Echinacea 'SUMMER COCKTAIL' coneflower

Dutch lover of perennials Marco van Noort excels in breeding coneflowers and Summer Cocktail is his impressive variety from 2012. It makes single flowers whose colour changes from golden yellow as they open from buds, to orange and pink when they mature. The bed with Summer Cocktail coneflowers is a gorgeous splash of pastel colours which need zero companions to look great.

Flowers appear atop 60-70 cm tall, strong stems from July until September. Leaves are deep green, broadly lanceolate and may suffer from diseases if grown in wet or compacted soil. Protected in Europe by Plant Breeders’ Rights by EU patent EU32288 from 2012.

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. Fertilizing will help especially young plants establish, and will contribute to continuous production of flowers. Fully hardy to min -34°C (USDA zone 4).

Last update 29-01-2020