How to grow Echinacea
From the Greek echinos, hedgehog, referring to the whorl of prickly, pointed bracts close beneath the flower head (Compositae). A genus of two North American species of hardy herbaceous
Species cultivated E. angustifolia (syn. Rudbeckia angustifolia), 2-3 feet, purplish red, summer. E. purpurea (syn. Rudbeckia purpurea), purple coneflower, 3-4 feet, purplish-red, August. The crimson cultivar ‘The King’, 6 feet tall, is outstanding, with flowers 5 inches across from August to October. ‘Robert Bloom’, is a newer cultivar, 3 feet tall, with large, carmine-purple flowers in July and August. Other named cultivars appear from time to time in nurserymen’s lists. Cultivation Plant in autumn or spring in a deep, rich, light loamy soil and in a sunny position. Propagation is by division in spring; by root cuttings in February, or by seed sown in boxes of light soil in March in a temperature of about 55°F (13°C), or sown out of doors in a sunny position in April.