Echinacea purpurea.
A plant native to the great prairies of central and eastern North America, found wild from Iowa to southern Québec, where well-drained soil and full sun recall its original habitats. Before modern herbalism made it one of the most popular medicinal plants on the planet, echinacea had already been for centuries a pillar of the pharmacopoeia of the Plains First Nations: Lakota, Cheyenne, Comanche, Pawnee and others used it to treat snakebite, infected wounds, dental and throat pains, and insect bites. The scientific name comes from the Greek echinos, "hedgehog," in reference to the conical, spiny centre that bristles at the heart of the flower. Contemporary science remains divided on the exact reach of its effects on the immune system, but one thing is sure: its passage from the tipi to the modern pharmacy is one of the most beautiful continuities of plant knowledge on the continent.
A hardy perennial of a beauty that asks only to be admired — large daisies with spreading or drooping petals of a velvety purple-pink, around a central cone of copper-orange almost brown, bristling with small points. An upright plant 60 cm to 1.2 m, with long sturdy stems that work wonders in cut-flower bouquets, generous flowering from June to September that draws a constant parade of butterflies (monarchs, red admirals, painted ladies), bumblebees and solitary bees. The seeds in fall feed goldfinches for weeks, provided you're not too quick to cut the dry stems.
Multi-use: roots harvested in the second or third autumn to prepare tinctures and teas, dried flowers in infusion — and of course its status as an ornamental plant and as a pollinator-support plant, valuable in itself.
Grower's tip: Like many native prairie perennials, echinacea needs cold stratification to germinate well — it's evolution that synchronized the seeds with the passage of the continental winter. Two options: autumn sowing directly in place, which lets nature do the work, or artificial 4-to-6-week stratification in the fridge in a slightly damp sand bag before indoor spring sowing. First year rather modest in growth; second year, adult size and first serious flowering; third year, full production. Divide every 3 to 4 years to keep the clump vigorous. Once established, it self-seeds generously and returns without help for decades.
- Open-pollinated. Hardy perennial (zone 3). Insect-pollinated; rarely crosses with other echinaceas in a home garden.
- Height: 60 cm to 1.2 m.
- Flowering: June to September.
- Exposure: full sun; tolerates part shade.
- Ordinary to rich, well-drained soil. Tolerates drought well once established. Space plants 40 to 50 cm apart.
- Autumn sowing in place for natural stratification, or indoor sowing after 4 to 6 weeks of fridge stratification, 6 to 8 weeks before planting out.
