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Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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Posted by
paulsiu IL (
My Page) on
Fri, Jul 1, 11 at 14:16
| I love coneflowers and thought they would be an easy perennial to grow. So far this has not been the case, after the first year, only one of the coneflower came back.
Last year, we had a drought. Even though I tried to keep the plants water, I may not have done as good of a job as I though. Still, the blackeye susan and butterfly weed came back without too many issues, so it appears both are more foolproof than coneflowers.
Is there a particular cultivator of coneflowers that are hardier than others? I live in North IL in zone 5.
Paul
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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| do you have clay soil? My yard is all fill clay soil. So what i learned is that you need to prepare the planting hole very well. If you just dig a hole to slide the original root ball into, you might actually be making a well for water to just sit at the root zone of the plants and cause them to rot out. If your are in heavy clay area (midwest) you need to prep a wide and much deeper hole with amended soil to get away from this problem. Also, the natural purpurea are much more hardy then the newer hybrids, so depending on what varieties you purchased, you may just be running into the same issues others do with them overwintering. |
RE: Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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| I grow a lot of coneflowers -- different varieties, from seeds and from potted plants. I find them easy, but VOLES tunneled under my largest patch this winter through spring and I could just lift the plants out of the ground. Do you have a vole problem? Frost heave is another problem to watch for. Over the winter as the ground freezes and thaws, the plants can be uprooted. Check once a month during the winter to make sure the plants aren't being pushed up out of the ground. If they are, do your best to replant them and water them. Cameron |
RE: Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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| Drainage drainage drainage! If your have clay soil, you may have issues with coneflowers, as they do not like wet feet. If you do have clay soil, amend the soil with something to improve the drainage. A friend of mine recommended expanded shale. You might try that. |
RE: Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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| What varieties did you plant? what issues with the black eyed susan did you have ? |
RE: Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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| Read through a few of the Echinacea threads; there is a wide range of experiences with various cultivars. Many of the new hybrids do not seem to over winter well for a lot of people. I started out with 3 Sunrise, and 3 Summer Sky; only 1 Sunrise is left, and maybe 2 Summer Sky at this point. They weaken over time. The plain old E. purpurea/purple Coneflower, and cultivars like 'White Swan' and 'Magnus' have been growing for years. |
RE: Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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| Try growing them from seeds. I had much better luck with seed plants when I first grew Echinaceas. |
RE: Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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| If mine is in a pot on a south facing deck all summer, should I overwinter it inside -- like in my basement? Will it be more likely to come back if I do that? |
RE: Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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| i isn't necessarily the clay soil by itself... it is that fact that the "dirt" that comes with the plants you buy from the store is very open and loose. So when you put it in a clay hole, it just holds the water at the roots. If you start plants from seed you most likely won't run into the rot issue since the plants roots will grow immediately into the clay. |
RE: Difficulty growing Coneflowers
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| Mama Z.... you could overwinter it in your unheated garage. |
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