Comments on: Coneflowers yet again

By: Jean

Jean — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:15:11 +0000

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!

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:52:47 +0000

@Jean – all the old ones are readily available in seed from any seed rack or seed company.

By: Hannah

Hannah — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:50:48 +0000

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.. !

By: Jean

Jean — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:55:00 +0000

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!

By: Hannah

Hannah — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:48:18 +0000

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!

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:42:18 +0000

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!

By: Kat White

Kat White — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:02:55 +0000

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.

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:11:34 +0000

@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)

By: Moni

Moni — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:36:01 +0000

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

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:49:32 +0000

@Joy – working on cup #3 – it’s a sloooow morning but I’m really hoping it kicks in soon.

By: Joy

Joy — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:39:39 +0000

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 : )

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:14:17 +0000

@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.

By: Joy

Joy — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:25:53 +0000

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”?