When will my echinacea come up?

[will]

I grew my first echinacea last year.

I believe it is a herbaceous perrenial and was wondering if anyone knows when I should expect it to return?

[Neil Bromhall]

Hi Will,
Echinacea are herbaceous plants and will start to show signs of life when the weather warms up.
If you have rabbits in your area it might be a good idea to place chicken wire over the new shots to stop them being eaten.
Rabbits tend not to eat the foliage once the plant has reached about 6 inches tall. You can then remove the wire.
When your plant reaches a suitable size you can split it in the autumn or early sping to make several plants.
Which type have you got? There are very attractive deep pink and also white varieties.
I saved the seeds from last year and I'm trying to grow them. No signs of life yet though.

[will]

By "when the weather warms up." do you mean late march early april kind of thing?

It seemed quite warm last week to me!

If so I will stop "the wife" trying to plant something else where they are. It just looks like a bit of an empty space to her.

[will]

P.S. that's a beautiful photo.

[Flower]

My Echinacea are showing sign of growth. I have light green 5cm leafy shoots shoots appearing.
I'd be rather surprised if yours do not appear soon as they are quite tough plants. The other possibility is mine have started growing because I live in a town where the ambient temperature is warmer compared to where you live.

I would give them another month before you start digging around.

Neil

[will]

Mine are also in a part of the garden which does not get warmed up by direct sunlight for another couple of months.