I've always been interested by Echinacea ,but have yet to see them reliably grown in a garden setting.I plan to sow some E.pallida next month and try them out.I would be very interested to hear from other about their experiences and opinions on both pallida and other Echinaceas.
Hi Richard, a couple of years back I pulled out my entire front garden and replanted a mixture of flowering perennials, natives and cacti. I also am intrigued by echinaceas and I planted ‘Magnus Superior’, ‘Primadonna Pink’ & ‘Pallida’. I’m in Adelaide so hot dry summers.
My experience over a couple of summers,
Magnus Superior- magnificent big flowers in abundance.
Primadonna Pink – similar but smaller flower heads.
‘Pallida’- such a beautifully fragile flower. These were exposed to more western sun and have never put out much more than an odd flower occasionally. In future I’d put them in a more protected spot where the soil doesn’t see direct sun. I suspect they just got hammered by the sun,
I still love echinaceas but what I’ve learnt is that they look best planted amongst other evergreens. I have a bed with Lomandra lime Tuff and Correa alba spheres – in summer hundreds of echinacea pop up against the lime green grasses.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for your reply, its interesting to read your thoughts and experiences.I’m thinking i might try E.pallidus close to some Cotinus in a bed that faces NE .
E.pallida not pallidus ! 🙂
I’ve got E Purpurea growing in a mixed perennial bed in my Adelaide Hills garden. The site is sunny and windy with a lot of clay. They do well in the early part of the season but look pretty dreadful as the Summer heat really bites. I’m pretty stingy with the water though.
A few weeks ago I visited the Singer Laren garden designed by Piet Oudolf in The Netherlands where both E Pallida and E Purpurea feature prominently. I have some E Pallida seed on order and I’ve resolved to be a little bit kinder with the water. What a sucker!!
See https://www.singerlaren.nl/en/pQW3zUL/bezoek/sculpture-garden
word is that E. pallida is rather more drought tolerant that the purpurea forms, so you may not need to be kinder…
Well after much consideration ,i will be planting E.pallida,E.pallida “Hula Dancer” ,”Magnus Superior” and a couple of different Echinacea “Doublescoop” colours!