Carol M
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Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:25 am
Location: Binghamton,NY

coneflower

Coneflowers reseed themselves, I know, but do I remove whole plant ( after seeds have fallen) or leave alone? Brown heads are unattractive. Zone #5.

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I leave the heads in the garden for the visiting garden birds like goldfinches, housefinches, chickadees, wrens, etc. (sometimes warblers and kinglets that are passing through) They will find any seeds left on them as well as seedworms and spiders that sometimes are still on them.

Also, I like the way they look with little mounds of snow on them in winter.

... I don’t clean those up until much later.

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rainbowgardener
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Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

If you want to get rid of them, just cut off all the tall, flowering stems at the base. Leave the basal leaves at ground level alone. That helps collect energy for the plant to store for next year. If I'm cutting them down, I leave the seed heads on the ground for the birds and just compost the stalks.

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