Echinacea Cherokee Sunset is a very beautiful, elegant, and colorful variety of echinacea. It is known for its double, fully layered flowers in warm shades such as yellow, orange, red, and reddish-brown. The flowers have a contrasting dark center, giving them the appearance of cheerful little suns. This is why this variety is called “Sunset.” When summer reaches its peak, Echinacea Cherokee Sunset rises above the grass in many gardens. These full, double flowers are extremely colorful and joyful, creating a striking explosion of color in borders, gardens, or even on balconies. This echinacea is special not only for its ornamental value but also for its ecological role. The flowers are rich in nectar and attract a large number of beneficial insects, including bees, bumblebees, butterflies, hoverflies, and other useful insects. This makes it an essential and valuable plant in an insect-friendly garden. To fully highlight the beauty of these sunflower-like blooms, it is wise to combine Echinacea Cherokee Sunset with other plants, such as lavender, sage, zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, catmint, switchgrass, feather reed grass, yarrow, coreopsis, other coneflowers, butterfly bush, and creeping thyme. These combinations create a lively, colorful display in borders and gardens. Echinacea Cherokee Sunset provides exciting contrasts with blue, purple, soft pink, orange, and red-yellow shades. For depth, vary plant heights by placing taller plants at the back of the border, the coneflowers in the middle, and low-growing groundcovers in front. It is also highly suitable for insect-friendly gardens and naturalistic gardens. Through smart combinations with other plants and flowers, you can create a rich, summer-long, colorful, and ecologically valuable border that supports beneficial insects.
Echinacea Cherokee Sunset is a member of the Asteraceae family, like yarrow, chamomile, Roman chamomile, marigold, daisy, aster, cornflower, artichoke, and safflower. In colder climates such as the Netherlands and Belgium, this echinacea is usually grown as an annual because it rarely survives wet winters. This ornamental plant can also be grown easily in pots and containers on balconies or patios. It is an excellent cut flower and can also be dried, remaining beautiful for a long time in a vase. Echinacea Cherokee Sunset fits perfectly in wild gardens, prairie-style gardens, insect-friendly gardens, and almost any other garden type. Removing spent flowers regularly extends the flowering period. Echinacea Cherokee Sunset is very much loved by bees, butterflies, hoverflies, bumblebees and other benificial insects. Echinacea Cherokee Sunset flowers from July till September. Non hardy biennial. Heigth: 60 - 75 cm.
Indoor sowing: mid-March - mid-April
Outdoor sowing: mid-April - mid-May
Germination: 8 - 21 days
Germination temp.: 18 - 20 °C
Sowing depth: shallow - 3 mm
Plant distance: 25 - 35 cm
Sowing distance between the rows: 25 cm
Plantposition: sunny - half shade
Flowering period: July - October
Sow indoors from mid-March. Sow in trays filled with moist and well-loosened potting soil. Sow thinly and shallowly and do not cover the seeds, but press them gently. Keep the seeds well moist and warm Cover the trays with a lid to keep the moisture in. Keep the temperature as even as possible and don't let it drop especially at night. Remove the lid as soon as the seedlings emerge.Transplant the seedlings into separate pots as soon as they are big enough to handle.
In early May, the young plantlets can be put outside during the day to harden off. Harden off the plantlets for 10 - 14 days. After this, put them in the open ground in a sunny, sheltered spot with well-loosened and well-watered soil. If necessary, give the plants semi-shade. Keep the Echinacea plants 25 - 35 cm apart.
Sow outdoors from mid-April, as soon as there is no chance of night frost. Sow shallowly and thinly and do not cover the seeds, but press or rake them gently into the soil. Provide a sunny, sheltered spot with well-loosened and well-drained soil. If necessary, provide semi-shade. Thin out the seedlings at 25 - 35 cm, once they are large enough to handle. Remove spent flowers, so Echinacea will continue to flower from July to October. Remove weeds. Water the flowers sufficiently during dry periods. Pick the flowers in the morning when they are just opening for a beautiful and long lasting (1 week) bouquet. The flowers of coneflower are edible. They have a fairly spicy flavour. Use sparingly to decorate dishes, for example.
