Foliage Friday - Purple Coneflower

Happy Friday! Are you ready for another installment of Foliage Friday? I hope so! It's your friendly plant post; where I talk about a plant I love and hopefully convince you to plant it or be more knowledgeable about it.

Plant: Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea



Why: I dont remember when I fell in love with this plant, but it was a long time ago. It always stuck out in my head as a pretty flower and it was usually the first plant I would think of when I would talk about the prairie. Even today, at my new job, I am surrounded by it and it makes me so very happy. It comes in many cultivars, including a pale purple color. I also grow that one at work. But with technology today, there are red, yellow, and orange cultivars of this plant! My heart will always belong to the purple. :)

Picture: Center of flower


The center of the flower holds its pollen and the bright hues of its petals attract pollinators.

Landscape info: Technically the plant is a prairie flower, and thus can handle a lot of sunlight, heat, and drought without any problem. It is great to plant as a garden border, as it can get 3-4 feet tall. I personally think they would look great against a fence or shed. They do get a little droopy, but that is at full maturity. They are also found in meadows commonly, and quickly make a massive open space appealing. Sadly, they do have a slight problem with Japanese Beetles.

Other uses: For a long time, it was believed that the roots of the coneflower were a good treatment against the common cold. I believe it helps the immune system. However, I did read that not many scientific studies support this anymore. Also, in addition to making an excellent garden border plant, the flowers can be cut and used as a cut vase flower for your kitchen. The blooms last quite awhile!

Fun facts: Looking for a plant that will attract butterflies? This will definitely do that for you. Well, it also attracts bees, but mostly innocent bumble bees. :) The purple coneflower cannot pollinate itself (it is a single sex plant), so it needs bees and other pollinators to exchange pollen in order for its seeds to be fertile. So we like the bees in this case! If you recall, the scientific name starts with "Echinacea." In Greek, that is the word for hedgehog. Take a look at the center of the coneflower to see what I mean!




Some information and pictures from: http://blogs.scottarboretum.org and http://www.mobot.org