Flower of the Day: Echinacea
This group of four echinacea flowers (purple coneflowers), silky in the sun, caught my attention.
While the pink petals are wriggling upwards, the flowers appear to be a different species. Opening gappy and straw-like (as seen in the smallest flower, centre left) the petals broaden, lengthen, deepen in colour and droop back under the expanding centre of the flower.
Continue reading “Flower of the Day: Echinacea”
Echinacea With Dark Stems (And A Request)
Before I post a flower (almost always) I google it. Then (almost always) I take a minute or so to marvel at the different flower pictures that have appeared in my image search results, listed under the same name. Unusually, I found nothing when searching for the name on the plant label, so I’m not sure if it it was a cultivar name, Echinacea ‘Dark Stems’, or purely descriptive – an unknown pink coneflower with dark stems. Continue reading “Echinacea With Dark Stems (And A Request)”
Plant Combinations From Trentham Gardens
Wordless Wednesday: Bee
River of Echinaceas at Bressingham
The display gardens at Bressingham inspire gardeners by showing how some of the company’s most popular plants can be grown in a rhythmic style of planting. Here, foliage plants, grasses, crocosmia, aster and eupatorium make lovely companions for pink echinaceas.
Rudbeckia Summerina ‘Orange’: Garden Plant Plus Prairie Native Equals A Heavenly Daisy
A plant with bold colours and daisy-style flowers effortlessly commanded my attention in the marquee at the recent Tatton Park Flower Show. Several plant nurseries had chosen to feature it prominently on their display and this is not a plant to hide its light under a bushel. Identified as Rudbeckia Summerina ‘Orange’, it’s a relatively new hybrid and one to watch. If it seems deeply familiar, that’s perhaps because both of its parents, Rudbeckia and Echinacea, are so widely grown. Continue reading “Rudbeckia Summerina ‘Orange’: Garden Plant Plus Prairie Native Equals A Heavenly Daisy”
Susan Rushton 