A North American native, the coneflower or Echinacea is a must-have for your summer garden. These daisy-like flowers can be found in an endless array of colors—various shades of purple and pink, green, yellow, orange, and white. These colorful flowers are the perfect perennials to brighten up your garden. They are also fantastic pollinators, attracting hummingbirds and bees all summer long. Here’s what you need to know about coneflower care in your garden!
Purple coneflower is one of the toughest, most reliable perennials on the market. These flowers are easy to care for, relatively drought-tolerant, and are good for cut flowers. The seeds found in the dried flower head also attract songbirds to your garden. Today, Coneflowers come in more than just purple, with around 30 varieties available in hues of purple, pink, red, yellow, orange, and white. Here are a few of our favorites available this season at Garden Supply Co.
Prairie Sun Coneflower
Prairie Sun Coneflower features beautiful gold daisy flowers with chartreuse eyes and yellow tips at the ends of the stems from mid summer to late fall. These make excellent cut flowers, and have the added benefit of attracting butterflies to the garden.
Summer Breeze Coneflower
Another sunny yellow variety, Summer Breeze Coneflower has large, deep yellow flowers with yellow bronze center cones. Another great choice for cut flowers, and this beauty also attracts butterflies.
Raspberry Truffle Coneflower
The flowers of Raspberry Truffle emerge as single coral pink with a chocolate cone and then develop their pom-pom center as they mature. The fully opened 4inch flowers have strawberry peach, horizontally held ray petals and a broad, darker pink pom-pom. All are produced on showy dark stems that really help to set off the unique flower color.
Marmalade Coneflower
Marmalade Coneflower boasts giant 4" flowers each containing over 150 vibrant orange petals. Flowers are held atop strong stems that make superb long-lasting cutflowers. Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, and thrives in heat and humidity.
Sombrero Salsa Red Coneflower
One benefit of new coneflower varieties is that they produce more blooms on each branch. This is definitely the case with Sombrero Salsa Red. 'Salsa Red' is part of the Sombrero™ series that were carefully bred and selected to have well-branched, sturdy and compact foliage with a high bud count. These sturdy, compact plants have proven hardiness for years of enjoyment in the garden. Its abundant deep-red blooms will steal the show for more than three months.
For more information on Coneflower varieties and growing Coneflowers in your landscape, stop by the garden center. Our friendly experts are on hand seven days a week to help with all your gardening needs.
So, what do you do when you have more perennials than can fit on your tables? When you receive so many plants in one week that they are spilling over onto the ground? You have a SALE, that's what you do! All this weekend, purchase 10 perennials and receive 10% off, 20 perennials and receive 20% off, 30 or more perennials and receive 30% off. Now that's a sale! We have so many gorgeous perennials currently in stock. It is a pure joy to walk the grounds. I am truly amazed at the huge selection of plants available, from drought tolerant species to shade lovers to ground covers to succulents to tall spires of blossoms, and everything in between.
Besides having a stunning array of plants to choose from, Garden Supply also offers a huge variety among species. Take the lovely shade tolerant perennial commonly known as Coral Bells, for example. I counted approximately 15 varieties of Heuchera alone, in a wide range of color options, foliage size and venation, and preferred growing conditions. Take a look at what I mean.
We have Heuchera 'Velvet Night', 'Miracle', 'Marmalade', 'Midnight Rose', 'Palace Purple', 'Montrose Ruby', 'Obsidian', 'Snow Angel', 'Plum Pudding', 'Berry Smoothie', 'Blackout PPAF', and 'Silver Scrolls'. I brought home this variety called 'Tapestry' and planted it in a pot under my deck in an area that receives a lot of shade.
'Tapestry' has stunning multicolored and veined foliage with free flowering stems of warm pink flowers. The dark-centered leaves are colored blue green in spring and summer, changing to green in the fall and winter.
And of course we have many, many more plants to choose from. How about some Artemisia, Asclepias, Platycodon, Gypsophila, Penstemon, Agapanthus, Lavandula, Nepeta, Leucanthemum, or Silene?
Silene, commonly referred to as Catchfly, has narrow, strap-like leaves with dark green centers and wide creamy gold margins. Their single pink flowers are attractive to butterflies.
Or maybe you would prefer some Lobelia, Coreopsis, Dianthus, Euphorbia, Lysimachia, Echinacea, Baptista, Scabiosa, Linum, Verbascum, or Centaurea?
Centaurea has deep purplish-blue flowers with thistle-like centers over foliage that is lightly covered in silver hairs. It will self-seed and attracts butterflies. Centaurea is deer resistant.
Yet still we have Phlox, Salvia, Veronica, Armeria, Tickseed, Papaver, Cerastium, Achillea, Sedum, Monarda, Helianthemum, Gazania, Eryngium, Gallardia, Foxgloves, and Columbines. Just to name a few!
I'm out of breath! How about you?
Make sure to stop by the garden center this weekend and take advantage of this wonderful sale. You'll have your gardens looking amazing with brand new plants fresh off the truck while enjoying some serious savings at the same time!
We'll see you soon!
