Echinacea Sunny Days™ 'Lemon'

Echinacea Sunny Days™ 'Lemon': Fluffy Lemon Sherbet Until October

Lemon-yellow petals droop around a big, puffy centre, like a flower wearing a fluffy hat it absolutely refuses to take off indoors. 'Lemon' is the coneflower that went for volume. MAXIMUM FLUFF, MINIMUM EFFORT.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Echinacea 'TNECHSDL'
• Common Name: Coneflower
• Series: Sunny Days™, from Terra Nova® Nurseries
• Height: 55–75 cm (22–30 in): foliage about 55 cm (22 in), flowers to about 75 cm (30 in)
• Spread: 75 cm (30 in)
• Flowers: Lemon-yellow, double-looking anemone-type blooms with a full, rounded centre and drooping outer petals
• Bloom Time: Midsummer to mid-fall (July to October)
• Foliage: Bright green, in a compact, upright clump
• Features: Good cut flower

Where to Plant: Put it in the middle of a sunny border, in a pollinator bed, or in a big patio container where you can see it from the window. Since it blooms into October, it carries colour into the stretch of fall when much of the garden is done.

Companion Plants: Use Sunny Days™ 'Lemon' in a sunny, dry bed with red daisies, pale yellow threadleaf and steel-blue grass. Delosperma 'Jewel of Desert Garnet' carpets the front at 10 to 15 cm with red-orange flowers from May to September. Gaillardia 'Goblin' adds red and yellow daisies at 25 to 30 cm from June to September. Coreopsis 'Moonbeam' brings pale lemon threadleaf flowers at 38 to 46 cm from June to September. Helictotrichon 'Sapphire' adds a stiff steel-blue clump at 60 to 100 cm in flower.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun, at least six hours a day, in average, well-drained soil. Coneflowers handle clay, but water that sits around the crown in winter is the main reason double coneflowers fail to return. Water regularly the first summer, then during long dry spells. Avoid heavy feeding. Deadhead to keep fresh flowers coming. Leave the last seed heads standing for winter interest and cut back in early spring. Divide in spring only if the clump becomes crowded.

History: Sunny Days™ 'Lemon' was bred by Terra Nova® Nurseries in Canby, Oregon, and introduced in 2020. It came from crosses involving three North American species, the yellow-flowered Echinacea paradoxa, purple coneflower (E. purpurea) and Tennessee coneflower (E. tennesseensis), with the aim of a compact coneflower with lots of crowns and flowers.

Final Thoughts: Snip a few for the table and watch guests reach out to touch them. IT'S A FLOWER, NOT A POM-POM. PROBABLY.