This was the first time I've grown Coneflowers... and I fell in love with them (and so did "my" butterflies and hummingbirds). I've been deadheading them but I'm not sure what to do with them now that they are done bloomingand seem to be dying off. I've read that I should cut them back, but how far and when? (I'm in Zone 9A) Any advice on how to care for them throughout the fall and winter would be greatly appreciated.
Cut the stems off at ground level and leave any green leaves to die off on their own. They really are maintenance free. Then you just sit back and wait for spring when they will start sending up green again.
Do you let them reseed on their own, or collect seeds to plant in the spring? I've been having a rough time getting a good strong bed of coneflowers, seem to only get a few back each year.
Echinacea, by me, gets the plant cut off to soil line, in fall when plant has died back. I beleive it does both grow back from its the roots and volunteer by seed. Is the corm?, rhizome?, root mass, perrenial like a woody plant? I'm not sure. A patch of it does diminish if you weed out the volunteers.
CAREFUL! At least in my garden... it's invasive! After a whole spring and summer of occasional pulling-out, I still have them in lots of places! I also don't know if I just stick to the original few that have bloomed, will these have a long life? I wonder!
