Product Description
Echinacea purpurea and its growing family of cultivars are the true anchors of most sunny borders because they have large flowers, bright colors, ornamental seed heads, a very long flowering period, minimum pests, make a great cut flower, are low maintenance, and last but not least, are extraordinary pollinators for monarchs and songbirds.
‘Ruby Star‘ is an improved popular variety over 'Magnus' and offers a more intense carmine-red color, horizontal and shorter flower petals that do not droop, and wider copper-orange central disk. The flower color fades with age and petals droop slightly. Great cut flower when in bloom or the early stages of seed development.
The best perennial combinations include many border perennials; due to it’s rough structure it looks very good with more finely-structured grasses. This nativar can still be planted in both drier, drained soils or in medium-moist / heavier soils. Easy-to-grow perennial for any sunny border or half sun. It looks awesome in prairie style borders, conventional flower beds, public spaces and gardens, small private gardens, cottage gardens, and rain gardens. The possibilities of use and combinations are nearly never-ending.
With native perennials: Agastache, Aster, Asclepias (tuberosa, sullivantii, purpurascens), Baptisia, Eupatorium, Eryngium, Gaura, Helenium, Monarda, Phlox, Rudbeckia, Solidago, Veronicastrum, or native prairie grasses like Adropogon gerardii, Eragrostis spectabilis, Panicum virgatum, Schizachyrium scoparium, Sporobolus heterolepis, etc. Unforgettable combinations with non-native perennials include Eryngium, Echinops, hardy Geranium, Hemerocallis, Kniphophia, Origanum, Perovskia, and grasses like Pennisetum.
If you like annuals, combine it with single-colored cultivars of Cleome, Cosmos, Zinnia or Verbena bonariensis, or annual grasses like Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' and others.
'Ruby Star' won an Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society and was announced the Cut Flower of the Year 2006 in North America.
Blooming Time: June to August
Size: 40-42" tall x 18" wide
USDA Zones: 4 to 9
Culture: sun, half sun, average soil, clay soil, loam, rocky soil, drained soils
Moisture Needs: medium, medium-dry, drought tolerant once established
Origin: This is seed line cultivar introduced by German seed company Jelitto in 2000. Botanical species (wild form) can be found in Eastern North America, native to moist prairies, meadows and open woods, woodland edges of the central to southeastern United States (Ohio to Michigan to Iowa south to Louisiana and Georgia). Quite uncommon in nature, but easily available on the market.
Deer/Rabbit Resistant: yes/yes
Attracts Butterflies or Pollinators: monarch plant and true pollinator magnet for native bees, honey bees, butterflies and skippers seek the nectar. Caterpillars of the Silvery Checkerspot Butterfly and several moths feed on the foliage and flowers.
Attracts Hummingbirds: yes. Attracts little song birds and goldfinch feed on the seeds.
Pot Size: 3.5" x 4" perennial pot (1.22 pt/580 ml)