JBtheExplorer
Native Gardener
I've been wanting to bring more awareness to individual North American native species. This first post is about Bush's Coneflower (Echinacea paradoxa). This is the only naturally occurring non-purple "Purple Coneflower". There are many cultivars and hybrids of coneflowers of various colors sold in stores, but this is the real deal. Its native range is just a small area in the U.S., but can be grown just about anywhere in the country with success.
It's known for being a little slower to establish than other coneflowers, which I can confirm. I had just a few flowers across multiple plants during the second year after growing them from seed, but once you see the first flower bloom, you'll know the wait is worth it. It begins blooming in early summer, weeks before Echinacea purpurea, and around the same time as Echinacea pallida.
So, if you live in the U.S., instead of planting hybrids and cultivars, which can often be altered so badly that they don't have many benefits for wildlife, consider Bush's Coneflower, as well as any of the eight other Echinacea species that grow in the U.S.
It's known for being a little slower to establish than other coneflowers, which I can confirm. I had just a few flowers across multiple plants during the second year after growing them from seed, but once you see the first flower bloom, you'll know the wait is worth it. It begins blooming in early summer, weeks before Echinacea purpurea, and around the same time as Echinacea pallida.
So, if you live in the U.S., instead of planting hybrids and cultivars, which can often be altered so badly that they don't have many benefits for wildlife, consider Bush's Coneflower, as well as any of the eight other Echinacea species that grow in the U.S.
