In just the past three years, changes in the colors, petals and sizes of coneflowers have altered forever how we look at this stalwart Midwest native flower.

Times Have Changed

(Originally Published March/April 2007)

Gardeners have long prized native purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) for their dependable growth, durability as a cut flower and appeal to butterflies.

But times have changed. "We all thought we knew coneflowers," says Jim Ault, director of ornamental plant research at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois. "It turned out, we didn't."

Now, thanks to new science allowing reproduction by tissue culture instead of depending on seeds, plant breeders can cross one or more coneflower species to create forms and colors we've never seen before.

Coneflowers now flaunt petals in eye-popping shades of tangerine-orange, citron-yellow and claret-red. Even normally purple-pink hues have been transfigured into shades ranging from pale pink to dark magenta.

Along with the new colors, plant breeders are creating coneflowers that vary widely in size, from 15-inch dwarfs, such as 'Lilliput', to 40-inch giants, such as Summer Sky. Novelty forms filling garden centers include the shaggy-edged petals of 'Fancy Frills' and the ruffled double petals of 'Razzmatazz'.

Breeders of the new hybrids also are building in traits for more vigorous plants that have greater tolerance for heat and drought, better branching and more fragrance.

What's next? Plant breeders in the United States and abroad hint about new color combinations and flower forms. Some suggest gardeners soon will choose coneflowers in as many colors and forms as chrysanthemums.

"With all the great colors already in our breeding program, we're getting picky," says Dan Heims, president of Terra Nova Nurseries in Oregon. "Now, we're looking for traits like nonfading flowers, strong stems and extra rows of petals that hang at the perfect angle."

But don't leave all the fun to professional breeders. If you grow more than one kind of coneflower, Jim Ault suggests collecting seeds and sowing them in another bed (so new seedlings don't crowd out the coneflowers you have). Because coneflowers easily mutate or interbreed, you may even find something new.

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