Birdscaping: The coneflower

The purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a must-have for gardeners who wish to attract American Goldfinches to their backyard. Coneflowers also a welcome source of seed for cardinals, blue jays and White-crowned Sparrows.

Coneflowers are native to North America. They are prairie plants that are easy to grow and require little care. They are perennials, so once they're established, you will have color every summer and food for the birds every autumn and winter.

The plant gets its name from the cone-shaped center of the flower. When the daisy-like petals fade, the center matures to a bristly conical seed head. You'll see goldfinches clinging to a stem as they chip away at the cone to pick out a seed.

The goldfinch is one of the last of the bird species to breed. It waits to nest until June or July when milkweed, thistle and other plants have produced their fibrous seeds, which the finches incorporate into their nest and feed to their young. By the time goldfinch chicks are ready to fledge, coneflowers have set seed and are ready for their dinner table.

Coneflowers produce large, conspicuous flowers that retain their showiness for about three weeks. They are starting to bloom right now. Garden centers should have plenty available for sale. Be careful in choosing your plants, though. The brilliant yellows, reds and oranges are dazzling, but most are hybrids created by crossing several different species of Echinacea. These cultivars are propagated by tissue culture, meaning they are sterile and produce no seeds for birds. Also, stay away from the double-flower varieties. They provide little food value for birds or butterflies.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

You are better off sticking with tried-and-true varieties, such as Echinacea purpurea, E. pallid, E. tennesseensis and E. paradox, according to wildlife gardening specialist Barbara Pintozzi. The flowers of these species are pinkish-purple, mauve-pink, white or (in the case of E. paradox) pale yellow.

If you want birds to feed from your coneflower seeds, don't prune off the spent flowers. Instead, let them stand throughout the winter when birds are eager for natural food sources.  As soon as spring arrives, simply cut your coneflowers to the ground. They will grow back to bloom again in the summer.

Coneflowers prefer full sun and well-drained soil. They will do well in almost any kind of soil—sandy soil, glacial till, fluvial silts, loam or clay, all of which are common in the Lehigh Valley. Your coneflowers will do best if you add compost to the soil.

Coneflowers tolerate dry conditions well. If you plant full-grown coneflowers from the garden center, be sure to water them thoroughly during the first summer so the roots can establish themselves. You also can grow coneflowers by sowing seed, either in a greenhouse in late winer or outdoors in early spring. Plant the seeds one-quarter of an inch deep. After germination, thin the seedlings so the plants are about 18 inches apart.

The plants are very hardy. They survive the coldest winters in the Lehigh Valley. They do not require mulching for winter. During the hottest and sunniest days of the summer, the leaves may seem to wilt. Don't worry. That's the coneflower's way of dealing with intense heat. As the sun passes its peak, the leaves will return to their normal appearance.

Coneflowers are resistant to insects and disease. If a problem does occur, treat early with insect repellants or a fungicide. Use organic treatments whenever possible.

Here are a few suggestions for gardening with coneflowers:

• Plant coneflowers toward the back of the garden bed. Coneflowers grow 24 to 42 inches tall, depending on the variety. Use them to set the stage for shorter plantings.
• Offset coneflowers' coarse texture with more finely textured neighbors such as thread-leaf coreopsis. Another option would be bluish-green or silvery foliage plants.
• Plant in clumps. Coneflowers look better together, rather than spread out individually.
• Naturalize coneflowers by intermixing them with other perennials, especially Rudbeckia (black-eyed susans). Combining those two species extends the flowering season from late June, when the coneflowers start blooming, until late August, when Rudbeckia wraps up its show.

Birds are not the only wildlife that enjoy coneflowers. The flowers attract all sorts of butterflies, including Fritillaries, Monarchs, Painted Ladies and Swallowtails. They feed on nectar. If you examine a flower up close, you will notice that the central cone actually has a collection of 200 to 300 disk florets. The disk florets in the center open first, then proceed outward in succession. Butterflies find nectar in each of the disk florets.

Coneflowers are an attractive way of bringing goldfinches to your backyard. Give them a try!