Echinacea 'HOT LAVA'

Hot Lava coneflower offers the richest shade of warm red colour bred so far. It makes shorter stems reaching only about 50-60 cm and produces flowers from mid July until early autumn. When the flowers fad they do not turn pale red but an attractive shade of orange red which distinguishes this variety from other red flowering coneflowers. The flowers are attractive for butterflies, bumble bees, and also bees can find a way to suck some nectar from them. Flowering begins in about mid July and when the top flower is finished just deadhead it and the stem will continue producing buds and flowers that will keep popping up until late summer or early autumn. Leaves are deep green, lanceolate and may suffer from diseases if grown in wet or compacted soil.

Aloha coneflower is a hybrid variety bred by a young and successful breeder Harini Korlipara of Terra Nova Nurseries in Oregon, USA. It is a cross between echinacea paradoxa and Echinacea purpurea Ruby Giant, patented under PP22,807 in 2012.

The plant is usually trouble-free and resistant, just be careful is 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 min -34°C (USDA zone 4).

Last update 04-08-2014