Echinacea 'Tomato Soup' Play pronunciation

Echinacea 'Tomato Soup'  is a hybrid coneflower cultivar developed from the cross between the yellow Echinacea paradoxa and the purple-pink Echinacea purpurea ‘Ruby Giant’. This herbaceous perennial has large, bright red flowers and blooms in the late spring to late summer. Each flower is up to 5 inches in diameter, with a rounded, yellowish-brown center cone and drooping red-orange rays. Its leaves are yellowish-green and lance-shaped. The plant grows 2 to 3 feet tall and equally as wide with an upright, clumping habit. The Echinacea 'Tomato Plant' plant was granted PP19427 in 2008 and was developed by Terra Nova Nurseries. The genus Echinacea is a member of the daisy family (Asteraceae).

Coneflower 'Tomato Soup' does best in full sun but will tolerate partial shade and prefers moist to dry soils.  Like its parent plants, it is very tolerant of many conditions, including drought, dry soil, heat, humidity, poor soil, rocky soil, and deer. Deadheading is recommended for continued reblooming. The blooms attract pollinators, and during the winter, birds use the spent flowerheads as a food source. Since this plant is legally patented, it can not be propagated. 

The plant's roots are fibrous. Its stems are yellowish-green, ascending, branching, and strigose (having stiff hairs) with a terminal flower. It has basal and stem leaves, and the bright, red blooms have a lovely, floral scent, and each bloom lasts about 2 weeks.

The brilliantly red flowers will cheer up your landscape as a border, in a group, or mass planting. Consider adding this plant as an accent or specimen.

Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No serious insect or disease problems. Monitor for Japanese beetles and eriophyid mites. All coneflowers are susceptible to a viral-like disease known as aster yellows and to fungal and bacterial leaf spots.