Purple coneflower wears its name on its sleeve.
Echinacea comes from the Greek word for hedgehog, [2a] a nod to the stiff, spiny scales packed into the flower’s domed center. [2b] What looks like a single bloom is really a composite head: many tiny tubular disk florets in the cone, ringed by drooping, petal-like ray florets of pinkish purple. [2c]
This herbaceous perennial is native to the central and eastern United States [1a] and grows about three to four feet tall. It flowers from early summer into mid-fall [1b] and is a favorite of bees and butterflies. [1c] Its leaves feed the caterpillars of the silvery checkerspot and wavy-lined emerald, [1d, 1e] and American goldfinches pick the seeds from spent cones. [1f] The Chicago Botanic Garden compared 52 coneflower selections side by side in its plant evaluation program. [2]
Give it full sun to partial shade and moist, well-drained loam, though it adapts to many soils. [1g] Once established it tolerates drought, heat, humidity, salt and deer. [1h] Leave some seed heads standing for the birds. [1i] Cut dead stems back only to 12 to 24 inches and leave them standing: native bees nest in the hollow stems. [1j]
