In article et, "Laurel"
wrote:

Hello everyone:

I have a patch of purple coneflower I started two years ago from seed. It
has some tall, white valerian in the middle and is next to a very quiet
road. The plants flowered great this year, but the petals are turning black
at a pretty constant rate. I only get a day or two of unblemished blooms
before the petals go. The leaves are untouched. I live in SW Ohio, zone 5,
and it's been a somewhat dry summer, and I haven't deep watered the bed but
once or twice.

Is this a disease? Something I'm missing? A sign that the soil in that
area is terrible? What could be the problem? And what might I do?

Thanks,

Laurel

Though great xeriscape plants they have their limits & since you say
you've been having droughty weather & not watering the echinaceas but
twice all summer, then the blossoms are getting cooked, browning first at
the petal tips then the whole flower prematurely blackens. If it were the
leaves I'd think you had blackspot disease which can spread & blacken an
entire leaf, but since you say it is just the petals, then they're
drought-stressed & need to be irrigated more regularly to look their best
through the height of summer. Also, if they have blazing hot sun both
morning & afternoon, they may want something taller planted nearby to give
them shade for the morning hours, as even heat-hardies can max out their
sun tolerances at about six hours, after which they're cooked.

-paghat the ratgirl
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