Echinacea 'Meditation White' WHITE MEDITATION coneflower

Marco van Noort is a very successful Dutch breeder of perennials who is renowned especially for breeding coneflowers and cranesbills. He created this white coneflower by crossing e. purpurea ‘Alba’ and e. ‘Meditation’ and registered it under variety name ‘Meditation White’ in 2013. However, at similar time Hilverda Kooij, another Dutch breeding company, launched their novelty called Meditation, from their Mooodz series. That could be the reason why van Noort decided to give his coneflower a new trade name WHITE MEDITATION. Never thought swapping 2 words could help not confusing two plants? Here it did!

WHITE MEDITATION is hybrid coneflower making pure white flowers with somewhat tousled layers of ray florets. They surround a large, cone-like, golden yellow to pale orange disc that provides plenty of nectar for butterflies, bumble bees as well as bees. The flowers have a strong and sweet fragrance like honey. Flowering begins early – in July and strong and reliably fed plants keep on flowering until September. Longevity of individual flowers is exceptional, too – almost 3 weeks.

Plants are compact but have exceptional vigour and dense habit. Stems are green and reach only approx. 30 cm in height. Deadhead spent flowers regularly and feed the plants every two weeks during summer. Leaves are healthy, deep green, and broadly lanceolate. Granted patens: 40957 (EU – 2015) and PP27015 (USA – 2016).

The plant is usually trouble-free and resistant, just be careful if slugs are present in your garden. Since coneflowers emerge quite late, often when slugs are already in their lethal strength, they could gobble up newly emerging foliage totally and thus destroy the plant before it even comes out.

Coneflower will tolerate almost any soil type but boggy. It loves full sun. It is suitable for mixed borders with perennials or can be used as a flowering feature among low shrubs and conifers and looks lovely when planted in a mass in a container on patios and balconies. Fully hardy to min -34 °C (USDA zone 4).

Last update 14-06-2024