The Tomato Soup Coneflower, otherwise known as the Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 is a pretty well known perennial plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and moderate growth, this perennial will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, taking care of your Tomato Soup Coneflower is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Tomato Soup Coneflower Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
In order to take proper care of your Tomato Soup Coneflower you’ll need to keep in mind the following guidelines:
- Water: The Tomato Soup Coneflower needs you to wait for the top 2″-3″ to dry before watering when it’s potted. Water sparingly when growing in the landscape.
- Light: Keep your Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 in an environment where it can receive full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Tomato Soup Coneflower in soil with well-draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of sand, chalk, and loam.
That’s it – sunlight, water and soil! The basic 3 fundamentals for all plant care, and with the Tomato Soup Coneflower this is no exception. With these three elements, your leafy friend will live healthy and happy.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Tomato Soup Coneflower belongs to the Asteraceae family, and the genus Echinacea, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 (ek-in-AY-shee-a).
As with other Echinacea’s, the Tomato Soup Coneflower is a herbaceous plant, which means it will die back to the ground every year.
Growing Region
The Tomato Soup Coneflower is a plant native to the Hybrid origin.
As a rule of thumb, we recommend to always keep in mind your plants’ native region and environment, since these are the conditions that your Tomato Soup Coneflower is most accustomed to, thus where it can most favorably.
With this in mind, the Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 will be most used to the heat zones in the 1 – 9 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 3a, 3b, 4b, 4a, 5b, 5a, 6b, 6a, 7a, 7b, 8b, 8a and the ideal climate zone is between 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, A2, A3.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Tomato Soup Coneflower is a relatively moderate grower, which makes things somewhat easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But, how big does the Tomato Soup Coneflower actually get? What should you expect in terms of size? Let’s dive right in…
The Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 can grow up to 2′ – 3′ (60cm – 90cm) in 2′ – 3′ (60cm – 90cm) and 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm) in 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm).
These dimensions make the Tomato Soup Coneflower a relatively medium perennial compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 18″ (45cm) free so the Tomato Soup Coneflower can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Tomato Soup Coneflower is a fairly complicated plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a not so straightforward watering schedule and somewhat irregular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 needs you to wait for the top 2″-3″ to dry before watering when it’s potted. Water sparingly when growing in the landscape.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively low needs in terms of water.
Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Tomato Soup Coneflower in soil with well-draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, moist, and occasionally dry properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
In our experience, the famous ‘thumb’ or ‘finger’ test is what works best for the Tomato Soup Coneflower since with it, you will be able to give it the right amount of water, every time – regardless of the environment or placement where you do decide to keep it.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Tomato Soup Coneflower prefers to have soil with good drainage, moist, and occasionally dry properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand, chalk, and loam.
This is why most experts agree that the Tomato Soup Coneflower requires soil with clay, loam (silt), sand, and shallow rocky, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably alkaline, acid or neutral soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Tomato Soup Coneflower requires full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this perennial will do well as long as you keep it in full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 in little to partial shade (only 2-6 hours of direct sunlight a day), to full and direct sun (more 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being a herbaceous plant, the Tomato Soup Coneflower will die back to the ground every year.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the summer (early, mid, late).
Flowers
You can expect your Tomato Soup Coneflower to flower around the spring and in the summer months from April to June (spring), and from July to September (summer).
In particular, this perennial is well known for its fragrant, flowers for cutting and showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Tomato Soup Coneflower produces some beautiful red, or gold/yellow, brown/copper and red/burgundy flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Tomato Soup Coneflower have a beautiful green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a simple arrangement with a opposite organization in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 to be around (> 6 inches) in size.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Tomato Soup Coneflower is well known for being able to attract butterflies, birds and hummingbirds, so keep that in mind when choosing your plant, as you’ll likely end up finding one or another in your garden.
Additionally, it has a special tolerance for rocky soil, dry soil, clay soil, drought and animals like deer, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 will be fine.
Garden
Now, let’s talk garden and how your Tomato Soup Coneflower will look best in it.
Most Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ Plant Patent #19,427 owners agree that this perennial will look great in most cottage and rustic gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of informal and cottage, and in prairie and meadow styles.
In particular, the Tomato Soup Coneflower’s best location within your garden is in beds and borders, others use it for landscaping in a cutting garden, border, container, or a mass planting.
Companion Plants
Tomato Soup Coneflower’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Salvia, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Geum will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
Even though we covered a lot of care information for your Tomato Soup Coneflower, remember the basics: sunlight, soil and water, as these should be enough to grow a healthy plant at home.
