Echinacea pallida seed
LATIN NAME: Echinacea pallida
COMMON NAME: Pale Purple Coneflower
Pale purple coneflower is the quiet, prairie daisy of the tallgrass country of the middle of the United States, and it brings a soft, rose-purple glow to the late summer border. The narrow, drooping petals surround a tall, coppery-brown cone, and the heads nod on their long, stiff stems above the narrow, rough leaves. The plant grows in clumps and flowers for weeks on end, and the seed heads stand through the winter as a fine food for the birds. It is a tough, generous perennial of the open, sunny ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The pale purple coneflower is a close relative of the better-known echinacea, and the whole group has been a regular subject of the plant science for a long time. The roots and the flowering heads have been studied for their traditional uses and their compounds, and the plant keeps showing up in the work on the prairie perennials and the pollinator plants. The upright, narrow habit and the long flowering have also drawn the attention of the breeders, and the plant is a quiet subject of the ornamental breeding. The prairie-plant studies give it a solid, reliable base of information.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The pale purple coneflower is a fine plant for the meadow and the sunny border. The flowers are rich in the nectar and the pollen, and they pull in the bees, the butterflies and the seed-eating birds, while the dried seed heads give the winter garden a quiet structure. The plant is grown in the prairie-restoration mixes and the pollinator gardens across the region, and it has been written about in the horticultural and the ecological papers for its place in the grassland plantings. It is an easy, dependable perennial that asks for the sun and the well-drained soil.
The pale purple coneflower is a close cousin of the better-known purple coneflower, and the two grow together across the tallgrass prairies of the middle of the continent. The narrow, drooping petals and the tall, coppery cone give the plant a quiet, refined look, and the seed heads stand through the winter as a fine food for the goldfinches and the other seed-eating birds. The roots and the flowering heads have a long traditional use among the prairie peoples, and the plant is grown in the meadow and the pollinator plantings across the region. It is a dependable, long-lived perennial of the open, sunny ground.
The pale purple coneflower is not hard from seed, though it likes a cold start. Mix the seed with a little moist sand and keep it in the fridge for about a month, then sow it at a shallow depth in pots of gritty, free-draining soil. Keep the pots in a bright, open spot and water gently, and the seedlings will show themselves before long. Give them a full season to grow into strong young plants before setting them out in a sunny, well-drained spot, and they will flower in their second year.
Description:
NAME: Pink Baby Coneflower
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Echinacea Pallida
COLOR: Pink
PLANT SEEDS: Outdoors after frost / Indoors weeks before last fros
BLOOM TIME: Summer – Early Fall
HARDINESS ZONE: 3 – 10
PLANT HEIGHT: 36 – 48″
PLANT SPACING: 12 – 18″
LIGHT REQUIREMENTS: Sun – Part Shade
SOIL & WATER PREFERENCES: Average – Dry
OTHER: The Baby Pink Coneflower is smaller and lighter in color than the traditional Purple Coneflower giving it a daintier and more pixie-like look. It attracts bees, birds, & butterflies.
Seeds of Echinacea pallida Pale Purple Coneflower. Features narrow, parallel-veined, toothless, dark green leaves (4-10″ long) and large, daisy-like flowers with drooping, pale pinkish-purple petals (ray flowers) and spiny, knob-like, coppery-orange center cones.v