Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

PLANT DESCRIPTION

Plant Size: CP32

Name: Purple Coneflower – Echinacea purpurea

Type: Perennial Flower

Growth Characteristics  Grows up to 3 to 4 feet tall and 1-2 feet wide.  Has pinkish-purple flowers that mature in early summer through mid-fall. Easily propagated by seed, it will reseed itself in the garden.

Hardiness: Climate zone 3-8

Light Requirements: Full to partial sun

Water Needs: More water is needed for this plant when young, but It is drought tolerant once established.

Soil Preference: This plant prefers well-drained, moist loam but is adaptable to various soil types.

DISEASE, PEST AND DEER RESISTANCE

Coneflower is deer, heat, humidity, and salt resistant. Japanese beetles and leaf spot are occasional problems.

SITE CONSIDERATIONS

This is a popular and long-blooming plant for use as a border or in groupings in a native or pollinator garden, meadow, and naturalized areas.

Value to Wildlife and Insects

Its flowers are attractive to bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Songbirds, especially American goldfinches, eat the seeds.

ADDITIONAL FACTS UNIQUE TO THE SPECIES (IF ANY)

This was an important plant to the Native Americans to treat may ailments. Early settlers used the medicinal root for almost any kind of sickness. It became the only native prairie plant commonly used by both doctors and folk practitioners as medicine.