Add A Little Gravel To Your Soil When Growing Coneflowers & Watch Them Thrive

With their iconic bright blooms and charm, coneflowers (Echinacea) are beloved by gardeners across the country. Appearing in a range of colors from sunset oranges to striking pinks, there are so many stunning varieties of coneflowers you can bring into your yard. However, as with any of our favorite blooms, coneflowers have preferences when it comes to growing. They thrive in well-drained soil, and there are steps you can take to ensure that the soil is ideal for them. When you plant your coneflowers in your garden, adding gravel to the soil beforehand will assist with drainage and promote healthy flowers. Pea gravel is the best type to use for this, and you can purchase a bag of it from many garden and home stores. 

As coneflowers are perennials, ensuring that the soil you are planting them in is well-prepared will enhance their lifespan and allow them to thrive in the same location year after year. When transplanting coneflowers into garden beds, dig a hole with a width that is twice the depth of the container that the coneflowers are currently in, and then add compost and pea gravel to the hole and work it into the soil. Then carefully place your coneflower into the space and fill in any gaps.

Adding gravel to flower beds is a neat trick to help your coneflowers flourish. But that doesn't mean you should be adding gravel into every soil in every pot and bed in your garden! It's an excellent addition to certain soils, such as soils high in clay, that are naturally very poor at drainage. Adding the gravel can open up pathways for the water to flow, and therefore, lower the chances of waterlogging. However, if your garden beds already have soil with great drainage, adding gravel could be wasteful or have unwanted effects. You may want to test the drainage of your soil before mixing in gravel to ensure that it is necessary. 

If you are growing your coneflowers in containers, the jury is still out on whether adding rocks and gravel to the bottom of your planters is a good idea. Some experts suggest that adding gravel to containers can actually do more harm than good, as the water may find it difficult to move through the soil and gravel in such a small space. This can ultimately cause the issues that you want to avoid, and your coneflowers may end up sitting in water. If you do decide to add gravel to your coneflowers' soil, keep an eye on the health of your plants. Watch out for signs of root rot and overwatering, and act fast if you see them suffering.