Commonly called ‘Purple coneflower’, echinacea is a member of the daisy family. Wonderful herbaceous, drought tolerant perennial chaps whom are endemic in East and central North America. They grow to 140cm high and have non branching stems. The generic name Echinacea is rooted in the Greek word ἐχῖνος (echinos), meaning hedgehog it references the spiky appearance and feel of the flower heads.
It is a well held belief that our friend the echinacea plant will ward off infection and various studies have proven this to be the case. This included a test carried out by the European Medicines Agency.
As a cut flower it has to be one of the greats. It lasts well in the vase and is a great late summer entrant to the games. Try it with Black Eyed Susan.
Plant it in medium to poor soil, with good drainage in full sun and all your echinacea dreams will come true. I dead head ours and prune back lightly in the Autumn.
I’d be interested to hear if anyone has experience of using echinacea for cold and flu bashing and with what results.
Ranners and his pontificating penguin.
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[…] you liked this post why not explore the world of the Scabiosa…or Echinacea? This entry was posted in Garden Flowers, Our Top 50 Annual Flowers. Bookmark the permalink. […]
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November 25, 2010 @ 7:33 pm
[…] Echinacea is a plant we love at Higgledy for a plethora of reasons and we’ve written about it several times before. An abundance of flowers from midsummer through till the first frosts…great stuff. Again a fantastic plant for attracting butterflies into your garden. We think it goes really well with Yarrow in a vase and should last at least a week in the vase. Loads of new varieties and colours becoming available, but we like the purple vibe. Image credit, Wisdom of the Elders. (oli?) […]
Cut Flower. Rudbeckia | Higgledy Garden
October 30, 2010 @ 5:07 pm
[…] Susan is the ‘Mummy’, swimmingly cheerful and bright and long lasting. Looks great with Echinacea. A hands down winner. We at Higgledy will have more growing in the spring than you could shake a […]