ECHINACEA PURPLE CONE FLOWER 50 SEEDS

Echinacea purpurea

A popular perennial with smooth. stems and long-lasting, lavender flowers. Rough, scattered leaves that become small toward the top of the stem. Flowers occur singly atop the stems and have domed, purplish-brown, spiny centers and drooping, lavender rays. An attractive perennial with purple (rarely white), drooping rays surrounding a spiny, brownish central disk.

One of the very best for attracting butterflies, growing echinacea, or the purple cone flower adds a flashy touch of color to the late summer landscape. Perennial, 90cm tall.

 Grows well in full sun or light shade and blooms heavily from summer through to autumn. Will tolerate clay soils but thrives in well-drained average soils. Tolerates heat and drought.

 Echinacea is easy to grow from  seed. Sow in containers (see our Plastic Seedling Trays) in spring or autumn. Seeds will germinate in 10-20 days. Transplant when large enough to handle. Flowers reliably the first year from seed if sown early and requires very little fertilizer once established. Remove the spent flowers, or use them as cuttings in flower arrangements, to extend the flowering season. Cut plants to the ground in late winter after flower have gone to seed.

The genus name is from the Greek echino, meaning hedgehog, an allusion to the spiny, brownish central disk. The flowers of Echinacea species are used to make an extremely popular herbal tea, purported to help strengthen the immune system; an extract is also available in tablet or liquid form in pharmacies and health food stores. Often cultivated, Purple Coneflower is a showy, easily grown garden plant.

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