Plant Care Library

Group/Class:  Big Sky Series

Description:

A remarkable variety with eye catching color; strong and bushy habit, and ideal for sunny borders and mixed containers; large and fragrant flowers have lovely rose and salmon petals surrounding an orange-red cone; deadhead spent blooms

Ornamental Features

Big Sky™ Summer Sky Coneflower has masses of beautiful lightly-scented rose daisy flowers with dark red eyes and salmon tips at the ends of the stems from mid summer to mid fall, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its pointy leaves remain green in color throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Big Sky™ Summer Sky Coneflower is an herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Big Sky™ Summer Sky Coneflower is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Big Sky™ Summer Sky Coneflower will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist locations, and should do just fine under typical garden conditions. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Big Sky™ Summer Sky Coneflower is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.