Echinacea – Coneflower

Echinacea or Coneflowers are popular perennials with good reason. They are  very easy to grow, have a long bloom time and are heat & drought resistant.  A very important flower for attracting all kinds of pollinators to your garden – bees, butterflies, birds and hummingbirds love Echinacea.   Small Goldfinches and other songbirds are wild about the Echinacea seeds.

These sun-loving perennials were originally only available in pinks to purples.  Such an easy going, hardy perennial surely needed other colours to be created.  Now, these pretty perennials come in a myriad of gorgeous colours in shades of oranges and reds to creamy yellows and even white.  With so many choices, you will definitely find a variety suited to any sunny space in your garden.  And they make lovely cut flowers.

Echinacea are hardy from Zones 3 to 9 and grow from 2-5 feet tall and about 1-1½ feet wide, depending on the variety.  Several dwarf varieties are available with heights of 12 to 14 inches.  They typically prefer a sunny spot requiring at least 6-8 hours of sun per day.  It varies by species, but some may tolerate partial shade.  Echinacea usually blooms between June to late August (sometimes even longer) but bloom time will also vary depending on the variety.

These easy-care perennials require very little maintenance.  You need to water regularly – about an inch per week.  A light layer of compost added in the spring will give these little beauties a great start.  In the fall you can cut them right down to the ground and even that’s optional if you prefer to leave the seed heads. Then they can be cut down in early spring.

Echinacea is a perennial herb native to North America and is one of the world’s most popular herbal supplements.  It is thought that the Great Plain Indigenous peoples first used the plant’s leaves, flowers and roots for medicine.  Many believe that Echinacea helps to boost your immune system and get over colds or flu more quickly. The phenols found in echinacea are antioxidants that help protect your body.