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Kathy’s Garden Writing |
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ECHINACEA PURPUREA A vibrant floral triptych – orange-needled cones flaunting pink-petaled tutus. Mother Nature knew just what she was doing when she painted the eastern purple coneflower – literally “purple hedgehog” -- in rosy pastels. Bees, butterflies, and hummers zoom in, as if flashing neon lights were soliciting their business. So what are hybridists thinking, with their tinkering in shades of lime green and white? Don’t they know that nectar hunters prefer bright splashes of color? It’s hard to improve on the evolutionary wisdom of the plant world. Strewing this cheerful flower across the grasslands of Pennsylvania served up a free lunch for pollinators. Although no longer found in the wild, habitat restoration often includes this rugged aster relative. Gardeners too continue its heritage. A workhorse in sunny perennial beds -- two to three feet high, drought resistant, with prolific summer blooms, and sporadic bud bursts until frost. Come winter, the dried cones stand tall, decorated by goldfinches harvesting the embedded thistle. Native Americans also appreciated nature’s gift of eastern purple coneflower, the most common plant of the indigenous medicine chest. Modern science has in fact confirmed many of its ancient uses -- as an immune system booster, a detoxicant, and an antibacterial agent for wounds and burns. So yes, cultivars abound, in various combinations of flower quality and color. But who can really improve on this hardy “pretty in pink” perennial of the eastern prairies? The butterflies and bees, hummers and goldfinch, wouldn’t change a thing. Nor would we! Kathleen Arcuri Published in Pennsylvania Today, June 2009 |