How to Grow and Care for Coneflowers

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is an herb native to North America that flourishes in prairie environments or open wooded areas. The purple coneflower makes a good addition to a flower bed or garden because its blooms last the whole summer and attract pollinators such as bees and hummingbirds.

Echinacea tennesseensis is a flowering plant, also known as tennessee purple coneflower. It is endemic to central Tennesse in the United States, especially the cedar glades. It was once an endangered plant, but now all the threats to it have been reduced. It is still a rare species.

Blacksamson echinacea or Echinacea angustifolia is a purple coneflower in the sunflower family. This wildflower can be grown as an ornamental perennial. Cultivated examples often appear more attractive than their wild counterparts which have to compete with other plants. Blacksamson echinacea is occasionally grown for its essential oils.

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida) is a perennial wildflower native to eastern and central North America. Its scientific name means "pale hedgehog" or "sea urchin" due to the appearance of the spiky central cone in the middle of each summer-blooming flower head.

Yellow coneflower is a perennial coneflower that very rarely occurs as a wildflower — in fact, it's only known to grow natively in a few states in the US. The paradox alluded to in the plant's Latin name, Echinacea paradoxa, is that this is the only species in the Echinacea genus to have yellow flowers.