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Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea Purpurea) are drought tolerant natives to the midwestern and southeastern United States. Coneflowers are great for naturalizing in borders, wildflower gardens, roadside prairies, and meadows. They self seed, or plants can be divided at the roots.
The large showy blooms are great for flower arrangements. Purple Coneflowers also have many herbal uses. Including immune booster, good for your skin, and toothaches, just to name a few. Because Purple Coneflowers are harvested so extensively for their medicinal and herbal uses they are at risk of being over-dug in the wild. The roots are harvested on three to four year plants, and it takes several years for a new seedling to catch up.
Purple Coneflowers will help attract birds, bees, and butterflies to your woodland garden. They are spectacular when paired with Black-Eyed-Susans. Both plants have beautiful showy blooms, and the color contrast between the Purple Coneflowers, and the yellow Black-Eyed-Susans is stunning.
Coneflowers suffer from very few pests, but Japanese beetles are a serious threat, and during damp, humid summers plants can develop leaf spots. Mature plants are 2-3 feet tall, and bloom during June to October, depending on the area.
