CONSERVATION MEMBERSHIP Calendar News Action Tickets Native Plant Finder Employment Student Login Member Login MENU BACK TO LIST (2018-2020) Echinacea for the Mid-Atlantic Region Summary Echinacea for the Mid-Atlantic Region Echinacea, also known as coneflowers, are immensely popular and iconic native plants that are prized for their beauty as well as their purported medicinal qualities. The nine species of Echinacea are native to North America and are primarily found in the central and southeastern United States although some populations of Echinacea angustifolia extend northwards into southcentral Canada. Since the 1990s there has been a boom in Echinacea breeding that has resulted in large numbers of Echinacea cultivars being introduced to the horticultural markets in Europe and North America. Today Echinacea come in a broad spectrum of colors and flower forms that offers seemingly endless garden diversity within a single genus. Mt. Cuba Center’s trial program previously evaluated the genus Echinacea in 2007-2009. Since that time many more coneflowers have been introduced and our current evaluation aimed to incorporate some of those newer cultivars and compare them against some of the tried and true top performers from the first trial. In addition, Mt. Cuba also conducted a pollinator survey to determine the Echinacea that were most attractive to pollinating insects. This data was collected and compiled by the Pollinator Watch Team, a group of dedicated citizen scientists who observe and tally insect visitation to help determine ecological value of plants in our trials. For Echinacea, special attention was paid to the difference between single and double flowers in their ability to attract pollinators. The best performing Echinacea included in our trial are E. purpurea ‘Pica Bella’, E. ‘Sensation Pink’, E. ‘Santa Fe’, E. ‘TNECHKR’ (KISMET® Raspberry), E. ‘Snow Cone’, E. ‘POST301’ (Postman), E. ‘Glowing Dream’, E. ‘Purple Emperor’, E. purpurea ‘Fragrant Angel’, E. ‘TNECHKIO’ (KISMET® Intense Orange), E. ‘Balsomcor’ (SOMBRERO® Hot Coral), and E. ‘Julia’. Click here to view the research report in full screen, or scroll down for detailed descriptions about the performance of each plant in the evaluation. REFINE Echinacea purpurea ‘Pica Bella’ Pica Bella purple coneflower Rating: 5.0 (Top Performer) Echinacea ‘Sensation Pink’ Sensation Pink coneflower Rating: 4.9 (Top Performer) Echinacea ‘Santa Fe’ Santa Fe coneflower Rating: 4.8 (Top Performer) Echinacea ‘TNECHKR’ (KISMET® Raspberry) Kismet® Raspberry coneflower Rating: 4.7 (Top Performer) Echinacea ‘Snow Cone’ Snowcone coneflower Rating: 4.6 (Top Performer) Echinacea ‘POST301’ (Postman) Postman coneflower Rating: 4.6 (Top Performer) Echinacea ‘Glowing Dream’ Glowing Dream coneflower Rating: 4.5 (Top Performer) Echinacea ‘Purple Emperor’ Purple Emperor coneflower Rating: 4.4 (Top Performer) Echinacea purpurea ‘Fragrant Angel’ Fragrant Angel purple coneflower Rating: 4.4 (Top Performer) Echinacea ‘TNECHKIO’ (KISMET® Intense Orange) KISMET® Intense Orange coneflower Rating: 4.4 (Top Performer) SHOW MORE About Our Evaluation Project Mt. Cuba Center is located near Wilmington, DE, (USDA Hardiness Zone7A/6B). Multiple plants of each taxa are grown in a 15,000 sq. ft. trial garden that includes areas for growing both sun-loving and shade-loving plants. The clay-loam soil in the trial garden has an average pH of 6.5. The Trial Garden is maintained with the home gardener in mind. Plants are watered as needed during the first year in order to get them established, but afterwards they are left on their own. Pesticides are not used unless there is a serious threat to the entire trial’s survivability. Perennial plant trials usually run for a period of three years to ensure the plants experience a variety of weather conditions. It is our policy to replace dead plants after the first winter in order to compensate for poor establishment or initial plant quality. However, no replacements are made during subsequent years. Each taxa is evaluated weekly and assigned a rating based on a scale of 1-5 (see below). This rating takes into account many factors including habit, floral display, disease resistance, hardiness, and foliage quality. The average of these weekly ratings is then used to calculate the final score displayed on this website. Rating System Our numerical rating system ranges from one to five and can be interpreted as follows: Poor Below Average Average Good Excellent SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER GARDENS OPEN FOR GENERAL ADMISSION APRIL–NOVEMBER. CLASSES OFFERED YEAR-ROUND. 3120 BARLEY MILL RD, HOCKESSIN, DE 19707 302.239.4244 LIKE MT CUBA CENTER ON FACEBOOK FOLLOW @MTCUBACENTER ON TWITTER FOLLOW @MTCUBACENTER ON INSTAGRAM SUBSCRIBE TO MT CUBA CENTER ON YOUTUBE CHECK OUT MT CUBA CENTER ON PINTEREST COPYRIGHT 2021 MT. CUBA CENTER This site uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. By using Mt. Cuba Center's website, you accept our use of cookies. OkPrivacy policy