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For some reason, some of my Coneflowers are blooming in a pale pink while others on other side of garden are the normal bright pink. Anybody have any idea what happened?? They came from same seed packet.

I'm honestly a rooky gardener, and what I'm going to say here. I honestly cannot swear to. I just remember my future mother in law saying something about taking some of the fallen pine needles from the back of our property and sprinkling the needles down on the ground around a certain flower bed she has. She wanted to use the pine needles to make the ground more acidic so that the flowers in this particular bed would be a different color.

Again, I cannot swear to it what those flowers were, or even if the information is true, because honestly, I don't know, however, in short, you could just different soil in each area. I've seen those kits at Lows or other hard ware stores where you can check things in the soil like PH level, but if your flowers are doing fine, I imagine that really wouldn't be needed.

I know that pH changes the color of some flowers but I don't think that's a reason to be unconcerned. If the pH is different, who knows if the coneflowers can survive in the new pH? Some plants do not like acidic soil and some don't like alkaline soil.

The blooms of some potted annual violets I bought turned pale. Now (a few weeks later), the violets are dead. I have no clue why your flowers or my flowers changed color, but I would be concerned unless an experienced gardener tells you its ok.

Were your coneflowers always pale or did they become pale?

Spotted my grandother did something like that, I am pretty sure its true that they make the soil more acidic, whether or not it will help in this situation I do not know, however pine needles can make good mulch.

I am having the same issue but I did a soil test and my bed was very low on nitrogen so I and feeding them to see if that makes a difference. Lacking in a nutrient especially nitrogen can turn a plant different colors or stop it from going but can still live sometimes. Do a soil test. It couldnt hurt. Hope this helps.

Stottlar1

Actually, this is the first year my coneflowers bloomed, and half of them, on the southern side are dark pink, and the other side is very light pink. My soil in Nevada is very alkaline but I do mulch a lot. Anymore suggestions??

Like I said I am just guessing but I would do a soil test to find out exactly where your at for ph as well as nitrogen, phosphorous, and pottasium and see if your lacking in one and get a fertilizer to replenish the nutrient to your bed.

annapi wrote:Actually, this is the first year my coneflowers bloomed, and half of them, on the southern side are dark pink, and the other side is very light pink. My soil in Nevada is very alkaline but I do mulch a lot. Anymore suggestions??

Echinacea prefer slightly acidic soil so it is possible that the color variation is from the alkaline soil. It also could be a hybrid that is just not a good hybrid.

Try getting Miracle Gro for Acid Loving Plants to use as an interim solution. It is formerly known as "MirAcid" and may help the coneflowers. Also buy some sphagnum peat and work it into the soil all around the plants. Both of those will add a little acidity, albeit not a lot.

The way to adjust soil pH is with sulfur. It needs to be done a year before a planting and repeated as necessary. Adjusting after plants are established is a bit more difficult because the sulfur (& :. pH change) just does not migrate very far into the soil and getting it too close to the roots can burn them, resulting in dead plants.
Aluminum sulfate will acidify the soil but also adds salt(... a bad thing). It is fairly commonly used to make blue hydrangeas "blue" rather than pink. It is also a bit safer to use since over applying it is a bit harder.
Over time(years), nitrogen fertilizer will acidify the soil also.
Pine needle mulch is a good mulch for them but it will not acidify the soil to any appreciable degree. Working peat into the soil around the plants will do better but it too is not going to make an appreciable change over the long run because it breaks down. ( Breaking down process is a good thing as it makes the soil more friable & rich but the pH change is soon lost as the soil will return to its natural level. )

No method is permanent but sulfur will last longer.
READ: https://hubcap.clemson.edu/~blpprt/lowerpH.html

As someone else wisely mentioned, the first step is getting the soil tested. The County Extension service usually does that (for free too) but there are kits you can get to do it yourself.
(Call the Ext. Service and ask them what to do. They know the soil and help small gardeners as well as big farmers, .)

Have Fun!


PS
Cottonseed Meal is an organic fertilizer that is acidic and has slow release of nutrients. The 'MirAcid' foliar feeding will act faster but in the long run using cottonseed meal for fertilization that will lower pH is probably the better way to go. It certainly is easier than once a week foliar feeding, .

Well, I may have an answer to your coneflower problem, but it almost sounds too easy. My purple coneflowers have paled a bit as well, but both the white and the purple are very healthy. I think that they are just in a location that is too sunny/hot and they need to be in a place that does get a "bit" of shade for them to keep their deep color. I don't know where your coneflowers are located, but do they get any shade at all, and are they in the sun during the hottest part of the day? If so, perhaps moving a clump to a bit shadier location may be the answer. You would at least be able to see how the new location fared in comparison.

The soil acid/alkaline twist is interesting to me because it will change hydrangas from pink to blue, (or vice versa), but somehow I don't think that is the case with cone flowers.

I recently had someone tell me that cone flowers and daisys dropped seeds from their heads (I had always clipped off the dead heads and thrown them away), and didn't just propagate from their roots. Anyone have any thoughts on this? If they do spread both ways, I will certainly start saving the dead heads.

I am new to this group and would have introduced myself, but couldn't seem to figure out how to add a new comment on my own. (That's right... I'm not much of a computer techie.... so if anyone can help me there as well.... I would be happy to introduce myself in that forum.

Thanks all for any help you can give me.

Luvasiamese2
(Laura)
yea I thought about the sun factor too but the flowers are in same area. I think 'heat of the afternoon' shade is appreciated by most plants. Echinacea purpurea seem to be pretty happy with partial sun(as in shaded parts of day and direct sun rest of it) from my experience.

Propagation is either means. I think most prefer division of the roots as the success rate is nearly 100%. Getting Echinacea seeds to germ is a "Do you feel lucky?" kind of thing in my experience which interestingly enough I am currently attempting, again, with seed that might be all bad seed(it all floats). I swear I am not a masochist, it is just that I really dislike things going to waste and I never could find if Echinacea seed floats normally or not. It has been so long since I successfully sowed any that I don't recall if they floated or even if I tested them that way.

Echinacea seed can be obtained from the flowers by allowing them to dry on the stem, cut the stem(6" or so) and place the head in a bag so it can finish drying. Beat the heck out of it to get the seed loose and store in a cool, dry place. THEN either put it outside for winter(in a dry place -garage, maybe) or put it in a place where it can get very cold, as in freezing cold, for at least 30 days. That's called cold stratification and Echinacea requires it to get a decent germ rate -some say ANY germination, which I tend to believe.
Before planting soak the seed in kelp & water solution or some other "priming" solution to help soften the shell and get those little buggers moving.

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Have Fun!