The weather has been weird this year. I have plants that were blooming last year at this time that arent even a foot tall yet. Where do you have your plants planted in your garden?? Do they get enough sun?? Echinaceas in zone 5 would need quite a bit of sun. If they arent getting enough sun that may be your problem. Also I have heard others saying the same thing that there plants have been slow this year thinking its weather related. So if your getting plenty of sun maybe its just mother nature being slow this year.

Don't feel so alone, mine too! I keep wondering the same thing. I have 4 echinaceas in one small raised bed that sit there, and sit there... I have Tiki Torch, Sunrise, Tomato Soup, and Mac and Cheese and none are more than 3 to 4 inches tall it seems. I thought it was maybe a vole eating the roots, because I was out looking at my echinacea's last night and low and behold one of the plants started slightly "rotating" by itself! I thought there must be something underneath the soil. I have bulbs planted in the bed too. I don't know how else to explain my situation. I don't know what's causing yours to grow so slowly either, but it seems a lot of people are having probems with there echinacea's this year.

Mine were short until about 1-2 weeks ago. Now, they are in full bloom!

I have full sun in zone 7b in North Carolina.

First to bloom: Sundown
2nd to bloom: Harvest Moon
3rd to bloom: Prairie Splendor
4th to bloom: Ruby star (is more shaded by surrounding plants)

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: echinacea and monarda pairing

Countrycarolyn and kentstar, thanks so much for the reassurance! I think that it's probably weather related... so I will be patient! Sigh! If they don't grow much after the next month or so, I guess it's time to get the shovel out....!

Cameron, your yard is absolutely STUNNING! I love those combinations. I am so jealous of you Zone 7 people!!! Here in zone 5b, we cannot grow verbena as perennials... I am SO JEALOUS!

Echinacea like it hot and dry. If it is cool/cold and especially cool/cold/wet they will just sit there. Too often people think "Maybe if I water them more they will grow faster," but that can do the opposite and set them back even more.

But once it warms up they tend to take off - on an 80 degree day I can almost sit there and watch them grow!

I have a feeling a lot of folks up north will have a bad year with Echinaceas since it's cooler and wetter than normal. Even here it has been cooler and raining more than I've ever seen. So much for global warming!

The weather really has been strange this year, we have had one of the hottest Junes so far, no rain to speak of (usually pours this month) we did get some rain last night.

So far the Echinaceas are looking pretty good some are growing gangbusters, have lots of buds forming. Some are growing slowly but look healthy. I noticed last night Summer Sky, Double Decker, Sundown, Sunset, Razzmatazz and Magnus are the forerunners in my garden as far as good healthy growth and formation of flower buds goes. One of my favorites Twilight looks healthy, the small clump seems to have finer leaves and stems this year, I'm thinking it might need a smidge of potash.

Echinaceamanic what are your thoughts on this? What do you fertilize with or do you not fertilize?
I hope you are going to show us more of your seedlings this year, I remember one from last year it was awesome.

Annette

Ostich -- thanks! I guess I shouldn't complain about my zone!

Ctopher -- "hot and dry" -- I have echinacea 'Ruby Star' growing in my rain garden -- periods of wet, followed by drought -- they can take both and flourish. They are mixed in thickly with monarda, bog sage, perennial ageratum and Japanese irises.

Cameron

Annette - I was told by an Echinacea expert that I shouldn't fertilize mine. I used to do that, but they look better this year and I've used none. I do use a root stimulator on some new plants to give them a boost.

I have some new plants but they aren't blooming yet. I'm hoping my Paradoxa crosses will bloom. I'll post pics when they do. It's such a waiting game!

I sowed purple coneflower seeds (Echinacea purpurea - according to the seed packet) last Fall and now they are about 3-4 iches tall. Since I have never grown coneflowers before, do the leaves of different varieties look slightly different? The leaves on mine seem a bit rounder than the ones in pictures I have seen on this site which look narrower. I'm pretty sure they are not weeds. They have all come up in the flower bed that I had prepared just for them. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Janie, if this is their first year, that is normal. Mine did the same last year.

In zone 5, I am not sure if they will bloom the first year, but next year they will grow taller and will bloom for sure. I used to be quite impatient with that, but now I have learned to enjoy leaves and foliages as well. :-)

Yes they are painfully slow other than Butterfly weed which hardly grows at all in a physical