How to grow Purple coneflower

Echinacea purpurea · Echinacea, coneflower

Hardy perennial native to North America, with large daisy-like purple flowers around a raised cone. It blooms from June to August and draws bees, butterflies and, later, seed-eating birds.

Quick facts

Type	Flower
Family	Asteraceae
Light	Full sun
Soil pH	6–8
Frost	tolerates light frost
Soil for sowing	from 18 °C
Germination	12 days
Seedlings ready	50 days
Where it grows	Open ground

When to plant

Sow for seedlings about 9 weeks before planting out.

It tolerates light frost: plant out in open ground about three weeks before your last spring frost.

Frost dates · When to plant

Care

Open ground

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Seedlings	every 3 days	—	—
Growth	every 7 days	—	—
Flowering	every 7 days	—	—

Growing notes

Light

Best in full sun, at least six hours a day; it also grows in part shade.

Soil

Average, well-drained soil, from sandy to clay, near neutral (pH 6–8). Tolerates drought, heat, humidity and poor soil, but not waterlogging.

Care

Sow 3 mm deep indoors 8–10 weeks before planting out, moving seedlings into cells once the first true leaves show; or sow outside in spring when the soil reaches 18 °C, or in autumn. Seedlings appear in 10–15 days. Space plants 45–60 cm apart. Plants from seed may not flower until their second year. Water in dry spells while plants establish; no feeding is needed. Removing faded flowers is optional — leave some seed heads and stems over winter for birds and stem-nesting bees, and it will self-seed. Divide crowded clumps about every 4 years. Watch for Japanese beetles, leaf spot and aster yellows.

Sources

Figures checked against these sources.