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08 Jan 2024

How to grow echinaceas and best varieties

Echinaceas return year after year to bloom in mid-summer. Discover our best varieties and tips for how to grow them.

Ceri ThomasEditor, Which? Gardening

In this article

Key facts
How to grow echinaceas: month by month
Best echinacea varieties
Full testing results for echinaceas
Caring for your plants
Common growing problems
How we test echinaceas

Echinaceas, commonly called coneflowers, start to bloom in mid-summer and look good for many weeks, their mellow colours ideally suited to the late-summer sun.

They have a temperamental side though, and sometimes die down in winter, never to be seen again. We thought it was time to find out which of them not only looked good but had some staying power as well.

Which? Gardening magazine grew a range of popular varieties in the north and south of the UK over two years to see which would give us the best display and be hardy enough to get through UK winters.

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Key facts

PLANT TYPE Herbaceous perennial

POSITION Sunny

SOIL Well-drained

How to grow echinaceas: month by month

January	February	March	April	May	June
		CUT BACK/PLANT	PLANT
July	August	September	October	November	December
FLOWERING/DEADHEADING	FLOWERING/DEADHEADING	FLOWERING

Best echinacea varieties

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Full testing results for echinaceas

Variety name	Overall rating	Flowering duration	Flower impact	Scent	Plant shape	Insect attraction	Garden worthiness	Pest & disease problems
'Fatal Attraction'
'Flame Thrower'
'Green Envy'
'Magnus'
E. purpurea
'Rubinstern'
'White Swan'

Figures on the table relate to the second year when plants were mature. SCORE The more stars the better Results are based on flower duration 20%, flower impact 20%, scent 10%, plant shape (whether floppy or self-supporting) 10%, insect attraction 15%, pest and disease problems 15%, garden worthiness 10%. Garden worthiness is a subjective assessment of the quality of the plant.

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Caring for your plants

Planting

Plant in any soil, as long as it’s well-drained. Add well-rotted garden compost when planting. Place in full sun for best flowering, though they can also grow in light shade. Plant in spring if possible so plants establish before winter sets in.

Help your plants with a recommended soil improver

Deadheading

Deadheading regularly early in the flowering season prolongs flowering. Stop deadheading in September and allow stems to stay on until new growth starts in spring. This helps protect the plant’s crown in winter.

Try Best Buy secateurs

Common growing problems

Slugs and snails

Watch out for slugs and snails eating leaves as plants come into growth in spring. Use organic slug pellets or biological control (for slugs only).

Read more about slugs and snails

How we test echinaceas

In spring, we planted three plants of each variety at our Capel Manor trial garden in north London, where the soil is well-drained and the climate mild and relatively dry. We did the same at Alnwick Garden in Northumberland, where it’s colder, slightly wetter and the soil is also well-drained. Plants were grown for two years and assessed for: duration and impact of flowering; whether they were floppy or self-supporting; which had the best scent; those that attracted the most pollinators; susceptibility to problems.