YET ANOTHER PERENNIAL TO HIGHLIGHT
Here we are in the last days of June with July coming later this week. I guess I can’t get enough of June being the Perennial Gardening Month and wanting to highlight yet another wonderful and beautiful perennial.
Coneflower is such a beautiful and hardy perennial. They come in so many different varieties in so many different color flowers with blooms from now to late summer. These flowers will keep native butterflies and hummingbirds busy while the spent flowers form a great supply of seed that Finches and other birds love.
I don’t want to go any further without mentioning that it is the Echinaecea purpurea that is our true native perennial coneflower for this region. This one is the purple coneflower. So, whether you want to plant the true native coneflower or some of the many offspring, you can’t go wrong with all the wonderful colors they all provide in the summer.
Coneflowers want to be planted in as much sun as possible and they will become drought tolerant once they get established. There are no serious diseases or pests that both coneflowers.
I want to reiterate once again about the spent flowers. DON’T PRUNE!! These spent flowers are a valuable food source for our finches and other birds. When I get into work early in the morning I love seeing all the yellow finches flying around the perennials. They sure are happy.
Native Americans were known to use Echinacea as a traditional medicine to treat many ailments.
So, come see us and all the beautiful perennials that we have to offer at this time. And, bring us your questions. We love helping guests find those perfect plants.
PLANT A LITTLE HAPPINESS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!