PlantFiles: Eastern Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'

Echinacea purpurea is one of my favorites. Not only for beauty and growablity, but also for an occasional cup of tea.
Google it for herbal usages. I also like the white specie which I like to use enstead of daisies which I seem to have problems growing. love the plant most all year.
tvksi

zone 8a clay soil
Now in its third year, it has shot up and filled out to the 36-48" range! Abundant blooms outside my dinette window are a thrill. I have tied a couple of the stems together at this height as they began to lean too much this week. I will take the advice below to prune half of them early to get a stronger showing.

I love this plant and it grows prolifically for me. I do know a few people who say they can't grow it--hard to believe!
I leave the seeds on over the winter for the birds. In late summer and early fall the goldfinches feast on them, sometimes small flocks at a time. Leaving the seeds there is probably why they spread like groundcover, but I don't mind. Like another poster said they look great with rudbeckias. I love purple and yellow together. I also have them planted with heliopsis false sunflower and coreopsis "Early Sunrise". Sometimes coneflowers "migrate" across the yard to other beds. I had one in the "wrong" bed and dug it out several times and gave it away, but it kept coming back so I just gave in and left it there. Now it has multiplied, but is in good company with russian sage, purple larkspur, tall red daylilies and the aforementioned yellow flowers (the heliopsis had also migrated) near a lamppost entwined with a jackmanii clematus--a beautiful bed!
I took some up to my lake house in St. Marys about an hour N. of here and It has thrived there, too--and migrated!

This has been very care free here in Central Florida. Blooms constantly.

Such a pretty flower! I have mine mingled in with Rudbekia 'Goldsturm'...they seem to compliment each other. A very reliable plant especially for my weather...hot/humid and little rainfall. The plant I have sits at the front of my driveway so it also gets the heat from the concrete and it handles it very well. The flower blooms on a sturdy stem so it doesn't flop and the blooms stay around for alittle while.

Seems to handle the West Texas heat, though mine does get some shade. We've had a week of 100's and still blooming. Blooms fade a bit in the sun. Plan on using it in the backyard next spring.

I see many people in my area with purple coneflowers- im unsure of the variety , but i have tried this one twice with no luck on overwintering in zone 5. I have had them in different areas and in potted int he basement to test conditions but every time - they die! I think i will have to try another variety.

Great flower! They do well as cut flowers also if you can part with the blossoms being on your plant (which I have a hard time doing) lol.
Kathy

"Magnus" grows beautifully for me, although it does tend to be a bit tall and occasionally topples forward in my berm bed. When my plants are about 8" tall, I cut half of them back to 4". This not only staggers the bloom time, but the shorter plants give support to the taller ones.

Very trouble free plant!! Always welcome in my garden.

Very easy to grow. Long blooming, from late spring into early fall. Long lasting perennial.

these grow wild out here but the petals are droopy and not touching side by side. still pretty though

Hi! Ive had this plant for about five years; its been wonderful. One of the strongest growers in my garden. It almost resembles a daisy in the way the petals strech outward instead of downward like other coneflowers. It does tend to sag a bit, but I just stake it up. You can get it to rebloom by deadheading it. Mine has formed a nice clump. It will even reseed itself if you leave some of the spent flowerheads on.

Beautiful flower. Goldfinches eat the off the 'spiney' cones before and after it goes to seed.

My Magnus coneflowers are blooming now and they are gorgeous. This is their second season and they've stood up to our hot summers wonderfully. I'm definitely hooked!

This plant makes a beautiful showing in a border. I do find that self sows extensively and can be difficult to contain.

Very easy to grow, ( I garden in the mid-Atlantic zone 6/7). Tolerates drought but also wet soils. Grows in neutral to truly acidic soils. Their biggest complaint is probably truly alkaline soils where they won't grow well, which makes sense because they're native to eastern U.S. Tall, stiff spikes of stem and flower recover well after rains and never, (in my experience) require staking. Tolerates part shade but prefers full sun. Excellent for cutting. Beautiful in any garden but, combines beautifully with white and yellow flowers, especially white coneflowers, coreopsis and rudbeckias. Pictures never do it justice.... large, showy blossoms, the orange/bronzey cones seem to glow or shine, and the contrast of this color to the lavender petals is outstanding. Their shape is also beautiful and sets them apart from other daisy-like flowers, the center truly stands up with the petals daintily hanging from below. The new mainstay for American gardens I highly recommend it.

Birds love these flowers! I like this variety because the flowers aren't as droopy as some others. Wonderful color! Needs staking sometimes, though. (My only complaint!)

I just started gardening last year. I saw a picture of Echinacea Purple Coneflowers in a gardening magazine, and it was love at first sight. I was thrilled when I finally found them at a local nursery. Echinacea is a great plant for hot areas. It's fairly easy to grow as it's drought tolerant and loves full sun. It thrives even in the almost deadly Summer heat of Southern California. Unfortunately, I lost all of my Echinacea's to gophers. The roots are all eaten, hence killing the plants. My pictures are my only proof that I had them in my garden. This Spring I am going to try to grow them from seeds.

A great plant to fill in a flower bed. Even after the blooms are gone the seed heads draw goldfinches to the garden they love to eat the seeds.

Started some from seed last year, and they've done well. My only complaint is they tend to get a bit tall and floppy but that may be due to the partial sun setting I've got them in.