My new favorite plant this year is Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’. Last fall, I bought three packs of ten seeds each of these, and at $30 for 30 seeds, they’re the most expensive seeds I’ve ever purchased. I’m so glad I bought them! I actually received 34 seeds in the packets, and planted them indoors under lights in February. 33 of the seeds germinated and grew quickly. I transplanted them from seed cells into 3″ pots in early April, and then set them out in the garden in May. They are just now coming into full bloom, and these flowers are gorgeous! (Yes, they bloom the first year from seed!)
These echinaceas are 2013 All-America Selections Award winners and I can see why. Absolutely some of the prettiest coneflowers I’ve ever seen! The plants are bushy and about 24 to 30 inches tall. The stems are strong and, so far, I haven’t had to use any supports. I planted them in groups throughout my garden, and even placed a few in part sun — these are also strong and filled with buds. I can’t wait to see what colors I’ll get! Some are showing dark cones, some are pure yellow, and some even appear bicolor on the parts of the petals that are just unfurling. One interesting thing I have noticed is that there are 3 or 4 of these plants that are much shorter than the others, only about a foot and a half tall but also filled with buds.
Here are some photos of the ones already in bloom, a mixture of all shades of red, yellow and orange, and a few of the plants and buds. Click to enlarge.
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Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’
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gorgeous. I only have your run of the mill large purple, but I do love them. I bought Doppleganger or DoubeDecker or something like that. I think those might take a couple years to double up but they are vigorous this year. Clearly I need more! But where? I have to dig up more lawn! It’s the only way.
anonymous, absolutely, dig up more lawn! Flowers are much prettier. :)
These are gorgeous echinacea. I can see why they were an All America winner. I have always grown echinacea. I planted the common purple coneflowers this year, but maybe i need to branch out into other varieties.
Hi Lana,
I too have lots of the common purple and white, and have tried so many of the new hybrids (and been disappointed with most). These absolutely do live up to the hype, so far. I love them.
[…] sidewalk. I usually always plant annuals in this bed, but this year I also added some of the new Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ plants I grew from seed. I also planted purple Angelonia and Celosia ‘Fresh Look’ Red (both […]
Absolutely gorgeous!
They really are, Marsha. I’m still very happy with these, they are holding up nicely and continuing to put out more and more blooms. Love them!
[…] Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ (terra4incognita.wordpress.com) […]
Gardening is such a powerful way to learn plants. If you walked through a prairie and saw wild Echinacea, you’d know it from a distance, and thoroughly. I look forward to spending more time on my own landscape… and I think some of these flowers will be part of the plan! Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective. (I linked to this post in “Field Notes Friday 0002”.)
thanks, happynaturalist, glad you found the post helpful. sorry I didn’t see this comment a long time ago!
Hi, Sherry, I found your blog by googling these Cheyenne Spirit Coneflowers. My local garden center had a fall promo of these plants for sale. I fell in love immediately. Bought an assortment to put in a newly created bed. They are doing well and blooming nicely. I love all the colors. Are there different colors on the same plant too? I’m in zone 5 b and was told I should mulch over them in winter.
Your gardens are gorgeous! I chuckled when I read how you plant without any plans, but just ‘stuff’ things in. like I do too!
Hi Terry,
Thanks. You will love these coneflowers! Each plant only has one color flower. I’m in zone 7, and every one I planted last year came back bigger and better this year, even after the awful winter. In fact, they’re so much bigger that I’m going to have to dig out some of them next year and spread them out. You shouldn’t have any problems getting them to overwinter.
And yes, my gardens are stuffed for sure, lol. Sometimes I start out with a plan, but always end up with mixed plantings, tooo crowded!
Thanks for visiting,
Sherry
[…] and annuals, and is in the front yard along with the lamp post bed. The lamp post bed has Cheyenne Spirit Coneflowers, Celosia ‘Fresh Look’, and an awesome annual I grew from seed, ‘Park’s […]
Very late to this post, so if you are still checking these comments, are you getting purple mixed in the 2nd and 3rd year? Does Cheyenne Spirt shift back to purple or is this the birds doing?
My Cheyenne Spirits maintain their varied colors. I still have the corals, hot pinks, and oranges that I fell in love with when seeing them at nurseries.