Yes, they are perennials but may be a bit slower to establish in the PNW than in other areas. Especially after last fall and winter, which was very wet here and with strange abrupt cold spells that carried on into spring. Lots of new plantings didn't come back in this area this spring, so don't feel like the Lone Ranger :-)

Echinaceas want very good drainage and tolerate pretty dry soils. The combination of a long stretch of wet weather followed by perhaps too much irrigation may have been more than they were willing to put up with.

I think gardengal is correct; you may need to amend your soil with lots of perlite for drainage.

Perlite is generally not recommended as an amendment for ingound planting situations - its use is primarily advocated for container culture. And it's pretty darn expensive to obtain and utilize in the quantity necessary to actually improve drainage in the ground. Compost or other organic matter is typically suggested for this purpose - relatively low cost, adds considerable porosity and lightens heavy soils and adds nutrients to the soil that stimulate soil biology.

Well, going from what I've read here, haven't several people had trouble with some of these new varieties overwintering reliably? Or am I mixed up? (entirely possible!)

Wynswrld, did you plant any older varieties of coneflower? Magnus or White Swan, perhaps? Or just the newer ones?

Dee

I only planted the newer varieties.

And I'd be VERY surprised if drainage issues account for all of them not coming back to life. For at least half of them the ground is VERY porous (too porous) in my opinion, you could lay a garden hose there and it would just keep going down and down, huge doug firs in area with roots that have loosened up the soil. If anything I had been thinking the coneflower roots didn't have enough water to get them to come to life.

Based on what I'm reading here I tend to think these newer varieties don't overwinter well. But they're too darned expensive to treat as an annual so I don't think I'll be buying anymore except perhaps the older varieties although they are beautiful

If they are competing with the root system of large, established conifers like Doug firs, that could be part of the problem. Conifer roots are very widespreading and extremely greedy - they may be sucking up all the soil moisture and nutrients. And rather than loosening the soil, they tend to make planting and root establishment of smaller plants in their immediate neighborhood difficult at best.

FWIW, I have not had any trouble establishing several of the newer echinaceas in my garden, although insufficient amount of all day sun in my garden has made them later to bloom - several are only now putting out much of a flower display. And I am also in western Washington.

Sundown came back for me very vigorously this spring, & bloomed beautifully til August when temps got over 100 & up to 106 for a week or more. We're 13" below normal rainfall too. I watered, but didn't help it. I don't think I overwatered it. And maybe it will come back, keeping my fingers crossed.

Also in Western Washington here. I bought echinacea Evan Saul June 2006 and don't have it in the ground yet, rather it's in a large terra cotta (Costco :)) container exposed to all the elements of our nasty winter, miserable Spring and marginal summer. Looks great, Evan is blooming his silly head off....hopefully I'll have the chance this Fall to divide and plant in the ground. It's increased in size enough I think I can safely quarter it.

I'm one of the ones with troubles with the newer varieties. "Mango Meadowbrite" only lasted 2 years, yet my bosses only lasted 1. "Harvest Moon" doesn't look like it'll make it a third year, and "Sunset" doesn't either; both are in full sun and puny. To make matters worse, I have one of the skunked "Sunset"; it's not blooming properly/petals don't open/remains curled. I've tried "Double Decker" twice and neither returned the following year. "Coconut Lime" also died off after purchasing when transplanted, and it wasn't disturbed at all in the process. My "Magnus", "White Swan" and other unknown purples (also in full sun) are much more reliable in my garden, and return faithfully as well as reseed...

I'm really puzzled by these things because EVERYTHING grows at my house very healthy and all of the other perennials from black eyed susan to shasta daisy to columbine, etc. ALL come back each spring/summer very vigorous. Game over for me for coneflower I guess, too tempermental (and expensive) for me.

That's too bad that you lost all your Echinacea! The new hybrids like the Big Sky series are a cross of E. purpurea and E. paradoxa and they don't seem to make it through the winter for some people - maybe when they're planted in the fall? I was browsing an online nursery and they stated in their catalog "Fall planting not recommended" for these new hybrids. (See link)

I have two Echinacea Sunrise that I planted in Spring 06 and they are doing great. I just bought 3 Echinacea "Summer sky" at half price, and planted them this past weekend in a somewhat sheltered spot. Crossing my fingers they make it through the winter but they were only 4.99 each so I figure I won't lose too much if they don't make it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Echinacea

Yeah, terrene, I've seen that too - "not recommended for fall planting". One of the problems may be that they are still rather expensive, and some people buy them at end-of-season sales (like myself), and so they end up planted in the fall. I'm just biding my time till the price comes down a bit more.

Sorry you're having such a problem, wynswrld. But I hope you don't give up on echinacea completely. They really are wonderful flowers!

:)
Dee