Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Coneflowers In The Heat

I think those of us in the South can officially say that Summer, full blown, is upon us.  It hasn't rained in two weeks, the steady breeze (WIND!) we have 6 months of the year has disappeared entirely, the sun is shining with nary a cloud, the dew point is in the 80s and the temperature is in the 90s.   Nothing quite like those first few days of waking up at 7am to sullen 85 degree temps and climbing to put a shock to the system.  After a lovely Feb-May, my garden is now soon to be entering the "just hang on to life until September" portion of the year.   This is payback time.

Though I can't totally enjoy them like I do the flowers that bloom in the spring (its been too hot + humid, even in the shade, to sit outside the past few days), my coneflowers are stars of this time of year, and really through til October.  They are amazing flowers.
Merlot Coneflowers At Twilight (from last year)

Some in Charleston say that echinacea purpurea is more like an annual here, but that hasn't been my experience, and I'm not sure why that would be the case?  We certainly have fast draining soil!

I have three varieties in my yard.  The first up and currently most bountiful is Kim's Kneehigh, which is about waist high.   Seeing as I put it up front in my garden, idiotically following the plant tag,  I'm probably going to have to move this at some point.  The stems are a bright green and the flower petals are an almost fluorescent pink.   They are highly reflexed within the first two days of opening.

Kim's Knee High Coneflowers In Profusion Outside Now

Coming up next for me, and showing its first several blooms are the Merlot.  I have two of these, but one of them I accidently weeded the first leaves.  Oops.  It is definitely a noticeable setback, but it still lives!  These flower petals are more of the traditional coneflower pink, but the stems are nearly black looking and the eyes are blackish too.  The large flowers don't reflex all that much and remain primarily straight daisy shapes.
First Flower Of The Season For A Merlot Varietal

My final variety, Prairie Splendor isn't blooming yet.  The leaves came out about a month later than the other two varieties, and is just now starting to bud.  From memory I believe this to be the totally traditional coneflower.  The nice thing about this is that it created a baby!  Now the baby is right in the middle of the beebalm (haha take that beebalm, beating you at your own game!), so I'm not sure how well thats going to work, but we shall see.

Merlot, From Last Year, Flower Faces Up Close

Aside from human weeding damage, the only other issue I've had with them is that the slugs get them.  I have a bad problem with slugs here and certain plants they love.  One of the plants had a seriously slow start thanks to being mowed down by the slugs, and the others all have some tattered looking leaves to show for them.  Not sure what I'm going to do about these slugs.  I've killed hundreds of them and there seems to be no end in sight.

Waaay Taller Than Knee-High (see Salvia at right for knee-high plants)

21 comments:

  1. With all the rain we have been getting, I am surprised there are not the numbers of slugs to match. When my coneflower blooms, it is always in the dead heat of the summer so slugs are absent. Yours look so much more refreshed.

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  2. Put out grapefruit hulls with the cut side down. Pick up the next morning full of slugs, and destroy.

    Echinacea purpura is perennial in my hot, humid garden. Maybe they were talking about the hybrids which many people find difficult to keep over.

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  3. I must say that as a flower-hater - okay, I don't really hate them, but you can't eat the buggers - coneflowers are the only ones I look at and think 'maybe'.

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  4. I really should try Echinacea again. They seemed to resent the excessive heat in our previous garden, but I know they make good habitat plants, and I love the look of Merlot with its less reflexed petals. Not to mention, anything that blooms for that long during summer would be a definite boon here!

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  5. These flowers are so charming, I am glad they do well for you. Our weather is still cool and rainy - 60s if we are lucky.... :(

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  6. I have yellow ones and white ones, but your pink ones are beautiful! You've just sold me on getting some pink ones! Except, like you, sometimes I weed the babies!

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  7. Hi Jess, Thank you for finding me! I am slowly trying to recover from my losses. I've got you back on my blog roll too, although I don't have it [the blog roll] posted on my blog yet.

    Love your Echinaceas. Sorry about the slugs. They really can wreak havoc, can't they? You'd never know it by looking at your photos, though. Just gorgeous!

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  8. GWGT: they are probably just really tiny right now waiting to get you in a few weeks. I was up at my cabin (adirondacks) last week and it was definitely on the rainy every day side!

    NellJean: Oh I am so trying this! Thanks for the tip

    IG: I'm sure you could eat them, they just wouldn't taste good. My mom always plants some flowers among the veggies... just livens things up.

    Clare: The Merlots are my favorite too..its hard to see from this photo but the blossoms are very large... they do get tall though, mine are about 40 inches at the moment...

    Masha: I'm reading a book set in Montreal right now to try and cool myself down. Its literally a sauna outside. So miserable. Its amazing... how you can get too much of a good thing, pretty darn fast

    HollyGarden: I'm biased... I love the pink ones...though if I find a white swan this year in the nursery I'm going to buy it.

    Grace: This is called selective photography, the only kind of photography I'm a master at :) The other merlot plant is a special needs coneflower.

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  9. it took me a while to warm up to coneflowers, but now they are one of my favorites. i like that they take drought so well. my kim's knee high really is knee high, but it could be deer keeping it that way! they nibble all my coneflowers with regularity, but by midsummer they are big enough to bloom pretty well in spite of it. yours are beautiful.

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  10. Hi Jess, congrat on acquiring a baby coneflower. Lovely flowers, they won't grow for me, I've tried. I'm surprised you have so many snails given it's so hot and hasn't rained lately. Do you know about the beer solution to snails? Leave out a saucer of beer at night and in the morning it will be full of dead snails with smiles on their faces.

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  11. Daricia and Catmint: I've tried the beer, with some success, but I still have a lot of snails. I think the snails don't care if it rains as long as its intensely humid out there (which it is 100% of the time), they do just fine. Plus when it doesn't rain I have to water my garden quite a bit because of the killer sun.

    I do find it fascinating how some easy as pie to grow flowers such as coneflower just won't grow some places. Judging by the fact that I've grown them in zone 6 and zone 9 (so its not temperature), I'm guessing its either the air humidity or soil that must do them in in some places. They do seem to thrive in humidity with well draining soil, which I've had at both sites.

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  12. Summer is DEFINITELY here in the South. It's getting close to the point where I give up on weeding because it's just too damn hot. Oh well, at least my garden may fill in a little that way...:P

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  13. Coneflower are just beginning to bloom here in Southern Kansas. Have three varieties, Magnus, common pupurea, and white. Just planted Prairie Splendor and Pow Wow Berry (which looks like a standard purpurea right now). Always a perennial here.

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  14. Jess -

    I related to the "just hang on to life until September." So true!! I've wanted to try coneflowers. Do you start them from seed?

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  15. Echinaceas are one of my top three perennials that I recommend to everyone. I have many different cultivars as well as the species, and they're all just amazing.

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  16. Wonderful post. I certainly have my best luck with the species, but also have had great luck with Kim's Knee High. Your garden is looking great.

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  17. Due to the wet ness of my garden I have a slug problem even in summer so I do get the same damage up N...Merlot is one of my favs as well...

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  18. My purple coneflowers are all over the place, I love them when they bloom. I read your post on my blog about going to your Adirondack cabin - I'm jealous! We camp there quite a bit in the State campgrounds.

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  19. Ugh...so sorry to hear about your miserable weather. I used to live in Nebraska and our entire summer from Memorial Day until Labor Day was 98° and 95% humidity...pure torture. Your Echinacea look great, at least! I'll have to give Kim's Knee-High a try...I was afraid they'd be too short, but that sounds like a decent height...and I love the reflexed petals! I have Prairie Splendour and it's a beauty and so easy-going...haven't had it re-seed yet (unlike Magnus, which seeds everywhere...not that I'm complaining).

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  20. I miss the coneflowers. I had some years ago and they finally died out.

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