Darren wrote:
Greetings all,
Over this past weekend, I bought a small "purple cone flower" plant at
my local nursery to add to my little butterfly garden.
I planted it as per the instructions of the guy at the nursery. I dug
out a small hole, then put the plant in, then filled in with a little
more soil. Then I watered it a little.
The next day, the plant had shriveled up a little, and just didn't
look well.
I had read that you weren't supposed to water them too much.
But, we have had blistering heat here in NY this week, so I though
maybe that was the problem. I felt the leaves and flowers and they
felt very dried out. So, I watered it twice today, and that seemed to
perk up the plant a little.
Any advice on this?
Thanks in advance, as always!

Darren



Even desert plants need water when they are first getting established.
We have a few coneflower (Echinacea) plants in the yard and they get
watered a few times a week, more often when it is very hot. Your plant
might also do well if you provide a little shade in this year's heat.
These self-seed (not excessively) so I'd make sure when the flowers die
that you bend the flower stem so the seeds will fall to the direction
where you want more plants.

gloria p