skip to main content

Transplanted coneflower plants stripped to the stems

10 years ago

Hello,

I transplanted nursery raised coneflower this weekend (about 6 inches tall, no flowers, just greenery), and almost half of my plants were stripped to the stems last night, probably by rabbits.

I'm a vegetable gardener fom way back, but I'm new to perennials. Could this damage kill them, or do they have a chance to grow back somewhat? (I'm going to protect with chicken wire fencing if they can be saved.)

Thanks for any input you guys have. BB

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

Nevermore44 - 6a
10 years ago
I have had small (basically plugs) echinacea make it back from rabbit munching before, so you should be okay. Just get out the deterrents for a while until they get larger, at which point they seem to leave them alone... or there are more tasty things out there.
dbarron
10 years ago
If you really think rabbits, get some cages over those plants. Slugs seem awful hungry this year to me...and they're doing quite a bit of damage on newly emerged plants for me ;( I don't like poisons...so I'm just letting it be.
Related Discussions
Dividing coneflowers
Q
Comments (4)
I thought that is what I had to do but a search only told me how to grow them, etc. I dug up a celadine poppy plant today and I was able to divide that into about 9 plants.. Ever divided a Pinks(Dianthus)plant? I tried but could only knock a lot of the soil it had around it and put it in a pot that would fit it and packed potting mix around it..watered it good..Hope all I've planted up makes it. My problem is lack of space in shade to keep it. I have to keep moving plants around following the shade..
...See More
Coneflower experts
Q
Comments (3)
Annie..I think you are right. I saw evidence of it on Azeleas next to it and I sprayed two kinds of insect spray that said it could be used for Whiteflies. I will try the soap method next. I have to go back to some notes from a gardening coach that I had a consultation with last year or year before. Something was on the azeleas then. Just dug up my one and only Emerald Blue creeping phlox and transplanted some of it where I had dug out a large mum. It was 100 plus here yesterday and it's heading that way again. I've just come in to cool off and rest. Got to find a place to plant the rest of that creeping phlox. I'm pulling out small columbines as they are getting invasive. What's left will reseed I'm sure and I have others planted elsewhere. Getting company, need to "read up" a bit. People from Pa.Dutch country will know what that means.
...See More
Coneflowers Haven't Emerged Yet... Dead?
Q
Comments (10)
You do touch on quite an essential issue there, Nevermore - one which has resonance for strawberry growers or those of us who foolishly persist in growing meconopsis...and that is the lack of balance (and hormonal and metabolic activity) between root, leaf and bloom. It has always been my practice to sacrifice blooms for a year in order to build up enough root mass able to push enough foliage to feed.photosynthesise a plant to build up reserves over the winter and to maintain sufficient internal resources to carry a plant through the draining period of blooming...and I rather suspect that the hybrid echies are of that ilk. Campanula Kent Belle is another...which can, quite literally, bloom itself to death. Asters too.Not to say NO blooms at all - but for hybrid growers, it might be in order to leave just one bloom on each plant while disbudding any arising stems later in the season...with the promise of a payoff in later years. I used to do this with small own root roses too - the first season after being raised as a cutting, I would only allow one speculative bud to form and disbudd the rest. eta - not totally sure 'disbudd' is a word, especially with 2 ds.
...See More
Hell Strips 2017
Q
Comments (43)
wantonamara---- You qualify for 'hell' strip conditions, think of it as a real big strip with special challenges to boot. Woodstea, if your strip is like mine, you can clean out the leaves but in two or three days it doesn't look any different than it did before you cleaned it a couple days ago. I usually clean mine several times in winter, its a good reason to get outside on warm days. Those oak leaves keep coming all winter. I cleaned mine out yesterday (Thanksgiving) because we celebrated Thanksgiving today. People driving by probably felt sorry for me for spending Thanksgiving Day grubbing out leaves by hand into a bucket but I enjoyed it, it was gorgeous out. There were lots of those styrofoam packing peanut things among the leaves that had blown in, someone must have tossed a package and let them blow everywhere, a beer can and some bits of paper. I thinned out some stuff because it was looking somewhat overgrown and it looks much neater now (for a couple days). I need to get rid of Miss Huff Lantana so I cut it to the ground. It got way too big for the strip.
...See More
gardenper
10 years ago
Agree on those slugs! I know I don't have rabbits but many plant cuttings or seedlings that I prepped in the ground are gone. One day here, one day not (so it's not like a cutworm effect that seems to leave the stalk for you to witness the death of your plant in the next morning).
gardenweed_z6a
10 years ago
Crushed eggshells sprinkled around newly-emerging perennials will discourage slugs/snails--they can't crawl over the shells because the shells cut them. I save eggshells all year and when spring rolls around, the crushed pieces help protect my perennials, including hostas. I just toss the shells in a plastic bowl & use a potato masher to crush them.

As long as the OP's Echinaceas had healthy root systems, chances are the plants will send up new growth despite marauding bunnies.

Related Stories

FLOWERS Get Coneflower Blooms All Summer Long

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Plant these 5 native species to bring beauty to the garden — and pollen to the insects — from June through August

GARDENING GUIDES Invite Mining Bees to Your Garden by Planting Their Favorite Plants

By Pollination Press LLC

Look for mining bees (Andrena) pollinating woodland wildflowers in U.S. gardens this spring

GARDENING GUIDES 9 Clay-Busting Native Flowers for Summer Sun

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

These plants survive and even thrive in tough clay soil east of the Rocky Mountains

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Pseudognaphalium Obtusifolium, or Rabbit Tobacco

By Curtis Adams

This late-blooming native annual, also known as sweet everlasting, adds spontaneity to landscapes in the eastern United States

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Chrysogonum Virginianum

By Curtis Adams

This tough ground cover brightens partly shady Eastern gardens with a carpet of golden flowers in midspring

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Solidago Speciosa

By Curtis Adams

Showy goldenrod lives up to its name in eastern U.S. gardens, with bold, upright yellow flowers appearing in early fall

GARDENING FOR BUTTERFLIES 3 Ways Native Plants Make Gardening So Much Better

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

You probably know about the lower maintenance. But native plants' other benefits go far beyond a little less watering and weeding

NATIVE PLANTS 5 Ways to Keep Your Native Plant Garden Looking Good All Year

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

It’s all about planning ahead, using sustainable practices and accepting plants as living organisms

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Vernonia Noveboracensis

By Curtis Adams

Stately New York ironweed attracts pollinators with its blooms at the end of summer and birds with its seeds in fall

GARDENING GUIDES 6 Plants That Beat Butterfly Bush for the Wildlife Draw

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

It's invasive, a nonnative and a poor insect magnet. Check out these better alternatives to butterfly bush in the garden

Sponsored

Buckeye Basements, Inc.

31 Reviews

Central Ohio's Basement Finishing ExpertsBest Of Houzz '13-'21

More Discussions

What to do with this very old hydrangea?

8

Corydalis Noblis

9

Spicebush transplant shock; will it be ok?

9

Do you plant very young, small plants directly in garden?

11

karl foerester.... should it look like this now?

5