Coneflower 'Hot Papaya'
Echinacea 'Hot Papaya' ·
Double flowers with a shaggy, spicy red-orange pompom at the centre and a skirt of drooping petals, on dark stems.
- Size
- 2½ ft tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 4 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Early July to early September
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around coneflower 'Hot Papaya'
The planner designed this bed around coneflower 'Hot Papaya' 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 'Hot Papaya' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Coneflower 'Hot Papaya' × 5, red
- 2 Sea thrift × 5, pink
- 3 Winter heath × 8, white
- 4 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Sunset hyssop × 3, orange
- 7 Star of Persia × 4, purple
- 8 Autumn crocus × 12, lavender
Why this plant
- The only red.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 2½ ft it is one of the taller plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to sunset hyssop (24 in): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 5 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 10 weeks. From early July to early September.
- Part of the bed's peak. With false sunflower 'Summer Nights' and sunset hyssop in mid July: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 5 groups (80%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The back corners are held by coneflower 'Hot Papaya' and false sunflower 'Summer Nights', the tallest plants on the plan. The flowers run from late January to mid October: 37 weeks in all.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 6 Good. 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 'Hot Papaya' goes in a border
At 2½ ft it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium tall (2½ to 3 ft).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
The first double coneflower in a hot colour. Like most of the red and orange hybrids it needs sharp drainage in winter and should not be allowed to flower itself out in its first year.
- Hot colour schemes
- Cutting
- A focal point in a summer border
What to plant with coneflower 'Hot Papaya'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Mexican feather grass: in flower together for four weeks, from early July.
- Yarrow 'Moonshine': in flower together for six weeks, from early July.
- Russian sage: in flower together for nine weeks, from mid July.
Questions about coneflower 'Hot Papaya'
Does coneflower 'Hot Papaya' need sun or shade?
Coneflower 'Hot Papaya' 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 'Hot Papaya' 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 'Hot Papaya' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers early July to early September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 4 | Mid July to early September |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Early July to early September |
| Zone 6 | Early July to early September |
| Zone 7 | Late June to early September |
| Zone 8 | Late June to early September |
| Zone 9 | Late 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 'Hot Papaya' 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 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 2½ ft (80 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many coneflower 'Hot Papaya' 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 five in one group.
Is there a native plant like coneflower 'Hot Papaya'?
Coneflower 'Hot Papaya' 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.
- Anise hyssop: the same job in a bed, the same size and the same flowering time; lavender, not red.
- Coneflower 'Magnus': the same job in a bed, the same size and the same flowering time; pink, not red.
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 'Hot Papaya'?
Coneflower 'Hot Papaya' 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, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- 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 'Hot Papaya' look like in winter?
Coneflower 'Hot Papaya' 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 'Cheyenne Spirit' Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit'
- Coneflower 'Green Jewel' Echinacea purpurea 'Green Jewel'
- 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
- 2½ ft (80 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium tall (2½ to 3 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Early July to early September; daisies; red, orange
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; dark green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. 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.