Coneflowers

I took this picture of some coneflowers at the edge of my garden a couple weeks ago. I was surprised how early they bloomed! I'm grateful, too, because my cucurbits always do better once the coneflowers bloom and start bringing in lots of bees. (There are blossoms on my cucumbers and on the spaghetti squash I planted out front, so I'm hoping the bees get the message and start showing up soon.)

The first couple years we lived in our house were very dry, and since I didn't know what was planted where I didn't do a very good job taking care of things. These beauties are tough to shake, though. Since my neglect presumably killed off most of their competitors they have been spreading through all my sunny flowerbeds.

Coneflowers do look kind of like weeds until they start to bloom, IMHO, but their long blooming season and tolerance for the local climate more than make up for it. I have decided that I don't care for coneflower seed heads, but I think I cut them too early last year, because they didn't spread as much as I expected. This year I'll give them more time to shed their seeds.