Grey-headed coneflower
Ratibida pinnata · Asteraceae
Drooping, soft yellow petals hang like a skirt beneath a tall grey cone that turns brown, on thin stems that sway in the wind.
- Size
- 4 ft tall, 18 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Early July to late August
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Weaver
A bed built around grey-headed coneflower
The planner designed this bed around grey-headed coneflower when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) cottage garden in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why grey-headed coneflower stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Grey-headed coneflower × 3, yellow
- 2 Common thyme × 5, lavender
- 3 Winter heath × 10, pink
- 4 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 8, tan
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Star of Persia × 5, purple
- 7 Darwin hybrid tulip × 10, red
Why this plant
- The only daisies. The others are dense clusters, bells, spires and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only yellow.
- 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
- Anchors a back corner. At 4 ft it is the tallest plant 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 little bluestem 'The Blues' (3 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one clump. A single spire is too slight to hold a place alone, so here the accent is a clump.
Why now
- In flower for 8 weeks. From early July to late August.
- Fills a gap. For five of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as a cottage garden: 27 of the 27 plants (100%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. Winter heath is the first into flower, in late January, and little bluestem 'The Blues' the last to finish, in early October. The back corners are held by grey-headed coneflower and little bluestem 'The Blues', the tallest plants on the plan.
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 grey-headed coneflower goes in a border
At 4 ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft). It is airy enough to see through, so it can also come forward and veil what is behind it.
Its job: weaver. A light, airy plant threaded singly between sturdier ones to knit the planting together.
The classic prairie trio is this with purple coneflower and wild bergamot. It is tall but thin, so thread it through grasses, which also hold it up.
- Prairie and meadow planting
- An airy layer among grasses
- Clay soil
What to plant with grey-headed coneflower
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Purple coneflower: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for eight weeks.
- Wild bergamot: in flower together for eight weeks, from early July.
- Little bluestem: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after.
Questions about grey-headed coneflower
Does grey-headed coneflower need sun or shade?
Grey-headed coneflower 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. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does grey-headed coneflower 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 grey-headed coneflower 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 late August |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Mid July to late August |
| Zone 5 | Early July to late August |
| Zone 6 | Early July to late August |
| Zone 7 | Late June to mid August |
| Zone 8 | Late June to mid 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 grey-headed coneflower 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 4 ft (120 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many grey-headed coneflower 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 one at a time, threaded between sturdier plants.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is grey-headed coneflower 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 grey-headed coneflower?
They may. NC State does not list it as resistant to deer or rabbits. Where they visit, protect it, or plant it among ones they avoid.
Will grey-headed coneflower spread?
It seeds itself about; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Self-seeds freely. Remove the spent flowers to limit seedlings.
What flowers after grey-headed coneflower?
Grey-headed coneflower 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, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Sedum 'Autumn Joy': from mid August to mid October, 24 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Montauk daisy: from mid September to late October, 3 ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does grey-headed coneflower look like in winter?
Grey-headed coneflower 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 grey-headed coneflower good for bees and butterflies?
Grey-headed coneflower is visited by pollinators, bees, butterflies, beneficial insects and songbirds.
It is a host plant: the caterpillars of silvery checkerspot 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 and Canada.
More Ratibida
- Mexican hat Ratibida columnifera
In these guides
- Drought-tolerant perennials for full sun
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Native perennials for pollinators
- Garden plants native to Canada
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Plants that feed garden birds
- Tall perennials and grasses for the back of a border
- Host plants for the silvery checkerspot
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 4 ft (120 cm) tall, 18 in (45 cm) wide
- Plant
- 16 in (40 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back, or further forward: it is airy enough to see through
- Flowers
- Early July to late August; daisies; yellow
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, self-seeding
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Comes from
- South East Canada to U.S.A
- Attracts
- Pollinators, bees, butterflies, beneficial insects, songbirds
- Host plant for
- Silvery checkerspot
- Stands up to
- Drought, poor soil
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.