I grew up knowing this prairie flower as “Rudbeckia” purpurea, as taught by my old school grandmother and mother. However, the genus was renamed to “Echinacea” sometime ago. Apparently, to some botanist the spiky center cone resembles the Australian Echidna (spiny anteater).
FUN FACT:
Cone flowers are a native plant that the only place they are found to grow naturally in the wild in the whole world is the plans of North America.
GROWING TIPS:
These guys are one of the easiest rewarding perennial flowers you can grow. They can be grown almost anywhere in the continental US. They love the sun, hot days and tolerate humid conditions very well. Yet only really need well drained soil and sunshine to thrive. Like most plants they don’t like their toes to be wet all the time and are actually quite drought tolerant and the soil type doesn’t have to be anything particularly special – remember they grow naturally on the prairie.
To dead head or not to dead head that is the question?
You certainly can dead head your coneflowers (remove spent blooms) if you prefer a tidy more tailored flower garden. But let’s be real – cone flowers are considered prairie flowers and not REALLY at home in a tailored flower garden – they like it a little messy. Personally, I will remove some of the first blooms as it will promote a bit of a longer flowering season but then I leave the later blooms to create seed heads, (remember the spine anteater?) for the goldfinches to feed on as they pass through in the fall.
Mythology Anyone?
Echidna is a Greek mythological creature, half woman, half snake. She is considered the mother of all monsters and very fearsome. I am not sure the little anteater or the very pretty cone flower should be considered fearsome but, none the less, the spiny anteater got the moniker because of it being one of a handful of egg laying mammals and has characteristic of both mammals and reptiles.
STEMS AND SEEDS 