Echinacea Kismet® 'White'

Echinacea Kismet® 'White': Flip the Lights On in the Border

Large, pure white daisies with golden-orange cones, so crisp they look professionally laundered. 'White' is the guest who arrives on time, brings wine and actually helps with the dishes. A RARE BREED.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Echinacea 'TNECHKW'
• Common Name: Coneflower
• Series: Kismet®, from Terra Nova® Nurseries
• Height: 45 cm (18 in) in flower, with a foliage mound about 38 cm (15 in)
• Spread: 45 cm (18 in)
• Flowers: Large, long-lasting pure white daisies with a golden-orange cone
• Bloom Time: Early summer to fall (June to October)
• Foliage: Green, forming a compact, mounded clump
• Features: Blooms the first year
• Plant Patent: USPP 30,856

Where to Plant: White flowers glow at dusk, so it earns a place near a patio or along a path you use in the evening. Its short habit suits the front of a border, a big container or a small city garden where a taller plant would flop over the walkway.

Companion Plants: Iris 'Superstition' brings deep purple flowers at 90 cm in June and July, a dramatic partner for white coneflowers. Nepeta Whispurr™ Pink fills the middle with soft pink flowers from June to September. For late gold, Solidago rigida rises to 90 to 150 cm and blooms from August to October. Give the group full sun and you get colour from early summer into fall.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun in average, well-drained soil. Coneflowers rot in wet winter soil, so improve heavy clay or plant slightly high. Water regularly the first season, then only in long dry spells. Deadhead to keep new buds coming. A light mulch after the ground freezes helps fall-planted coneflowers through their first winter. Leave the last seed heads for the birds and cut back in early spring. There's no need to divide it often. If it gets crowded after a few years, divide gently in spring.

History: Terra Nova® Nurseries in Oregon bred the Kismet® series from crosses between Echinacea species, aiming for more crowns, more first-year bloom and better winter survival. 'White' won a Classic City Award at the University of Georgia Trial Gardens in 2020, a trial known for testing plants in hot, humid summers.

Final Thoughts: Mix it in with hot colours to stop the border from getting too rowdy. EVERY PARTY NEEDS A DESIGNATED DRIVER.