Echinacea Delicious Candy

(aka: Echinacea Noortdeli) Echinacea 'Delicious Candy' comes from our friend, Dutch plant breeder Marco van Noort, who touts his new coneflower as the best he's seen in the last half-decade. Based on our trials, we concur. In the garden, it forms a small, compact clump, topped, starting for us in mid-June (NC), with rigidly upright 18" tall stalks, ending in brilliant magenta flowers. Each flower is composed of a pompom-like central cone atop a row of magenta petals. In the garden, visitors spot this bright coneflower from 100 paces....places, also. Maintenance: We recommend cutting coneflowers to the ground as soon a the flowers have faded. In addition to sending more growth into the crowns, which helps with overwintering, echinaceas will usually reflower in late summer/early fall. We do not like letting echinaceas drop seed in the garden, since the resulting seedling will look nothing like the parent. Growing Conditions: Good drainage is essential for success. Moist to average soil is desirable as long as the soil is well-drained. Most coneflower hybrids only last about 3-5 years in the garden. When you see that the amount of flowers begins to decline, simply divide and reset your plants and the durability of your plant resets. When planting new echinacea, always remove the first flowers to send the growth into the crown.The hybrid coneflowers are often so floriferous that they crown never develops enough energy to return in subsequent years. Natural Impact: All echinaceas, except those with fully double flowers, are great nectar plants for bumblebees.