The foliage grows about 18” tall but the flower stems grow much taller, up to 36” in height. Use yellow coneflower individually in the border or as a mass planting.

Echinacea, also known as the purple coneflower, is an herbal medicine that has been used for centuries, customarily as a treatment for the common cold, coughs, bronchitis, upper respiratory infections, and some inflammatory conditions.

This species does not appear on any state or national invasive species lists.

The seeds are eaten by wild turkeys. If you have a place for a 1 1/2 to 4 foot tall steady performer that has a flower head of 3-7 drooping ray flowers in a variety of colors around a sombrero like center, think about the common Mexican hat.

Not extinct

Watering: Tolerant of drought, but does best in average, dry to medium moisture. Water regularly, but let soil dry out in between. Coneflowers need at least an inch of water weekly.

If you enjoy watching pollinators buzzing and flitting around beautiful, hassle-free flowers that bloom for a long time, coneflowers are a must-grow. They don’t just delight for a season, either, as these are perennial flowers that will come back year after year.

If you like to have a tidy garden through the winter, then you can cut back your coneflowers after they go dormant in the late fall or early winter. Cutting back the dormant stalks and seed heads in the fall will also decrease the chance of the plant naturalizing, or spreading.

Most coneflowers produce several flowers per stem and will rebloom without any deadheading. Oftentimes, new blooms will appear at leaf nodes before the top flower finishes wilting. In late summer to fall, stop deadheading spent blooms so that birds can eat the seed through the fall and winter.

It is caused by the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. This disease can present itself while the plants are still small or during bloom. It can originate in the soil and form black areas on the roots and plant crown after the plant dies.

The most likely culprit is a disease called aster yellows. The disease is not curable, but the coneflowers usually survive, and many continue to produce “norma” flowers along with the distorted growth. Q: I have a large clump of purple coneflowers.

However, coneflowers aren’t just pretty— they also attract butterflies and birds to your garden. Coneflowers get their name from their ‘cone-shaped’ center. Like most of my favorite plants, coneflowers aren’t fussy. They aren’t particularly bothered by pests and do not require any fertilizer.

Problems. Echinacea are subject to several disease and insect pest problems such as stem rots (caused by Rhizoctonia spp. or Athelia rolfsii), powdery mildew, anthracnose, and aster yellows as well as damage from aphids, Japanese beetles, and eriophyid mites, but the resulting symptoms are usually mild.

Rabbits: Rabbits, though fluffy and cute, can also eat away at coneflower petals and foliage.

There are several scents that will help keep rabbits away from your home. Most commercially available rabbit repellents replicate the scent of predator musk or urine. Rabbits also hate the smell of blood, crushed red peppers, ammonia, vinegar, and garlic.

Coreopsis is a great rabbit resistant plant. Plants that rabbits LOVE to eat include (not rabbit resistant): Bearded Iris.

Coneflowers are often considered deer resistant, but what other animals will eat them? If something has been nibbling on your plants, and you can easily rule out deer, rabbits are the most likely culprit. Rabbits will happily snack on the young stems and leaves of coneflowers.