Echinacea 'Ifecssts' SUNSEEKERS® TEQUILA SUNRISE coneflower
Echinacea
The SunSeekers series of Echinacea offers a wide palette of this remarkable perennial, with all varieties boasting vigorous health, dense growth, and abundant flowering in saturated colors that don’t fade. The first part of the series, identified by patent designations beginning with "Apecss-", features cultivars with simple flowers in rich, dark shades. In contrast, the newer group — with names starting "Ifecss-" — represents a completely fresh direction, with varieties whose magnificent, often semi-double or exceptionally large flowers look strikingly unique: more like gerberas crossed with dahlias than traditional echinaceas.
These plants are bred by Innoflora B.V. of the Netherlands. Their journey to fame began in 2018, when the first cultivar, SUNSEEKERS SALMON, won the prestigious gold medal from KVBC at the Dutch novelty fair Plantarium and took the coneflower world by storm. The credit goes to breeder Jelle van den Haak, who created six standout cultivars in the series. Yet, cultivars appearing after 2020 carry a distinct handwriting and signature – that of Glenn Spil, another accomplished breeder. These newer varieties also have inventive, flavourful names that sound so tasty (yet inedible), such as Pumpkin Pie, Mineola, Watermelon, or simply Citrus 😊. Imaginative, right? All of these cultivars bear the label Plants for Pollinators invented by the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society), thanks to their rich nectar that supports bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
Cocktail lovers certainly know Tequila Sunrise. This famous American drink from 1930’s is a blend of deep red grenadine which, being heavier and thicker, drops to the bottom of the glass as opposed to the lightweight mixture of orange juice and tequila, which remains at the top, creating a perfect image of a sunrise. Funnily enough, the same appearance was unintentionally achieved on a 2021 introduction of another coneflower masterpiece from the Sunseekers series. It was named SUNSEEKERS TEQUILA SUNRISE and produces large, up to 11 cm across, single flowers with slightly downward curved ray florets. They are rich golden as they emerge, turning paler as they mature, revealing bright fuchsia red eye around a central, deep mahogany red disc. Flowers hide plenty of nectar for butterflies, bumble bees as well as bees and appear from early July until the last sunny and warm days of autumn. Longevity of individual flowers is 2-3 weeks. Plants are compact but have exceptional vigour and dense habit. Stems are usually 30-40 cm tall. Deadhead spent flowers regularly and feed the plants every two weeks during summer. Leaves are healthy, deep green, and broadly lanceolate. The variety is protected by plant patents No. PP34433 (USA - 2022) and 63998 (EU - 2023).
The plant is usually trouble-free and resistant, just be careful if slugs are present in your garden. Since coneflowers emerge quite late, often when slugs are already in their lethal strength, they could gobble up newly emerging foliage totally and thus destroy the plant before it even comes out.
Coneflower will tolerate almost any soil type but boggy. It loves full sun. It is suitable for mixed borders with perennials or can be used as a flowering feature among low shrubs and conifers and looks lovely when planted in a mass in a container on patios and balconies. Fully hardy to about -34°C (USDA zone 4).
Last update 15-07-2022; 08-11-2024
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- STANDARD QUALITY - Plants of this group are 1st class quality with number of branches and overall density adequate to their size and age, considering they were container grown.
- DE LUXE QUALITY - This label guarantees a luxurious quality of manually selected plants that, compared to their height and age, are exceptionally dense and beautiful.
- EXTRA - These plants are usually mature and bigger specimens with exceptional overall appearance.
- STANDARD (as described in the plant form) means a tree with a trunk of 190-210 cm and a crown at the top, unless specified differently. The commercial size for trees is their girth measured in the height of 1m from ground.
- HOBBY - These plants are of the same quality as our standard-quality plants but younger and therefore cheaper.
- SHRUB - a woody plant with branches growing bushy from the ground level.
- HALF-STANDARD or MINI-STANDARD - a small tree with shorter trunk, its size is usually specified.
- FEATHERED - These are trees with branches growing already from the base of the trunk and up along the stem.
- GRASSES and PERENNIALS - Sizes given usually read the diameter of the pot or the clump, as specified.
