Properties
| Plant information | |
|---|---|
| July-August | |
| Low feeder | |
| Echinacea purpurea | |
| 50cm | |
| annual | |
| Pink | |
| Suitable for beds, borders, natural gardens, and as a cut flower | |
Planting instructions on the envelope
Echinacea is perennial and loves a sunny location with little but regular watering. Waterlogging should definitely be avoided. With early sowing, it blooms as early as the first year.
Detailed planting instructions: Echinacea
Our coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) may not protect you from too much sunshine, but it does protect against colds. Echinacea is one of nature's best-known medicinal plants and can, depending on how it is processed, help support the immune system or promote the healing of injuries. If you dry it at 45°C immediately after harvesting, you can prepare it into a delicious tea when needed and refine it with a spoonful of honey. But before this pleasure, there is a little bit of work.
Start with sowing from April to May. During this time, the Echinacea seeds are sown approx. 0.2 cm deep into the soil, whether in your garden or on the balcony in a planter. Like all seedlings, the coneflower needs regular water so that it can reach its impressive size of up to 120 cm and attract colorful butterflies. Later, when it has grown large, you can occasionally forget to water it. It does not, however, forgive waterlogging.
Echinacea is a perennial and is hardy. This means that you can enjoy its colorful floral display again next year, provided you fertilize it from time to time, as all nutrients are eventually used up, especially in a planter. From June on, you can cut the first flowers and dry the flower heads, or you can incorporate them into a summery wildflower bouquet. But don't be disappointed if not too many flowers have grown in the first year after sowing. Echinacea only really gets going from the second year onwards.
When the leaves slowly fall in autumn, you should cut your coneflower perennial back completely about 10 cm above the ground. You can also leave the withered flowers standing and provide them to local birds as a food source for the winter, although your harvest in the following year might then be less lush.
