Cone Shaped Flowers

If you’re looking for a way to add height, structure, and a touch of elegance to your garden, consider plants with cone shaped flowers. These graceful and elegant blooms offer a unique form that stands out in any planting scheme.

Their distinctive shape isn’t just beautiful; it’s also highly functional. The conical form is a masterclass in botanical design, perfect for guiding pollinators and holding seeds. From towering spires to delicate clusters, these flowers bring vertical interest and a sophisticated silhouette to borders, containers, and wildflower meadows alike.

This category includes a wonderful variety of plants, both perennials and annuals. Their cone-shaped inflorescences, or flower clusters, are composed of many small individual flowers packed together. This structure creates a stunning visual impact and a reliable food source for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds throughout the season.

Popular Varieties for Your Garden

You have many excellent choices. Here are some of the most beloved cone shaped flowers to grow:

Delphiniums: Known for their majestic, tall spikes in shades of blue, purple, white, and pink. They are a classic cottage garden favorite.
Foxgloves (Digitalis): These biennials produce stunning towers of bell-shaped flowers that fit the conical form. They love partial shade.
Lupines: With their palmate leaves and colorful spikes, lupines fix nitrogen in the soil, making them as useful as they are pretty.
Salvia: Many salvia varieties, like the perennial ‘May Night’, produce dense, cone-like flower spikes that are incredibly long-blooming and drought-tolerant.
Echinacea (Coneflower): While the daisy-like petals are flat, the central cone is prominent and textured, often lasting into winter.
Veronicas (Speedwell): These plants offer slender, elegant spikes in blues, pinks, and whites, perfect for the front or middle of a border.

How to Plant and Grow Them Successfully

Most cone-shaped flowering plants share some common growing needs. Getting these basics right will ensure you get those graceful blooms year after year.

Choosing the Right Location

Sunlight is crucial. The vast majority of these plants thrive in full sun, meaning at least six hours of direct light per day. Some, like foxgloves, prefer partial shade, especially in hotter climates. Always check the specific plant’s tag for its needs.

Soil should be well-draining. Many of these plants, particularly delphiniums and lupines, dislike having wet feet. Amending heavy clay soil with compost is a great idea to improve drainage and fertility.

Planting Steps

Prepare the soil by loosening it to a depth of about 12-15 inches. Mix in a 2-3 inch layer of compost or aged manure.
Dig a hole that is twice as wide as the plant’s root ball and just as deep.
Gently remove the plant from its container and tease the roots if they are pot-bound.
Place the plant in the hole, ensuring the top of the root ball is level with the surrounding soil surface.
Backfill with soil, firm gently, and water thoroughly to settle the roots.

Caring for Your Blooms

Ongoing care is simple but important for keeping your plants healthy and flowering their best.

Watering: Water deeply and regularly during the first growing season to establish roots. Once established, many are quite drought-tolerant. Avoid overhead watering to prevent foliar diseases.
Staking: Tall varieties like delphiniums often need staking early in the season to prevent them from toppling over in wind or rain.
Deadheading: Removing spent flowers encourages more blooms and prevents unwanted self-seeding (unless you want it!). For coneflowers, leaving the cones provides winter interest and food for birds.
Fertilizing: A balanced, slow-release fertilizer applied in early spring is usually sufficient. Avoid high-nitrogen feeds, which can promote leafy growth at the expense of flowers.

Design Tips for Using Cone Shaped Flowers

Their form makes them incredibly versatile in garden design. Here’s how to use them effectively:

Create Vertical Accents: Use them as “thrillers” in container plantings or as exclamation points in garden beds to draw the eye upward.
Layer Your Planting: Place taller varieties like delphiniums at the back of a border, medium-height plants like salvia in the middle, and shorter spikes like veronica at the front.
Combine with Different Forms: Contrast their spiky shape with round flower forms (like roses or peonies), flat-topped clusters (like yarrow), or airy fillers (like ornamental grasses). This creates a dynamic and visually interesting composition.
Monochrome Planting: For a serene and sophisticated look, plant different cone-shaped flowers in shades of one color, such as blues and purples or pinks and whites.

Common Problems and Solutions

Even the best gardeners encounter issues. Here’s a quick guide to troubleshooting.

Flop Over: This is usually due to insufficient sun (plants stretch), rich soil, or lack of support. Ensure full sun and stake tall plants early.
Poor Flowering: To much nitrogen fertilizer or not enough sunlight are the likeliest culprits. Move the plant if its too shady and switch to a bloom-boosting fertilizer (higher phosphorus).
Powdery Mildew: A white fungus on leaves. Improve air circulation, water at the base, and choose resistant varieties. Neem oil can help as a treatment.
Slugs and Snails: They love young delphinium and lupine leaves. Use organic deterrents like crushed eggshells, beer traps, or iron phosphate bait.

Propagating Your Favorites

You can easily increase your stock of these beautiful plants. Many perennials can be divided in early spring or fall. Simply dig up the plant, carefully separate it into smaller sections with healthy roots and shoots, and replant. Others, like foxgloves, readily self-seed if you leave the flower spikes in place.

You can also collect seeds from spent flowers. Let the seed heads dry on the plant, then collect them in a paper bag. Store in a cool, dry place over winter for sowing in spring. Not all hybrids will come true from seed, but its a fun experiment.

FAQ About Cone Shaped Blooms

What are some cone shaped flowers for shade?
Foxgloves and some astilbes (which have feathery, cone-like plumes) are excellent choices for partial to full shade areas.

Are there any red cone shaped flowers?
Yes! Red hot pokers (Kniphofia) have torch-like cones, and many red salvias and penstemons have conical flower clusters.

Which cone flowers are the best for cut flowers?
Delphiniums, snapdragons, and salvias make exceptional cut flowers. Harvest when about one-third of the flowers on the spike are open.

Do deer eat plants with cone shaped flowers?
Many, like salvia, foxglove, and veronica, are considered deer-resistant due to their texture or toxicity. However, deer will eat almost anything if hungry enough.

How long do these plants typically bloom?
It varies. Deadheading can extend the bloom period for many for several weeks. Some, like echinacea and salvia, are known for their very long flowering season from early summer into fall.

Incorporating cone shaped flowers into your garden is a surefire way to add architecture, elegance, and pollinator-friendly beauty. With their range of sizes and colors, there’s a perfect variety for every garden style and condition. By following these simple tips on placement and care, you’ll be rewarded with graceful and elegant blooms that elevate your outdoor space for seasons to come.