Echinacea purpurea 'MILKSHAKE'® coneflower

Fancy a milkshake? Looking at this beautiful coneflower one must be tempted to have one. It bears milky-white ray-florets with yellow disc-florets that change to beige heads as they mature. So the whole flower does resemble a fresh milkshake with a vanilla cream topping. How about it now, ready for one? This variety has been bred by Arie Blom in the Netherlands in 2006, and patented under PP20,594 2 years later.

This coneflower has very strong stems that do not break in wind bend after a heavy rain, and make an excellent cut flower. Flowers attract butterflies and bumble bees and each stem produces up to 7 individual flowers. Lanceolate leaves are mid-sized, grow from the ground, and smaller leaves appear along the stems. Cutting back spent flowers down to the first leaf that hides the coming flower bud will enhance and prolong flowering until early October.

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. Hardiness of this variety has been observed down to -29°C (USDA zone 5) but is expected to go even lower.

Last update 20-07-2012