Echinacea, Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Regular price $19.95Echinacea, also known as Purple Coneflower, is a perennial herb with beautiful eye-catching purple flowers that give the plant it's name. It is a great plant for attracting pollinating insects like bees and butterflies!
A member of the Daisy family of plants, Echinacea purpurea is native to North America, specifically the Eastern portion of the continent along the Appalachian Mountain range, in the Ozarks, and in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys respectively. It can be found nestled in dry open woods, prairies, and barren fields. This is a gorgeous native plant that is great for any garden from the eastern seaboard to the west coast.. Grow your own and enjoy the natural beauty of America's most impressive wild flora at home!
The plant is both a beautiful ornamental as well as a respected and revered medicinal herb. Generally both the flowers and leaves are harvested when plants first begin to bloom. The roots as well can be harvested in the fall for medicinal purpose. It contains polysaccahrides, glycoproteins, and caffeic acid analogues that help promote an overall immune system boosting effect. Like similar plants in it's family, the Purple Coneflower can be used externally as a poultice for bug bites, sunburn, and skin rashes.
Plant Type:
Perennial Herb, often grown as a Perennial or Annual
Harvest Season:
Year-round
Mature Size:
Up to 2-4 ft tall and 1-3 ft wide
Coneflowers are clumping plants. One plant will tend to get larger, but it will not spread and overtake the garden via roots or rhizomes. Mature size depends on variety. Because Echinacea establish deep taproots, you need to plant them where you want them. They do not like to be moved once established.
Soil & Moisture:
Rich, well-draining soil. Drought tolerant once established. Very tolerant of poor soil conditions, but they perform best in soil that’s rich so mix in organic matter if needed. Echinacea is a low-water plant; however, you’ll need to water young plants to help them establish new roots. That is usually a sequence of every day or every other day right after planting, moving to a couple of times per week, to once per week, to every other week, to watering only when your area is experiencing extreme drought. The second year after planting and beyond you should not have to water Echinacea at all unless you’ve gone eight weeks or more without rain.
Light Requirements:
Full Sun, Part Shade
Echinacea thrives in full to partial sun. Plants need at least four hours of sunlight per day. The plants grow natively along the edges of woodlands, so they will thrive in spots with morning shade and afternoon sun or vice versa.
Self-Fertile:
Yes
Growth Rate:
Fast, Medium
Zone Hardiness:
Outdoors 3-9; Patio/Greenhouse 4+
Can easily be grown as an annual in Zones 9-11.
Propagation:
Our Echinacea is grown from seed and is capable of flowering and harvesting within the growing season.
