Echinacea is a little out of its range in Central Florida - something about our climate means that while the plants can survive, they certainly don't thrive like they do up north. Rather than growing to 3 or 4 feet tall, here they tend to top out around 12 inches or so. But given the right conditions, they do still flower well, and it seems that, without doing anything in particular, we've finally started providing the right conditions for our Echinacea. It's not very tall, but it has more flowers than ever before. Apparently, it thrives on benign neglect!
Our Echinacea is in the butterfly garden, where it receives morning sun and afternoon shade. The soil there is dry and fairly poor. It's currently nearly buried by more robust plants nearby, and to be honest, we'd forgotten it was there. We had only a few anemic-looking blooms on it last year, and left it on its own. It's rewarding us by coming back with vigor, perhaps proving that whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!
Echinacea is well-known by both medicinal and butterfly gardeners, and it's nice to have it finally doing reasonably well. It will never be like the coneflower up north (see our pictures from Ohio last summer for proof), but we love it for doing the best it can in a very difficult environment!
I love echinacea! They do pretty well in my garden, and I managed to get a few to grow from seeds that are just about to bloom. I like to buy them at Lowe's when they're on the clearance rack for half price. And they reseed nicely. Last year I dropped the spent bloom stems covered with black seeds in various places around the garden. It's very exciting to see a baby one come up in a new spot.
ReplyDeleteLove your echinacea! We are too far south to grow it down here so I will enjoy it in your gardens.
ReplyDeleteFlowerLady
I bought two a couple of weeks ago and they are not doing too well. Maybe I need to put them out in the yard where the poor soil is...
ReplyDeleteThese are one of my favs.