Coneflowers to be part of local trial

New research is being done all the time with cultivated varieties of coneflowers. Recently, Mt. Cuba Center, which is a beautiful botanical garden that studies native plants and plant conservation, trialed coneflowers.  Coneflowers are native to the central and eastern United States. Some of the nine species they studied grow here in Colorado. The observation of these plants was over a two-year period. Both the performance and the visitation of various pollinators were recorded. No fungicides were used during the two-year period. Supplemental water was provided in the first season only to allow the plant’s roots to become established.

In Sedgwick and Phillips counties, we are adding some of the cultivated varieties in this study to see how they perform in our area, if there is availability of these varieties from nurseries within the state. I will share some of Mt. Cuba’s findings in this article and tell you which of the cultivated varieties we plan to plant and observe.

But first, a bit of background about Echinacea, which is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial. Echinacea purpurea produces roots that are more fibrous, while other species produce roots that are taproots.  This allows them to grow in areas that experience drought and in areas that have heavy competition from other plants’ roots. All coneflowers require well-drained soils. The fibrous root system of Echinacea purpurea makes it an ideal plant for many garden sites that have a perennial mix.

Of all the Echinacea purpurea species, the cultivated varieties that performed best were Echinacea purpurea ‘Pica Bella’ and Echinacea purpurea ‘Fragrant Angel.’ Why were these chosen? Their overall habits were sturdy, semi-compact that resisted flopping. There was no need of staking.

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