Echinacea purpurea
coneflower
- Position: full sun
- Soil: most soils, except very dry or boggy
- Rate of growth: average
- Flowering period: June to September
- Hardiness: fully hardy
Large, rich rosy-purple, daisy-like flowers with prominent orange-brown centres on stiff stems appear from June to September. One of our recommended plants, it's tough and does not need staking and makes an excellent cut flower. Like other coneflowers, it is long-flowering and will cope well with adverse weather conditions, except drought. Try it dotted through a sunny, mixed border or in bold drifts among grasses where it will extend the season of interest. It is attractive to bees and butterflies, and birds will flock to the seedheads. - Garden care: Lift and divide congested colonies in autumn or spring. In autumn cut back all dead flower stems to the ground. Coneflowers benefit from a spring or autumn mulch with well-rotted compost.
Veronicastrum virginicum 'Fascination'
culver's root
Elegant spires of bluey-mauve blooms
Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln'
fountain grass
A pretty, compact grass for small gardens
Sedum 'Matrona'
orpine
Looks good with ornamental grasses
Anemanthele lessoniana
pheasant's tail grass (syn. Stipa arundinacea )
Versatile and colourful
Eryngium planum 'Blauer Zwerg'
sea holly (syn. Blue Dwarf)
Dwarf variety with deep blue flowers
Verbena bonariensis
verbena
Lilac-purple flowers
Perovskia 'Blue Spire'
Russian sage
Violet-blue flowers and silvery foliage. Great planted en masse
Stipa tenuissima
stipa ( syn. Stipa tenuifolia )
Lovely architectural Grass
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Sturdy, strong and robust pink-purple daisy with a rust-brown cone standing atop stiff olive-green stems - makes an enduring personality in autumn and winter
Val Bourne - Garden Writer