s when hybridizers like Richard Saul of Itsaul Plants in Atlanta and Dr. Jim Ault, of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Illinois, began crossing various species of echinacea, the color range has exploded.\u00a0 You can now buy echinacea in shades like \u2018Pow Wow White\u2019 and \u2018Coral Craze\u2019, not to mention \u2018Green Jewel\u2019 and Kismet \u2018Yellow\u2019.\u00a0 In fact coneflowers are available in just about every shade except blue.<\/p>\n

These colorful coneflowers, which began coming to the market in the early 2000s, may be taller or shorter than native or older varieties, and many, like \u2018White Swan\u2019 are fragrant as well.\u00a0 All are bred to be extremely floriferous with eye-catching cones.\u00a0 The flowers last for days, established plants need little or no supplemental water, and cut flowers survive nicely in arrangements for chic soirees, elegant picnics or the position of honor on the expensive granite countertop next to your Aga stove.<\/p>\n

After the restrictions imposed by the COVID pandemic, some gardeners may feel the urge to go a little crazy with over-the-top varieties.\u00a0 \u00a0For them there are the extravagant doubles that look like exploded chrysanthemums, the tone-toned spectaculars and the varieties with twisted petals.<\/p>\n

First, the doubles, with flowers that remind me of the complicated hats worn by the late Queen Elizabeth, mother of the current English monarch. \u2018Double Scoop \u2018Orangeberry\u2019, for example, is reddish orange, with a fluffy burst of short, tightly-packed petals that completely eclipse the center cone. \u2018Puff Vanilla\u2019 is the same thing in cream, and \u2018Lemon Drop\u2019 features a giant yellow topknot that looks as if it has beaten the small surrounding single petals into submission.\u00a0 The suggestively named \u2018Fiery Meadow Mama\u2019 is a two-tone, with single petals that are yellow shading to red towards the flowers\u2019 centers, accenting the prominent central cones.<\/p>\n

\u2018Green Twister\u2019 is both bi-colored\u2014green petals that shade to pink near the cone\u2014with novelty petals shaped like slightly twisted, elongated spoons.\u00a0 The flowers are distinctive in any situation and might be quite beautiful in the right setting.<\/p>\n

Though the array of coneflower varieties on the market is almost dizzying in number, color and variety, there truly is something for everyone\u2014or almost everyone.\u00a0 If coneflowers are against your religion for some reason, try daylilies instead.\u00a0 Otherwise, find a good coneflower selection at your local garden center now.\u00a0 For fall planting go to Bluestone Perennials, 7211 Middle Ridge Rd. Madison, OH 44057; 800-852-5243<\/a>; www.bluestoneperennials.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Print catalog available.\"Echinacea-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It occurs to me as I peer out over the happy array of coneflowers\u2014Echinacea\u2014in my front yard that the coneflower has become the \u201clittle black dress\u201d of the world of ornamental horticulture.\u00a0 Every woman and a good number of the men of my acquaintance know that \u201clittle black dress\u201d is metaphor for something that is … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[1171,2551,707,970,1908,708,1372,737,2550],"class_list":["post-3449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-compositae-family","tag-coneflower-breeding-coneflower-hybridizing","tag-coneflowers","tag-daisy-family","tag-early-summer-flowers","tag-echinacea","tag-echinacea-purpurea","tag-perennials","tag-purple-coneflowers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3452,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449\/revisions\/3452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}