When the new plants started appearing on the gardening scene, I remember hearing from the originating nurseries that we in the production nursery side of things had to treat these hybrids differently than the older ones. In short, we were told to wait until the plant got to about 12-18 inches tall and then cut it back by half. This would force the plant to develop new shoots and a better root structure. If we didn’t do this – we were told the plants would be tall and lanky and not great sales material.
It turns out that this is equally important for the home gardener.
Bottom line. Pinch/cut back as above and do NOT let the new Echinacea bloom in their first year of growing.
Yes, this means you get to pick off the blossoms if they develop.
You want a thick, bushy plant up top. And a similar bush root system below ground.
Why is this important? It turns out that the two species plants being used in many of the hybrids have different root systems and if you don’t take the time to encourage great root development, you’re very likely to wind up with poor roots – leading to premature death.
I’ve been chopping my new plants back from the very beginning and just assumed that others were doing the same (silly me – I should know better by now)
If you chop back the plants and don’t allow the new hybrids to flower in their first year, your plants will thrive for their expected lifespan. If you don’t chop them back by half (you only have to do this once in the early summer or late spring) and remove blooms, then your plant’s lifespan will be much shorter (maybe not even making the first winter).
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Tags: Perennials
November 5th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Doug I had no idea bout having to do this .. I must have been hiding behind the door when this information was passed out ? : ) .. Now I see why some of my newer cultivars are rather lanky .. is it too late to go through the process ? should I bother now or “let it be”?
November 5th, 2009 at 9:14 am
@Joy – too late for this season. They should be pretty much dormant now with reduced light levels in any case. Here’s a second tip, do the “tip-pruning” when the plant hits 12-inches next spring on *all* your coneflowers – species or hybrids. I try to take just the tops off the plants – about 3-4 inches of growth leaving lots of leaves below the cut to produce new shoots. That will make them really bushy and heavy flowering – and you can do this every year rather than in just Year One of the growing cycle.
November 5th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Dear Doug
I meant to say .. not at this very time , just in general, if I didn’t do it from the very beginning when I planted the coneflowers would it be useless now (not the season ‘now”) but since they have been planted .. lord .. I should ask questions without being fully topped up with lots of COFFEE !! haha
But thank you for getting back to me and I will do that next year for sure : )
November 5th, 2009 at 10:49 am
@Joy – working on cup #3 – it’s a sloooow morning but I’m really hoping it kicks in soon.
November 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Doug
Thanks for the info. Had never heard about doing this either!
Will plan to cut mine back. Have been disappointed in the lack of flowers and now I know why. We have to treat them more like mums!
I was going to comment about the fact that the new varieties need this special treatment, so perhaps that is due to too much manipulation by breeders….messing with Mother Nature, but you also said the species need the pruning also. So, perhaps it is a case of being more like mums?
Are there other perennials that we grow that would benefit from this kind of pruning?
Thanks
Moni
November 5th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
@Moni – re Echinacea – the species don’t “need” this pruning treatment – they simply benefit from it – or rather you do because they’ll produce a thicker plant and more flowers. There are a great many perennials that benefit from this kind of spring tip-cutting. Just about any daisy for starters. You’ll be amazed at the difference in flower production if you do this.
Plant such as Pulmonaria that tend to get powdery mildew and are spring bloomers can be cut to the ground after blooming and when they regrow, the leaves have pretty much passed the danger time and will remain mostly disease free all summer. There’s no hard and fast list – it’s just one of those things you pick up over the years or you try and say “yup, that works -or- whoops” I’ll have to think about how to pass along a lot of these kinds of simple techniques I rarely think about anymore but do when I’m really gardening (compared to building gardens)
November 8th, 2009 at 12:02 am
This is interesting stuff that I will have to pass along. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had customers remark about how their coneflowers just didn’t seem to make it the second year. Having not grown any of the new varieties, I was a bit perplexed. This explains a great deal. Thanks.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Doug, thanks for this article. I don’t have a problem with my coneflowers dying off (i.e. they do come back every year), but they are awfully lanky and end up just collapsing over any adjacent plants. (I know I should put up rings to hold them up, but I never seem to get there in time.)
I’ve known about giving my tall phlox a “haircut” in late spring/early summer, and they do come out much bushier and flower-productive, but I hadn’t thought of doing it for my echinacea, so thanks!
November 12th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Wow, this info is really timely for me! I have about 70-80 purple or white coneflowers that I started from seed this year. They’re happily growing in my nursery beds, and I will be sure to use this pruning technique when they’re big enough.. thanks, Dave!
November 12th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Well I gotta say this is really disappointing for me since I just purchased and planted a bunch of these new-fangled coneflowers for our Master Gardener butterfly garden at a local park. We won’t be there that often to pinch them. The only reasons I bought that variety is because I can’t find the old fashioned ones anymore. I do wish the breeders would provide some of the old tried and trues!
November 12th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hey, Jean… I still have quite a lot of purple coneflower seed that I harvested this time last fall.. I had good germination in late August for some of the babies I’m nursing. (I haven’t tried to harvest this fall, but I may have more out there.)
You’re welcome to some of them, if you have the room (and time) to start some of the old-fashioned ones from seed…
Or, anyone else that would like some purple seed, till it’s gone.. !
November 12th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
@Jean – all the old ones are readily available in seed from any seed rack or seed company.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Hannah, thanks for the offer but I have a few seeds myself. Very generous of you though.
Doug, you’re right. I guess I just hadn’t thought of doing it the old-fashioned way!