Cone flowers suggestions :*)

Hi,

My front side walk and perhaps my new trail to the garage are prime candidates for landscaping. I am looking into cone flowers since I heard/read that they bloom a long time and into autumn. Please correct me if I am wrong. Anyway I planted a hand full this year so I real do not have any experience with them. Basically I would like to line the edge of my sidewalk with coneflowers. Please let me know if this is a bad idea :*)

Pictures and or suggestions would be appreciated. I am hoping to have blooms July through Sept.??? Here are a couple of shots of where the new plants would go...

This is my back, I would make a walkway to the service door to the right...

Hey I just saw a fox in that valley you live in the other day.

Seriously, for me coneflowers(echinacea,rudbeckia,ratibida) are decent workers - not quite 3 months worth though.

there might be something in this thread also
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/540761/

I guess in theory my main concern would be the snow piles causing a little too much wetness. I don't have any of mine lining sidewalks to show you. I'll think of others that might be good for you also.

Al

IMHO, coneflowers would be too big to line a sidewalk. If you seriously want to give them a try, I'd do just one side. Two years ago a neighbor lined both sides of her sidewalk with glads. Didn't look too good. I would look for something more compact and neat and I'd do just one side.

I thought about my longest blooming sun perennials and came up with gaillardia - which might be too floppy for a narrow border and heliopsis(false sunflower) which is well behaved..
Another option would be to have annuals that you could work the bed up to reduce compaction in the spring before planting( this is what I'm doing with my new dahlia bed where big snowpiles are during the winter)

If you're open to considering stuff besides coneflowers, you could post over on the Garden Design forum with some info on the look you're trying for and I'm sure lots of people will give you suggestions.

Cherokke Sunset and Hot Chocolate rudbeckias have remained standing for me. Both have a pretty wide range of bloom colors--here's Cherokee Sunset.

Hi there :) I'm a zone warmer than you, but thought I'd mention that with fairly frequent deadheading (about once a week) my coneflowers go strong until the first several frosts. They started a bit early this year for me. I got my first purple coneflower blooms in the second week of June. At any rate, you'll prolong their bloomtime with regular deadheading.

To deadhead, simply snip just above where the stem you are cutting meets an adjoining stem or leaf. I use small pruners for the job. Echinacea stem are too tough to get with just my thumbnail. Snip just above a "v" in the plant, where the the stem has branched off of another branch or where a leaf is growing. Be careful to not remove any portion of branch that still has a bud on it, though. Don't want to lose that flower! :)

Thought I'd also mention that the seedheads look neat covered with frost, too, but you'll have lots of volunteer seedlings to weed out the next year if you leave the seed heads up. Goldfinches and juncos like the seeds, and I don't mind the seedlings too much, so I stop deadheading in September and leave them up until they start to flop after heavy frosts.

Hope this helps :)

Jacci

Thank you for the suggestions,
I am not really sure what "look" I am looking for since my gardening experience is limited and so is my right brain half :*)
A lot of the cone flowers would probably be too tall for a border it appears. Though a new flower bed in the front yard would be nice. There is just so my plants to choose from hmmmm...
We are considering an arbor either in the front or the back walk though.

Good day

Gee with so many good suggestions, you'll just have to widen that sidewalk border to about 5 feet in both directions & then sure... the coneflowers will fit, too.

Good luck with anything you decide & let us know!
Abigail

My suggestion would be helianthemum - they are neat and compact and flower for a very long period for me especially if you cut off the spent flowers. They come in many colours too. I agree that you should try and aim for a long season of colour and interest so if I were you I wouuld look to plant a mixture of perennials. Have you considered just foliage plants? Do you get mainly sun in the area you are thinking of?

intercessor--this is just an idea. Stella de Oros are hardy in your zone and they will bloom in sun to partial shade. I have attached a photo of my friend's front walk to her home. I helped her with this project about 3 years ago. She used economical small 3-4" size pots of the plants and placed them18" on center and they have filled in nicely. They get only about 12-15" tall too. I think it looks great.

Hers blooms for a month; it would bloom longer if she got more sun and if she deadheaded, which she does not. My stellas bloom for about 6 weeks and then come back in the fall for about another month. I like the foliage when not in bloom too. We too have snow and it does not hurt this daylily.