Purple cone flowers

I hope this is not a waste of the lists time- I am working on a few fact
sheets for my customers and I hope they might be useful to the list.

Here is the one for ECHINACEA.
If it is not worth the lists  time I will not post any other ones as they are
finished.

Plants for sun 
ECHINACEA

The purple cone flowers or Echinacea are closely related to Rudbeckia which
include the black- eyed-Susan.  They are native to north America - growing
generally in dry areas like grasslands and stony out-croppings in forested
areas. These plants make great plants for the perennial border blooming early
to mid summer, with large showy  flowers. The daisy like flowers are pink or
purple or white (yellow in one species)
 
  There are five to nine species including:

 E. angustifolia = From the prairies of north central U.S. and Canada.  This
plant has long lax petals that hangs down from a round central cone.  The
petals are thin and rose-purple to pale whitish-purple in color. The flowers
are up to six inches in size. This plant grows to 4 feet in height and 18
inches wide with a nice erect form. E. angustifolia is  not much used in the
garden but should  make a nice addition to the wild meadow or grassland. Used
also for medicinal purposes too. Zones 4-9

E. pallida = This plant is like E. angustifolia except that it is larger
growing up to 3-4 feet tall in size and 24 inches wide. This plant is native
from central to south central U.S.  It has the same long hanging petals and is
pink to pale purple in color.   This plant is great for the naturalizing or
the sunny border, it is showy and different . It looks good in a vase and
growing in the border, were the flowering stalk rises above any foliage. Zones
4-8

E. paradoxa = this is the odd ball of the group with yellow flowers. This
plant is from Kansas and Arkansas to Missouri and north Texas. It grows in a
very narrow habitat restricted in the wild to dry prairie knobs.  Upright
growing with large showy yellow flowers. Highly recommended for prairia and
border plantings.

E. purpurea = this the garden purple cone flower. Native from Virginia to Iowa
south to Georgia and Louisiana. It is found in open woods and on prairies. It
grows to one meter in height and has a long stiff stem with one large showy
purple flower.  The flower has long rays that reflex down some what with a
cone that is hard and prickly. This is a much valued perennial for the garden
loved by butterflies and people.
Great for cutting and drying.  The dried center cones make a very long lasting
dried flower-collect them in the late fall when the plants seeds are ripe.
There are a number of forms that are more showy than the species and these
include:
	‘Bravado'	 with 4-41/2 inches flowers with more horizontal growing petals and
a more rounder shape to the flower than other forms.
 
‘Bright Star'	Purple red flowers with lightly lax petals. Three to four feet
tall.

‘Magnus' 	With larger flowers to 7 inches and darker orange cones, deep purple
in color and nice outward growing petals.

	‘White Swan' Has white flowers on many branched stems, 41/2 inches across
with large orange cones with the petals more or less dropping down.

	‘White Swan' x ‘Bright Star' Produces plants that have a variation in color
from purple to pink to white. The plants have larger cones with nice orange
coloring and a more branched habitat- mine I would say bloom twice as much as
other purple forms.  So far this has been the showiest cross for me, with many
flowers open at the same time clustered in a nice dense pattern atop the 3-4
foot plants.

E. tennesseenis = Upright growing plant with linear leaves and four inch
flowers that have greenish-pink disks.  Dark-mauve petals, single flowers on
24-36 inches plants. Not a strong grower-but nice looking plants in the wild
flower garden-rare. Zones 3-9.

Cultivation of Echinacea:

Grow in deep well drained soil-they like sandy soils and are short lived on
clay soils. Full sun to light shade, easy to over winter.  Cut back stems
after flowering to encourage more flowers and to prevent self seeding.

Problems:

Leaf minors powdery mildew-darn woodchucks, bacterial spots, root aphids, gray
mold and vine weevils. I have some that have developed stunted growth with
malformed flower heads that are green - I think it is caused by the cresol
from the light post they are growing next to or from some viral infection.
Plants self sow freely. They attract bumble bees (apparently this is a problem
to some people)


Propagation:

Easy from seed, sow at 55-60 degrees in spring. Germination in 10-20 days.
Refrigeration  for a week helps germination, light is also good for
germination so sow on the surface and after seeds germinate cover lightly.
Plants grow fast and are not difficult to transplant out.  In early spring or
fall divisions can be made- if you have a very nice form and you want to
increase it-cut the plant off at the soil level after flowering and it will
produce many divisions.
Dig it up and pull off and pot up or replant.
Flowers some times from a early sowing the first year- best flower production
the third year.
Cut off seed heads to prevent self sowing. About 7,000 seeds per once.

Misc.:

Will attract butterflies. These plants were used to make the infamous "snake
oil" of the past- It was used as a poultices for blood poisoning and snake
bites. It was used as a mouth wash for gum and tooth problems.

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