Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High'
Echinacea purpurea 'Kim's Knee High' · Asteraceae
A dwarf coneflower with clear pink, gracefully drooping petals around a bronze-orange cone.
- Size
- 20 in tall, 18 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Early July to late August
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around coneflower 'Kim's Knee High'
The planner designed this bed around coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' 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 'Kim's Knee High' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' × 3, pink
- 2 Winter heath × 4, white
- 3 Sea thrift × 5, pink
- 4 Tatarian aster 'Jindai' × 4, purple
- 5 Wild quinine × 5, white
- 6 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 7 Schubert's allium × 4, pink
- 8 Autumn crocus × 12, lavender
Why this plant
- The only medium leaves here. The rest are fine and bold. A change of leaf keeps plants distinct when nothing is in flower.
Why here
- In the middle. At 20 in it is the step between sea thrift (8 in) in front and Tatarian aster 'Jindai' (4 ft) behind: each is seen over the one before.
- A step in the back row. Next to Tatarian aster 'Jindai' (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 9 weeks. From early July to late August.
- Fills a gap. For one of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 5 groups (80%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. A cool scheme: pink, purple, lavender and white. Pink is the colour seen most, on 3 of the 7 kinds grown for their flowers.
The planner's own design check: 13 Excellent, 4 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 'Kim's Knee High' goes in a border
At 20 in it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium short (18 to 24 in).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
The first of the compact coneflowers and still one of the most graceful: the swept-back petals keep the look of the wild plant. It suits small gardens and windy sites.
- Small gardens
- The front of a sunny border
- Butterflies
What to plant with coneflower 'Kim's Knee High'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Catmint 'Walker's Low': in flower together for nine weeks, from early July; spires rising out of its mound.
- Blue fescue: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; low enough (10 in) to stand in front of it.
- Black-eyed Susan 'Little Goldstar': in flower together for eight weeks, from mid July.
Questions about coneflower 'Kim's Knee High'
Does coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' need sun or shade?
Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day) and part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers early July to late August. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Mid July to early September |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Mid July to early September |
| Zone 5 | Early July to late August |
| Zone 6 | Early July to late August |
| Zone 7 | Late June to late August |
| Zone 8 | Late June to late August |
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 'Kim's Knee High' be planted?
16 in (40 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 18 in (45 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 20 in (50 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' plants do I need?
At 16 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 7 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 8 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 21 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 'Kim's Knee High' 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.
Do deer eat coneflower 'Kim's Knee High'?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
What flowers after coneflower 'Kim's Knee High'?
Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' is over by late August. 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.
- Garlic chives: from late August to mid September, 20 in tall.
What does coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' look like in winter?
Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' dies down, but leave the stems standing: the seed heads stand through the winter, and songbirds eat the seed. Cut them down in early spring, before the new shoots come.
Is coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' good for bees and butterflies?
Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High' is visited by pollinators, bees, butterflies and songbirds.
It is a host plant: the caterpillars of silvery checkerspot and wavy-lined emerald feed on its leaves. A butterfly can only lay its eggs on its host plants, so these do more for it than any nectar flower.
It is native to the United States (this is a named variety of the native plant).
More Echinacea
- Coneflower 'Cheyenne Spirit' Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit'
- Coneflower 'Green Jewel' Echinacea purpurea 'Green Jewel'
- Coneflower 'Hot Papaya' Echinacea 'Hot Papaya'
- 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
- Salt-tolerant plants for roadsides and coasts
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Drought-tolerant perennials for full sun
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Native perennials for pollinators
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Plants that feed garden birds
- Host plants for the silvery checkerspot
- Host plants for the wavy-lined emerald
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 20 in (50 cm) tall, 18 in (45 cm) wide
- Plant
- 16 in (40 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium short (18 to 24 in)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Early July to late August; daisies; pink
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; dark green
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Comes from
- Eastern and central USA
- Attracts
- Pollinators, bees, butterflies, songbirds
- Host plant for
- Silvery checkerspot, Wavy-lined emerald
- Stands up to
- Deer, drought, heat, humidity, salt, poor soil
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). 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.