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Presto!
It’s coneflower-mania in my garden in July! My favorite echinacea hybrids right now are “Coral Reef” and Big Sky “Sunset.”
However, I must say I can always count on the traditional echinacea ‘White Swan’ to brighten my day one way or the other!
Echinacea ‘Harvest Moon’ shines nicely by caryopteris clandonensis ‘Dark Knight.’
I’m thinking about adding echinacea ‘Tomato Soup,’ ‘Hot Papaya’ and ‘Tiki Torch.’
How about you? Does your garden get a little coneflower crazy in mid-summer? Do you have experience growing the hybrids I’m thinking of adding? If so, I’d like to hear the good and not so good. What is your favorite echinacea variety?
igardendaily 
I love coneflowers! A couple of years ago I found a green one (I think flowers with green petals are just awesome!) but it didn’t survive in my garden 😦
Hmmm…I think I know which one you are talking about. Are you out of the zone range? It is interesting that many hybrids just don’t seem to come back for very long even if you are IN the zone range.
Not sure what the zone range is, apologies if I’m being stupid, I blame it on sleep deprivation 🙂 anyway, I live in the UK so definately a very different climate from where you are.
My Tomato Soup did not make it through a mild Portland Ore. winter,neither did my friends in the same zone
Wow, I would think it would be find in your zone. I wonder if it was too much water and maybe rotted out like dahlias can?
My other coneflowers came up nicely planted right next to Tomato Soup! I think they rush some of these hybrids out too soon.
Lovely pictures! So many wonderful colours! I planted three Echinacea one autumn: Sunset, Sundown and Sunrise, and none of them survived our winter. My red one has taken several years to get established. In future I’d buy larger plants in spring, or stick to the hardier ones.
Thank you. Yes, sticking to the hardier varieties of anything is more of a sure thing. I just seem to always want to push the boundaries though!
More great pics! Thank you Andrea!
Thanks Lou and thanks for stopping by…:)
No luck with those wonderful tawny colors here, so thanks for letting me share yours.
Really, you are in the Portland area too right? That is interesting because it is quite a bit colder here in Boise… Thank for stopping by…
Love your pics! Echinacea are such great long blooming perennials. We were just talking at the nursery how the whites and pinks seem to be hardier and more reliable than the reds/yellows/oranges (like roses). I like the color of Tomato Soup however!
Elaine
Andrea, I featured many hybrids on my GBBD post Monday…I love many of the same ones you do. I have tomato soup and adore it…it is a fast growing and established well…Tiki has not done well and after 3 tries I have given up. Hot Papaya also has done well. I had almost given up on the orange ones but this year and in this heat and drought they are spectacular. I also adore Flame Thrower and it is a stunner, fast to establish and just amazing colors.
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