What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 27: purple coneflower

This is one of my favorite plants. I’ve had it in my gardens for 20+ years. Turns out it’s both native and a pollinator, so I have a nice patch in my front bed. The bees and butterflies love it, as so the goldfinches!

This is the first flower of the season, should pop in the next week.

I put in three in my terraced bed last fall, but they’re in an area the dogs tend to run through when going from front to back, so they didn’t grow much before winter hit and while they’ve come up this spring, they are much smaller than the mature front bed plants are. 

I hope they can gain some ground this season - once they’re big enough for the dogs to recognize as a garden plant, they’ll start to steer around them, and that empty space will be full!

These plants will multiply - I left room for that to happen in both beds and now the front patch is very thick. Hoping that next year I’ll have more in the terraced bed.

More info:

Cressler, Alan 

Echinacea purpurea

Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench

Eastern Purple Coneflower, Purple Coneflower

Asteraceae (Aster Family)

Synonym(s): Brauneria purpurea, Echinacea purpurea var. arkansana, Rudbeckia purpurea

USDA Symbol: ecpu

USDA Native Status: L48 (N), CAN (I)

A popular perennial with smooth, 2-5 ft. stems and long-lasting, lavender flowers. Rough, scattered leaves that become small toward the top of the stem. Flowers occur singly atop the stems and have domed, purplish-brown, spiny centers and drooping, lavender rays. An attractive perennial with purple (rarely white), drooping rays surrounding a spiny, brownish central disk. 

The genus name is from the Greek echinos, meaning hedgehog, an allusion to the spiny, brownish central disk. The flowers of Echinacea species are used to make an extremely popular herbal tea, purported to help strengthen the immune system; an extract is also available in tablet or liquid form in pharmacies and health food stores. Often cultivated, Purple Coneflower is a showy, easily grown garden plant.