Coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit'
Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit' ·
A seed strain in sunset colours: each plant flowers in red, orange, gold, cream or magenta, on compact, sturdy stems, from its first summer.
- Size
- 2 ft tall, 20 in wide
- Zones
- 4 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late June to early September
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit'
The planner designed this bed around coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' × 3, orange
- 2 Common thyme × 8, lavender
- 3 Heath aster 'Snow Flurry' × 4, white
- 4 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 5 Little bluestem × 3, blue-green leaves
- 6 Eastern prickly pear × 1, yellow
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 4, purple
- 8 Schubert's allium × 3, pink
Why this plant
- A classic partner for little bluestem. Both are on this plan. A pairing gardeners have proved outranks a general rule.
- The only orange.
Why here
- At the back. It stands clear of the other plants: none is close in front of it, or close behind.
- A step in the back row. Next to little bluestem (3 ft) and brown-eyed Susan (4 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 11 weeks. From late June to early September.
- Fills a gap. For two of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 6 of the 6 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' and little bluestem, recognised partners, are side by side. Neither end outweighs the other: the visual weight is split 43 to 57, left to right.
The planner's own design check: 13 Excellent, 3 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' goes in a border
At 2 ft it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium (24 in to 2½ ft).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
The hot-coloured coneflowers are best planted as a mixed drift, where the related shades blend. Buy in flower if you want a particular colour. Good drainage in winter is the key to keeping them.
- Hot colours for a sunny border
- Cut flowers
- Pollinator gardens
What to plant with coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Russian sage: in flower together for nine weeks, from mid July; tall enough (4 ft) to stand behind it.
- Little bluestem: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after.
- Hyssop 'Blue Fortune': in flower together for 10 weeks, from early July.
Questions about coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit'
Does coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' need sun or shade?
Coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled.
What zones does coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 9. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late June to early September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 4 | Early July to early September |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Late June to early September |
| Zone 6 | Late June to early September |
| Zone 7 | Late June to early September |
| Zone 8 | Late June to early September |
| Zone 9 | Mid June to early September |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 20 in (50 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 2 ft (65 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as a group of three or five, with a second group further along in the other number.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Is there a native plant like coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit'?
Coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Gloriosa daisy: the same job in a bed, the same size, the same flowering time and the same colour.
- Butterfly weed: the same job in a bed, the same size and the same colour; flowers late June to early August, wants dry soil.
- Coneflower 'Green Jewel': the same job in a bed, the same size and the same flowering time; green, not orange.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit'?
Coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' is over by early September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall.
- Bottle gentian: from late August to early October, 20 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Blue mistflower: from late August to mid October, 2½ ft tall.
What does coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' look like in winter?
Coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
More Echinacea
- Coneflower 'Green Jewel' Echinacea purpurea 'Green Jewel'
- Coneflower 'Hot Papaya' Echinacea 'Hot Papaya'
- Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' Echinacea purpurea 'Kim's Knee High'
- Coneflower 'Magnus' Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'
- Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' Echinacea purpurea 'PowWow Wild Berry'
- Coneflower 'Sombrero Salsa Red' Echinacea 'Balsomsed' (Sombrero Salsa Red)
- Coneflower 'White Swan' Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan'
- Pale purple coneflower Echinacea pallida
- Purple coneflower Echinacea purpurea
- Tennessee coneflower Echinacea tennesseensis
- Yellow coneflower Echinacea paradoxa
In these guides
Zone guides: Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8 · Zone 9
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 2 ft (65 cm) tall, 20 in (50 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium (24 in to 2½ ft)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Late June to early September; daisies; orange, red, yellow, pink, cream
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Checked against NC State Extension. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.