Another Perfect Plant: Spotlight on the New Pike Street Hill Climb Plantings

Land Morphology’s redesign of the Hill Climb’s plantings features many colorful perennials.  Today’s Another Perfect Plant features Echinacea ‘Balsomador’ Sombrero Adobe Orange.  It’s already brightening the corridor between the market and the waterfront.

Newly planted Echinacea ‘Balsomador’ Sombrero Adobe Orange on the Pike St. Hill Climb

Advances in plant breeding have added many new color options to the classic red/pink of Echinacea purpurea, the purple coneflower. An American native and a staple in the perennial border, coneflowers are long lasting, floriferous plants that like full sun and not a lot of competition from other plants. The Sombrero series, bred by Ball Seed, is developing shorter, stockier plants with longer bloom times in a diversity of colors – red, orange, peach, yellow, and white. Adobe Orange is a complex hybrid between Echinacea purpurea and E. paradoxa. As a hybrid it tends to be either self-incompatible or totally infertile. With the proper licensing, plants can be propagated through tissue culture or division - rarely do they come true from seed.

References:
University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service
Plant Delights
Ball Seed

Photo reference:
Rotary Botanical Gardens Horticulture Blog