White Swan Coneflower: A Pollinator-Friendly Classic
A Long-blooming Perennial with White Flowers
White Swan coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’) is a garden showstopper, flaunting bold, daisy-like white blooms with elegant drooping petals and a striking greenish-orange cone.
This hardy perennial thrives in zones 3-9 and delivers a long-lasting floral display from June to September. A magnet for butterflies, bees, and other pollinators, it keeps the garden buzzing with life.
As summer fades, the petals drop, but the seed-packed cones stand tall, offering a feast for finches and adding winter interest to the landscape. Easy to grow and effortlessly beautiful, White Swan is a must-have for any pollinator-friendly garden!
White Swan coneflower has a long season of bloom. Image courtesy of Ball Horticultural Company.
How To Plant and Grow White Swan Coneflower
Sunlight: White Swan coneflower thrives in full sun to part shade - read “Full Sun to Part Shade Definition” to make sure you are correctly measuring the amount of light in your landscape.
Soil: Plant in moist, well-draining soil. Good drainage is crucial to prevent root rot! Coneflower is adaptable to most soil types but will not tolerate wet, soggy soil.
Watering: Keep the soil consistently moist during the first growing season to help your plants get established. Once established, coneflowers are relatively drought-tolerant but may still need water during times of extreme heat or drought. For help with determining your watering schedule, read “How to Water your Plants”, and be sure to keep an eye on the US Drought Monitor map to monitor your local conditions.
Spacing: White Swan coneflowers should be spaced 18 to 24 inches on center (18-24 inches from the center of one plant to the center of the next plant). Try this handy plant calculator to determine the number of plants required for your garden.
Mulching: Apply a layer of organic mulch around the plants to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and moderate soil temperature.
Fertilizing: Coneflowers generally do not require fertilization. Applying a layer of compost or Leaf-gro® around the plants, in springtime, will enrich the soil structure, improve drainage, and support plant health.
Is White Swan Coneflower Deer-Resistant?
Yes, White Swan coneflowers are considered deer-resistant. According to Rutgers University’s List of Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance, deer seldom cause severe damage to echinacea, including the White Swan variety.
However, no plant is completely deer-proof! 😞 When food is scarce, hungry deer may still nibble on them. To further protect your coneflowers, consider covering young plants with physical barriers like chicken wire cloches, or planting them alongside more strongly scented plants that deer tend to avoid like rosemary or onions.
A butterfly visits a meadow planting of White Swan coneflower, purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum).
Landscaping Ideas for White Swan Coneflower
Use White Swan coneflower in a border or foundation planting, or plant in a container garden. White Swan Coneflowers are a great choice for cutting gardens - the cut flowers are beautiful and long lasting in a vase.
Plant in large drifts in a butterfly or pollinator garden, or plant in mass in an open, sunny spot (space 18-24 inches apart). Combine with grasses for a naturalistic meadow planting, or plant in the partial shade of a woodland garden.
White Swan coneflower looks particularly elegant next to silver-leaved plants, such as lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina ‘Helen von Stein’) and Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia).
If you are looking to cut down on the square footage of your lawn, create a garden bed in a sunny, open spot with drifts of White Swan coneflower, purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Caradonna Salvia (Salvia nemarosa ‘Caradonna’), ‘Autumn Joy’ stonecrop (Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’), Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivanti ‘Goldsturm’), and Maryland dwarf holly (Ilex opaca ‘Maryland Dwarf’). You will have four seasons of interest, attract birds, bees and butterflies, and have less lawn to mow and fertilize.
Other great planting companion ideas for White Swan coneflower are blazing star (Liatris spicata ‘Kobold’), bee balm (Monarda species), giant hyssop (Agastache species), Switchgrass (Panicum species), and broomsedge (Andropogon species).
A mixed border planting of White Swan Coneflower, ‘Mystic Spires Blue’ salvia, grasses, and Limelight hydrangeas.
More Planting Companion Ideas for White Swan Coneflower
Blazing star (Liatris spicata ‘Kobold’)
Slender Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium)
Eastern Bee Balm (Monarda bradburiana)
Creme Caramel™ Tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata ‘Creme Caramel’™)
Husker Red Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’)
Firefly Peach Sky Yarrow (Achillea ‘Firefly Peach Sky’)
Rainbow Marcella Coneflower (Echinacea Butterfly™ ‘Rainbow Marcella’)
Hubricht’s Bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii)
Jacob Cline Bee Balm (Mondarda ‘Jacob Cline’)
David Tall Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata ‘David’)
Heavy Metal Blue Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’)
What is Wrong With My White Swan Coneflower?
Japanese beetles feed on coneflower leaves and leave behind a lacey pattern of holes, with only the leaf veins remaining. Knocking the beetles off the plant, into a soapy container of water, is an effective solution for getting rid of these unwelcome pests.
Bacterial leaf spot causes brownish-black spots and wilted flowers, and can be prevented by avoiding overcrowded plantings and aiming hose spray towards the roots and soil underneath the plants, not the leaves.
Coneflowers can also fall victim to the aster yellows disease, a plant pathogen that affects members of the daisy family (Asteraceae) and is transmitted by leafhopper insects.
This fungal infection causes distorted flowers and stunted growth, and the plant becomes weak and frail. Unfortunately, there is no treatment for plants with aster yellows and infected plants should be removed immediately.
Coneflower rosette mite is a new and emerging problem for coneflowers, and the symptoms can look similar to the aster yellows. Mites living deep inside the plant feed on flowers and stems, causing stunted and distorted growth.
Affected flowers should be cut off and disposed of immediately, taking care not to spread the mites to other parts of the plant or garden.
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