Echinacea or Purple Coneflower


Echinacea or Purple Coneflower
Of all the possible flowers to grow in your butterfly garden, I would have to refer to the Purple Coneflower as the queen of the garden. Butterflies love this one, and it is one of the easiest perennial plants to care for. Echinacea purpurea "Magnus" was voted Perennial Plant of the Year in 1998. This plant can be successfully grown in Zones 3-8, in full to partial sun, in any well drained garden soil. This plant is drought tolerant, once established. Add to all this, the ease of propagation, and you have perhaps the best all around perennial for your garden. Grow from seeds, cuttings, division. Easy to grow from seeds. There are several varieties, many of which grow in my garden.
	Echinacea purpurea more commonly known as the purple coneflower grows 2-3 feet tall. Bristle tips of flower tips is orange. Delicious fragrance of honey. Leaves are oval and coarsely toothed. Rays from purple to white (White Swan) drooping. Bees love it too!.
	White Swan is identical to the purple coneflower, only the rays are white.
	Echinacea angustifolia has lance shaped leaves to 20 inches. Flowers with prominent cone shaped disk surrounded by pale to deep purple spreading rays. Same wonderful honey-like smell.
	"Magnus" the 1998 Perennial Plant of the Year, the difference is the color of the cone, deep magenta, and the petals do not droop.
	Black Swallowtail on "Magnus"

	Cabbage White on Narrow Leaved Purple Coneflower.