Pest battle with Purple Coneflower — and how I won

I had a serious problem with rabbits and slugs targeting young seedlings on my Purple Coneflower earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate naturalistic aesthetic that suits modern ecological gardens, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a wildlife pond margin planting and improved my attention to sowing directly into poor soil as rich soil encourages weeds. peak flowering from early to midsummer was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.