Ornamental · Asteraceae
Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
Settle it into full sun and lean, well-drained soil and purple coneflower will bloom for you from early summer into fall.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 3–8
2–4 ft · 0.6–1.2 m
Overview
Purple coneflower is a tough, sun-loving perennial in the daisy family, and it comes from the prairies and open woods of eastern North America. It sends up sturdy stems crowned with rosy-purple petals that ring a raised, bristly cone, and the good news is that it returns a little bigger each year. Hardy through USDA zones 3 to 8, it takes cold winters and hot, dry summers in stride, so you have plenty of room for mistakes.
Few flowers give back the way this one does, and you will see that quickly. The blooms carry on from early summer well into fall, bringing bees and butterflies all season long, and if you leave the spent cones standing they feed finches through winter. It also has a long, friendly history as the herb echinacea, taken as a supplement for many years.
Easy really is the word for it, and that is a comfort to a first-time grower. Coneflower asks only for full sun and soil that drains, then mostly looks after itself, shrugging off drought and poor ground that would defeat fussier plants. Give it a little room to breathe and it will reward your care for years with hardly any effort.
Care
The short version: purple coneflower loves full sun and lean, well-drained soil, and it only wants a drink every week or two once it has found its feet. It happily takes clay, sand, and dry spells, barely asks to be fed, and grows lovelier every year.
Light
Coneflower is happiest in full sun, around six hours of direct light a day, which helps it bloom freely and stand up tall and proud. It will forgive a bit of partial shade, but in too much shade it tends to stretch, lean, and flower less, so brighter is kinder.
Water
Once your plant has settled in, it grows pleasantly drought tolerant and only wants water every 7 to 14 days, leaning toward dry to medium moisture. Try to water gently at the base rather than over the top, since wet leaves can invite disease and you would rather skip that worry.
Soil
It is content in average, well-drained loam and adapts cheerfully to clay, sand, and even rocky ground. A wide pH of 6.0 to 8.0 suits it just fine, so the only thing it truly minds is soil that stays soggy.
Humidity
Plain outdoor air is all your coneflower needs, so there is no humidity number to chase and nothing to fuss over. Gentle airflow matters more, because crowded, damp foliage is what gives powdery mildew its opening.
Feeding
This is a plant with low feeding needs, and it does beautifully in lean soil. A light slow-release feed such as 12-6-6 in early spring is all it asks, and going heavier only grows floppy stems instead of the flowers you are hoping for.
Pruning
Snip the spent blooms if you like, to tidy the plant and stretch the flowering, though it will rebloom happily without your help. Leave a few seed heads standing into winter to feed the birds and let it gently self-sow, then cut the stems back in late fall, or leave them as cozy shelter for native bees.
Size & spacing
In bloom your plants will reach about 2 to 4 feet (60 to 120 cm) tall. Give each one 12 to 24 inches (30 to 60 cm) of breathing room so air can move through and mildew stays away, and they will thank you for it.
When to plant
Coneflower follows the easy rhythm of a northern season, and you can lean on it. Sow your seed indoors in late winter, move the young plants outside once the last spring frost has passed, and the flowers will open in early summer and keep going into fall.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: Sow indoors at 65 to 70°F about 8 to 10 weeks before last frost; germinates in 10 to 20 days.
- Plant: Transplant outdoors after the last spring frost.
- Harvest: Blooms early summer through mid-fall, peaking June through August.
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 3–8
Temperature: down to -40°C
Troubleshooting
Almost everything that troubles coneflower turns up on the flowers or the leaves, and a healthy patch hardly ever runs into any of it. Take heart, because once you learn the early signs below you can step in calmly long before anything spreads.
Petals turning green with leafy tufts on the cone
What you are seeing is aster yellows, a phytoplasma that leafhoppers carry from one plant to the next. Sadly the disease runs through the whole plant and never clears, so once a coneflower shows greened petals and those witches-broom tufts it cannot be rescued. Lift it gently, bag it for the trash rather than the compost, and keep leafhoppers and weedy hosts in check nearby so the rest of your patch stays well.
Fix:
- Promptly dig up and remove infected plants
- Bag and discard them in the trash, not compost
- Control leafhoppers and weedy hosts nearby
Foliage chewed to lace in midsummer
The usual visitors here are Japanese beetles, gathering on leaves and blooms and chewing them right down to the veins. First thing in the morning, while they are still sluggish, pick them off into a pail of soapy water, and treat lighter outbreaks with insecticidal soap. A little early summer scouting lets you ease the numbers down before they build.
Fix:
- Hand-pick beetles into soapy water in early morning
- Treat with insecticidal soap for light infestations
Distorted, tufted blooms with a rosetted cone
When flower heads open up twisted and rosetted, the cause is usually eriophyid mites feeding out of sight inside the developing buds. The mites are far too small to see, so those warped blooms are your gentle warning. Simply cut off and dispose of the affected heads in fall to clear the mites out before they overwinter.
Fix:
- Cut back and remove affected flower heads in fall
White powdery film coating the leaves
A dusty white-to-gray film on the upper leaves in humid weather points to powdery mildew, and it settles in fastest where plants sit packed too close. Give each plant a bit more room so air can move freely, and keep the leaves dry by watering at the base. It looks unpleasant, but happily it rarely does any lasting harm.
Fix:
- Improve spacing and air circulation
- Avoid overhead watering
Toxicity
Here is a lovely bit of peace of mind: purple coneflower is gentle and non-toxic right across the board. You will not find it on the ASPCA toxic plant list, it sits safely around cats, dogs, horses, and livestock, and people have taken it as the herb echinacea for generations. Tuck it in wherever your animals wander.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Purple coneflower is not on the ASPCA toxic list, so a curious cat that nibbles a leaf has nothing at all to fear from it.
Dogs None
Your dog can sniff, chew, or dig around the plant in perfect safety, with no risk of poisoning.
Horses Safe
Horses grazing near a stand of coneflowers face no toxic threat from either the foliage or the flowers, so there is no need to worry.
Rabbits Safe
The leaves and stems are gentle and harmless to rabbits, though a hungry rabbit may simply munch the plant down to the ground.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep can browse coneflower without any ill effect, since it carries no known toxin.
Birds Safe
Birds are truly welcome here, and finches in particular gather at the dried seed heads through fall and winter.
People Safe
People have used echinacea as an herbal supplement for a very long time, and the plant is regarded as non-toxic.
Varieties
There are many named coneflowers to fall in love with, from the dependable old purples to cheerful modern color blends. The few below are the ones you are most likely to meet, and any of them is a kind choice.
Magnus
Magnus is a favorite for its large flowers, held on flat, horizontal rosy-purple petals that stay open instead of drooping the way so many coneflowers do.
White Swan
White Swan sets aside the usual purple for clean white petals gathered around a warm coppery-orange cone.
Cheyenne Spirit
Cheyenne Spirit is a friendly seed-grown mix that brings flowers in red, orange, yellow, purple, and cream all from a single packet.
How to propagate
Multiplying coneflower is wonderfully forgiving, so do not be shy. You can gently split a settled clump or start fresh from seed, and the plant will even sow itself if you let it.
DivisionModerate
Divide clumps in spring or fall, roughly every 3 to 4 years when they become overcrowded. · One growing season to re-establish.
Lift a crowded clump in spring or fall, about every 3 to 4 years, and gently pull or cut it into pieces that each keep their own roots and shoots. Replant the divisions right away and they will quietly settle back in over a single growing season.
SeedEasy
Sow indoors 8 to 10 weeks before last frost or allow self-seeding in the garden. · Germinates in 10 to 20 days; typically blooms the second year from seed.
Start seed indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost, or simply let the plant scatter its own seed in the bed. Sprouts show up in 10 to 20 days, though the young plants usually wait until their second year to flower. Leave the seed heads standing and coneflower will reseed itself with no help from you at all.
Myths
Coneflowers will not rebloom unless you deadhead them.
You can relax, because the plants come back into bloom on their own whether or not you snip the old flowers. Deadheading mostly just tidies the look, while leaving some seed heads feeds the birds and lets the plant sow itself for next year.
Echinacea is toxic and dangerous to pets.
There is nothing to fear here, since purple coneflower never appears on the ASPCA toxic plant list and is treated as non-toxic all around. It even carries a long, friendly history as an herbal supplement for people.