Plant Patent #16,424. A brand new color for Echinacea, PLUS an enticingly sweet fragrance and masses of big, bowl-shaped blooms, Sunset is a breakthrough for the easy-to-grow, long-blooming Purple Coneflower family. If you value stress-tolerant, sun-loving perennials in the garden, you simply MUST grow this exciting newcomer.The flowers are 4 inches wide, with bright orange petals surrounding a large russet-brown cone. Unlike older Echinaceas, the petals of these blooms are held out and slightly upturned at the tips, rather than straight down. And you can expect up to 20 flowers open at once at any time, for wave after wave of brilliant color for months. Sunset really has it all -- one-of-a-kind color, big flower size, sweet fragrance, long bloomtime, and terrific flower power!
The flowers arise on stems about as thick as a pencil, which assures them of a longer life before or after cutting. This plant is 30 inches tall and wide, and blooms from the first breath of hot summer well into fall. A native American perennial, Coneflower is a snap to grow, tolerating everything from heat and humidity to poor soil, cold winters, and even drought. Just pamper it the first year to get its root system in place, and it will take off from there!
Sunset was selected and extensively trialed by master plantsman Richard Saul of Georgia, so you know it's got "good bones." It's part of the exciting new Big Sky™ series of large-coned, brilliantly-colored, fragrant Echinaceas; a sister plant is butter-yellow Sunrise.
Butterflies and bees adore this plant in summer, followed by songbirds in autumn, after the seeds have dried inside the large central cones.
Plant Sunset in any moist, well-drained garden soil exposed to full sun, spacing the plants 25 to 30 inches apart. Zones 3-9.
