Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry'
Echinacea purpurea 'PowWow Wild Berry' · Asteraceae Popular
A compact, well-branched coneflower with flowers of a deep, saturated rose-purple that does not fade in the sun.
- Size
- 22 in tall, 18 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Late June to mid September
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry'
The planner designed this bed around coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' 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 'PowWow Wild Berry' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' × 5, pink
- 2 Blue moor grass × 5, purple
- 3 Winter heath × 11, white
- 4 Italian bugloss 'Dropmore' × 3, blue
- 5 Wild quinine × 3, white
- 6 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 7 Star of Persia × 4, purple
- 8 Dutch iris × 12, yellow
Why this plant
- The only daisies. The others are spires, bells, airy sprays and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only pink.
Why here
- At the back. At 22 in it is seen over winter heath (10 in) in front of it, and has nothing behind it to hide.
- A step in the back row. Next to Italian bugloss 'Dropmore' (4 ft) and wild quinine (3½ ft): 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 13 weeks. From late June to mid September.
- Closes the season. For its last four weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 5 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Neither end outweighs the other: the visual weight is split 52 to 48, left to right. The flowers run from late January to mid September: 35 weeks in all.
The planner's own design check: 14 Excellent, 3 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 'PowWow Wild Berry' goes in a border
At 22 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.
More flowers per plant than any other coneflower, for longer, and it keeps going without deadheading. Short enough for the front half of a border or a large pot.
- Long summer colour at the front and middle
- Containers
- Butterflies
What to plant with coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam': purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for 11 weeks.
- Salvia 'May Night': in flower together for three weeks, from late June; spires rising out of its mound.
- Prairie dropseed: in flower together for six weeks, from mid August.
Questions about coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry'
Does coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' need sun or shade?
Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' 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 'PowWow Wild Berry' 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 'PowWow Wild Berry' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late June to mid September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Early July to mid September |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Early July to mid September |
| Zone 5 | Late June to mid September |
| Zone 6 | Late June to mid September |
| Zone 7 | Late June to mid September |
| Zone 8 | Late June to mid 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 'PowWow Wild Berry' 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 22 in (55 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' 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 five in one group.
Is coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' 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 'PowWow Wild Berry'?
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 'PowWow Wild Berry'?
Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' is over by mid 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.
- October daphne: from mid September to late October, 8 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Meadow saffron: from mid September to mid October, 6 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' look like in winter?
Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' 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 'PowWow Wild Berry' good for bees and butterflies?
Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry' 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 'Kim's Knee High' Echinacea purpurea 'Kim's Knee High'
- Coneflower 'Magnus' Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'
- 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
- Long-flowering plants: 12 weeks or more
- 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
- 22 in (55 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
- Late June to mid September; daisies; pink, purple
- 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.