Here are a few coneflower photos from today. Some of them have gone "quiet" and some are still producing blooms. This is "Milkshake" and "Hot Papaya"
Late Season September Blooms
"Maui Sunshine"
"Tangerine Dream"
Echinacea "Green Envy". I thought this plant was a seedling from another one because it was pink all summer. Now there's some green appearing in the September blooms.
Echinacea "Flame Thrower"
Echinacea "PowWow Wild Berry"
And these next two are flowers planted by/next to the red/yellow/orange echinacea area. This is Helenium "Helena Red Shades"
And this is "Helena Gold" Helenium.
Jon
These are really lovely to see Jon. Specially like seeing the HP and Milkshake combo as that is one planned for next season here. Also love the helenium, they do go so well with the echies.
Thanks. I had no idea the Helenium was going to get so tall. I should have done more reading about them prior to planting. All the Helenium plants are 4-5 feet tall and staked.
I love the Heleniums. I think they are awesome plants. I am just starting to grow them too. I am rooting cuttings of mine right now and they are doing great.
I love the 'Hot Papaya' and 'Milkshake' combo. That looks great. I also saw a 'Green Jewel' and 'Tangerine Dream' combo that looked good.
'Maui Sunshine' looks good in photos up close of a single bloom, but that plant has been a big disappointment here. Someone recommended 'Daydream' to me as a better plant. I might try it next year, but I may just go with Rudbeckia, Helenium, Coreopsis and Heliopsis for my yellow fix.
I haven't found a strong yellow colored echinacea yet. Have to wait and see how "Maui Sunshine" and "Daydream" do next year. Green/orange color combinations do work nicely. Have done that with zinnias and they compliment each other. Even green, orange and purple together are a nice look.
nice collection.
I would have thought the echs down south there would have been done by this time of year. for the most part, mine are shot. They only ones with blooms still are hot papaya and some of the standards.
A few of them have gone through two blooming cycles. They'll take a break for a month, die back a bit and then put out new growth and buds. "Sundown" is the most reliable one to do that for me each year. It should be back into a heavy blooming cycle in a month or so. The double "pom pom" type blooming ones are less likely to rebloom for some reason.
Would you describe the heleniums as difficult or moderate or easy to grow! You have so many lovely colors of coneflowers - have you devoted a large amount of space to them or can they be fairly compact?
Heleniums are easy to grow and are fast growing plants. They seem to grow best in an area which stays a bit on the damp side.
There are two sections of coneflowers in the yard. There's some space between the plants and maybe I should have planted them closer together. Been squeezing some of the new echinacea plants in between the existing ones to fill in the gaps. Don't want to devote any more space to them so that's the best option.