Echinacea in July

What a wonderful month of July this has been. Temperatures have not been too high. In fact it has been rather mild. I can't remember the last July that I could sit on my patio every night and relax without getting hot and sticky. This has been exceptionally good for plants such as Echinacea that decline with the blistering heat. Though I have many Echinacea that have performed above average, the two that come to mind first are Pixie Meadowbrite and Chocolate Covered Strawberries.


Pixie Meadowbrite is from the Chicagoland Grows collection, hybridized by Jim Ault. His work in breeding has also brought Mango and Orange Meadowbrites. Pixie however, is a cut above.
What is unique about Pixie is it's long bloom time, short stature, and stiff rays on the flower. Only growing to 24", it truly is "knee-high".







Chocolate Strawberries is an introduction from Brent Horvath at Intrinsic Perennial Gardens in Hebron, IL. He gave this as a trial to me last year and it is very special. Another short variety, (only 15" in our garden) this variety has a lighter colored petal, similar to Echinacea pallida, but with interesting cones reminiscent of it's namesake. With many interesting varieties in the Echinacea garden, this variety gets a lot of chatter.