Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit'

Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit': One Plant, a Whole Sunset's Worth

Buy a handful of this coneflower and you never quite know what you're getting: red, orange, scarlet, purple, yellow, cream or white. It's a grab bag where EVERY PRIZE IS A WINNER. Heat and drought just make it show off.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Echinacea hybrid
• Common Name: Coneflower
• Height: 55–75 cm (22–30 in)
• Spread: 35–50 cm (14–20 in)
• Flowers: Single daisy-like blooms around a raised cone, in a mix of red, orange, scarlet, purple, yellow, cream and white. Each plant has one colour.
• Bloom Time: Summer to early fall (July to September)
• Foliage: Coarse, dark green, lance-shaped leaves on well-branched stems
• Features: 2013 All-America Selections winner, heat tolerant, good cut flower

Where to Plant: Mass it in a sunny border or a prairie-style planting to get the full mixed effect, and add some to a pollinator garden or cutting bed. It handles hot, dry summers and the lean soil near driveways, and the seed heads left standing feed goldfinches in fall.

Companion Plants: Panicum Prairie Winds® 'Totem Pole' makes an upright 180 cm backdrop of grass that flowers from August to October. Eryngium 'Blue Hobbit' stays low at 25 to 30 cm with spiky blue flowers from June to August. Salvia Sallyrosa™ April Night adds violet spikes from May to September, a cool foil for these mixed coneflower colours. All three love full sun, so the planting holds up well through the heat of summer.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun in average, well-drained soil. Heavy clay is fine if it doesn't stay wet, especially in winter, when soggy crowns can rot. Water regularly through the first season, then only during long droughts. Skip the rich fertilizer; it makes stems floppy. Deadhead through summer for more flowers, then let the last ones go to seed for birds and winter interest. Cut the old stems back in early spring. Because it's grown from seed, expect some variety in height and colour from plant to plant.

History: 'Cheyenne Spirit' was bred by Ping Ren for PanAmerican Seed and Kieft Seed in Elburn, Illinois, and it won an All-America Selections award for 2013 as well as a Fleuroselect Gold Medal. Coneflowers themselves are native to the prairies and open woods of central and eastern North America.

Final Thoughts: Plant a group of five and let the colours fight it out. THE ONLY SURPRISE PARTY ANYBODY ACTUALLY ENJOYS.