Mexican Hat / Ratibida columnifera

Ratibida columnifera 'Mexican Hat' Prairie Coneflower - these are gone now

From High Country Gardens in Spring 2018 (added more in 2019 and 2020)
> Also got a few 'Red Midget' smaller ones from Bluestone Perennials but I'm not sure any still survive

> Also got a few yellow ones from Newman's in fall 2020 and put them in the driveway strip.

In 2021 I added a few more red ones to make a fuller stand, but by late June the original ones had filled out amazingly well.

Photos

Expectations:

Foliage is feathery and the flowers are a deep velvety red and funny. They can form big dense stands and they self seed.

There is a big clump of these at Dancing Ground Park.

The flowers are very photogenic and they show up well from a distance. Few sources mention any fragrance, but boy are these sweet and lovely smelling!

Experiences:

The red Mexican Hats were at the gate in the kitchen courtyard fronting the butterfly bush, but are gone as of 2022.

June 24, 2021

I moved them there in spring 2020 after originally planting them in the potting bench curve in too much shade. Love these.

In the early years they were spindly and seemed to need a lot of water, but by the time they establish they can take dry conditions. 

Mine were tall and floppy -- in truly dry, hot, sunny areas they are short, sturdy plants, just as colorful. 

I don't think any of the dwarf Red Midget variety survived transplant into the kitchen courtyard garden.

The yellow Mexican Hats were planted along the driveway strip against the fence. There is absolutely no room for a stand there, I will have to keep them as single specimen plants if  I can.

The stand of red Mexican hats were spectacular in 2021, but the following year they struggled. They really are a prairie plant that needs a lot of room.

In my tidy small garden, the clump's feathery foliage looked weedy. I loved the flowers, but the plant belongs in a bigger space to spread out on its own with hotter drier conditions.