Pale purple cornflower
Just when you thought it was time to wind down in the garden, there are still things you can have fun with. For instance, you can plant seeds straight into the soil right now. It's always a delight to think about something new popping up. And chances are you'll forget where you put things this season, so when they come up next year they'll provide such a welcome surprise.
Right at the top of the list are coneflowers and milkweed: two of the most popular, really sensible plants to add to an urban garden, a meadow or a large country property. Milkweed is especially important because it will attract monarchs to deposit their eggs, then provide food for the emerging larvae.
Make sure to find out which is the right one for your region because some species can run amok. Your local native species is the best one for the butterflies, and you can find it easily on the Wildflower Farm website (see below). They recommend butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) for sandy soil and red milkweed (A. incarnata) for loam to clay soil.
Coneflowers have been messed around with to the point where it's hard to recognize what's a coneflower and what's some other frilly double-double bloom. It probably confuses the insects that need their nectar as much as it confuses gardeners. Finding the good old-fashioned kind might eventually become difficult, so get seeds for either Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower) or E. pallida (pale purple coneflower). They are both splendid plants, absolutely garden worthy in every way.
I'm crazy about the pale purple coneflower, E. pallida. It has a windswept hair look that makes the plant seem like it has a sense of humour. To my eye it's way more dramatic than all the current trendy cultivars. It has lovely upright stalks and grows from 90 centimetres to 1.2 metres high in Zone 3 and up. It will take sun to part shade and can put up with some drying out. I like the scent, and if you deadhead regularly, it will re-bloom.
Traditional plants such as coneflowers and milkweed have seeds that need the cooling conditions of September and October. They also need the freeze-thaw cycle that plagues us all winter to help them survive. This process breaks down the hard seed shells so that – voilà! – germination can proceed in spring. You can plant seeds in pots with squirrel protection and leave them outside all winter. In spring just pop the seedlings into the soil in full sun.
Coneflower is a drought tolerant, long-lived plant that delights the eye and attracts all passing butterflies and good insects. Do yourself and the garden a favour: Get some seeds into the ground before the snow flies. Look for pale purple coneflowers at purveyors such as Wildflower Farm – a site that also offers plenty of useful information about native and wildflower seeds – which does its own growing and harvesting. Seeds sell from $3 per package plus shipping and taxes through www.wildflowerfarm.com.