Plant Database
Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
Echinacea purpurea, commonly known as Purple Coneflower, is a beloved North American native perennial prized for its large, daisy-like flowers with prominent, spiky central cones and long summer-to-fall bloom season. This classic garden plant forms a robust, upright clump of coarse, dark green, lance-shaped leaves with slightly hairy stems. From early summer through autumn, it produces solitary flower heads with slightly drooping, overlapping petals (ray florets) in a range of colors—from the classic purple-pink to white, yellow, orange, and red—surrounding a prominent, spiky, golden-brown to coppery-orange central cone . The flowers are lightly fragrant and highly attractive to butterflies, bees, and other pollinators, while the seed heads provide essential winter food for birds . With exceptional drought and heat tolerance, deer resistance, and adaptability to poor soils, it is an outstanding choice for perennial borders, wildflower meadows, mass plantings, cutting gardens, and pollinator habitats.