Need help with new bed of Purple Cone Flower

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HD28Cat I have cut the sod away in an area next to my pool and I want to plant Eastern Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus') and possibly one or to other things in the area. I have attached a photo of the area.

1. I would like to put down some kind of mulch before planting. I really dont want to do any kind of hardwood. I would like to use something that has a real dark dirt like look. Can I just use peat? or is there something similar that is very dark and cost effective? Also I need something that is not going to be blown into the pool by wind. Seems like maybe peat would be blown pretty easy when its dry. And then I know nothing about how it would affect to soil PH and all that stuff. Another thing I dont want is anything that has a smell. I dont want manure next to the pool :-) I dont think my wife would like that much. Any ideas?

2. Do I need to treat the area with Preen or something similar before planting? I dont want to put down any kind of plastic weed barrier or whatever its called as I want wantever I plant here to be free to spread and fill up the area

3. Any recommendations on what would look nice mixed in with the Eastern Purple Coneflower?

4. Its hard to tell from the photo but the grass area behind the bed is a pretty steep slope droping away from the pool. At the bottom of the slope I have put in Carlcephalum Viburnum and Oakleaf Hydrangeas. I need to decide on what to plant in between the coneflower and these shrubs. I was thinking maybe False Indigo. But it will be down the slope a bit so im not sure it would get tall enough to rise above the coneflower? Any ideas here?

Here is another angle

One more angle

Some plants that I think look good with E. purpurea and have similar requirements are:

Black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Asteraceae/Rudbeckia/hirta/cultivar/0/
Lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Asteraceae/Coreopsis/lanceolata/cultivar/0/
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Asclepiadaceae/Asclepias/tuberosa/cultivar/0/
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Asteraceae/Solidago/none/cultivar/0/

1. The Lowe's near me has bark mulch that's been dyed very dark brown -- would that kind of thing work for you?

3. I give Black-Eyed Susans a giant thumbs-up! We just moved into a house where for five years, the owners mowed the lawn and that's it -- they didn't touch any of the flower beds. The Susans not only survived, they re-seeded all over and they are gorgeous! However, I'll bet they have a similar bloom time to the Coneflowers. Check on the bloom time for 'Magnus'; you might want to make sure you mix in some flowers that bloom earlier in the spring or later in the fall, to keep things interesting.

OK, so in this picture I tried to kind of generaly draw the areas where I want different plants. We are trying to make this a very showy area next to the pool so I need something that will be colorful for most of the swimming season. I'm in zone 6

So Im thinking of puting coneflower in areas marked A but I think it may be to tall. I'm starting to think that I would like for this area to be no more than 30 inches tall.

What I need is something smaller 12-18 inches or so that would look good in areas marked B and some smaller, creeping type something for areas marked C. I would like something that will come out over the edge of the concrete. Any ideas?

Also, FWIW, the Nandina that can be seen at the far end of the area is going to be moved so this area will actually extend all the way to the fence.

I am thinking about copying this over to the landscaping forum. Is it a no no on DG to put the same post on different forums? Forgive me for my newby-ness




This message was edited Apr 28, 2008 5:58 PM