Plant File : Echinacea

Echinacea purpurea in the Kitchen Garden at Gravetye Manor

Echinacea,

from the Greek echinos which apparently refers to a hedgehog.

Which here is referring to the involucre and is also why Echinops is so called along with all the Cactus types from Echinocactus to Echinopsis.

Species

In more recent publications the number of species has been thinned out to just four species with some of what were previously considered species being changed to variations. However here I am going to stick with the previous nine species.

1. E. angustifolia – Narrow Leaf
2. E. atrorubens – Dark Red
3. E. laevigata – Smooth
4. E. pallida – Pale
5. E. paradoxa – Paradox/Strange (Strange because its yellow not purple or white)
6. E. purpurea – You guessed it! (Purple, just for clarity)
7. E. sanguinea – Blood red
8. E. serotina – Flowers late
9. E. tennesseensis – Tennessee

Native to North America it inhabits open woodlands and prairies. Whilst this does tell you they prefer full sun they will tolerate some light shade. They also have a preference for ‘poor’ soils that are well drained so sand, chalk or loam.

They can be great mid to late Summer Flowerers which if dead headed will keep on going. You can propagate by seed or root cutting and also by my favourite method of division (free plants!).

Echinacea purpurea along the path of the Kitchen garden at Gravetye.

Most Echinacea tend to be between 80cm and 100cm with a spread of about 50cm. They look great when the flowers are popping up above grasses.

Plant with: Achillea, Aster, Helenium, Miscanthus sinensis, Monarda, Verbena bonariensis, Schizachyrium scoparium, Eryngium yuccifolium, Artemisia.