Echinacea purpurea

Echinacea purpurea: The Prairie Original Everyone Copied

Everybody's first coneflower, and still the one the butterflies like best. Rose-purple petals around a spiny orange cone, on a plant that takes clay, drought and deer like it's a regular workday. THE ORIGINAL, AND STILL UNDEFEATED.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Echinacea purpurea
• Common Name: Purple Coneflower
• Height: 60–120 cm (2–4 ft)
• Spread: 45–60 cm (18–24 in)
• Flowers: Rose-pink to purple-pink petals, spreading to slightly drooping, around a raised, spiny orange-brown cone
• Bloom Time: Midsummer to early fall (July to September)
• Foliage: Coarse, dark green, lance-shaped leaves in an upright clump
• Features: Seeds feed goldfinches, tolerates clay

Where to Plant: Plant it in the middle of a sunny border, in cottage gardens, meadows, pollinator patches and rain-garden edges that dry out in summer, where it can be the backbone of a prairie-style planting. It is tough enough for boulevard beds and hot, sunny city lots, and it tolerates clay.

Companion Plants: Build a classic sunny prairie bed around purple coneflower, with every plant happy in dry, well-drained soil. Allium 'Gladiator' opens lilac-purple globes at 90 to 120 cm in May and June, before the coneflowers start. Salvia 'Violet Profusion' adds violet-blue spikes at 36 to 41 cm from June to August. Vernonia 'Summer's Swan Song' brings dark purple ironweed at 75 to 90 cm in September and October, after the coneflowers peak. Schizachyrium 'Little Red Fox' grows to 60 to 75 cm and turns red and copper in fall.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun, or part sun with at least six hours of light, in average, well-drained soil. It tolerates clay and poor soil. Water regularly the first season, then only during long droughts. Deadhead for more flowers, or leave the seed heads for winter interest and the birds. Cut stems back in early spring. It self-seeds gently in open soil, which most gardeners welcome. Divide crowded clumps in spring every four years or so.

History: Purple coneflower is native to the prairies, open woods and meadows of central and eastern North America, from the Great Lakes south to the Gulf states. Indigenous peoples used its roots as medicine, and nearly every modern garden coneflower has this species somewhere in its family tree.

Final Thoughts: Leave the seed heads standing and the goldfinches will visit all winter. CLASSIC NEVER NEEDS A COMEBACK TOUR.