5 white echinaceas to brighten up your garden

Echinacea purpurea 'Virgin', duo of white and green

Echinacea purpurea ‘Virgin’ flowers in summer, from June to August. It produces flowers with white ligules surrounding a green centre, resembling large, elegant and unusual daisies. Its foliage is medium green. At a height of 50 cm, it can be inserted into a border or at the front of a flowerbed, brightening it up with its immaculate white. The Echinacea purpurea ‘Virgin’ is also an excellent cut flower that you can use in your bouquets. With its elegant and classic shape, it allows for the creation of different styles: from rustic to more sophisticated.

If you love white and desire a monochrome flowerbed, add to the Echinacea purpurea ‘Virgin’ other white flowers offering different shapes, such as the Sanguisorba tenuifolia ‘Alba’ with its long trailing spikes, bush sages – Salvia greggii ‘Alba’, and Delphiniums ‘Pacific Galahad’ – Perennial Larkspurs with their imposing upright spikes. To add contrast, you can include plants or bushes with purple foliage such as Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Burgundy Candy’ or Heuchera ‘Bella Notte’.

Echinacea purpurea 'Alba', a touch of romance

Echinacea purpurea ‘Alba’ forms a bushy clump, covered in white flowers all summer, from July to September. Its flowers are borne on sturdy stems 80 cm tall that resemble large daisies, with their white, ligulate, trailing petals arranged around a central orange cone with green and then brown reflections. The foliage is dark green. This perennial plant is easy to grow in any ordinary soil that is not too dry and is exposed to sunlight.

To create an eye-catching border in your garden, you can play with the contrast of blue and yellow colours. Pair Echinacea purpurea ‘Alba’ with Achillea ‘Desert Eve Terracotta’, Eryngium bourgatii, silver santolines – Santolina chamaecyparissus – and Stipa tenuissima ‘Pony Tails’ to further lighten the overall effect.

Echinacea 'SunSeekers White Perfection', the very essence of elegance

The Echinacea ‘SunSeekers White Perfection’ stands out with its large, semi-double flowers of bright cream that contrast beautifully with their prominent dark green dome-shaped centres. The petals are numerous and arranged in several ranks, giving them a very elegant appearance. At a height of 50 cm, it blooms from July to October and can be grown both in a garden bed and in pots. It has good sturdiness, and its slightly fragrant centre attracts bees and butterflies.

In your garden, create a natural and elegant display by pairing the Echinacea ‘SunSeekers White Perfection’ with Echinacea ‘JS Engeltje Pretty Parasols’, which features romantic, trailing white and pink petals. Add lightness with Verbena bonariensis – Buenos Aires Vervain and Calamagrostis brachytricha – Diamond Grass.

Echinacea purpurea 'Milkshake', sunny pom-poms

Echinacea purpurea ‘Milkshake’ is a pompon-flowered coneflower. The very double blooms showcase a yellow-orange colour and appear to rest on a corolla of trailing white petals. The pompons fade over time to become white, creating a lovely delicate gradient of white, yellow, and orange. With its bright, sunny colours, Echinacea purpurea ‘Milkshake’ offers an original flowering display from July to October. Easy to grow, it reaches a height of 70 cm and a width of 60 cm. This perennial can be planted in both open ground and pots.

For pairing, to highlight the beauty of Echinacea purpurea ‘Milkshake’, it can be combined with other airy plants, such as gauras, gypsophiles, and grasses like Chinese fountain grass to create a charmingly blurred border.

Echinacea pallida 'Hula Dancer', a wild flair

Echinacea pallida ‘Hula Dancer’ is a striking new daisy flower with its graceful silhouette that dances easily in the wind. Its petals are long and slender, white with a slight pink tint. They curve and gracefully droop towards the ground, which can make them resemble a lightweight Hawaiian skirt. The heart of the flower is prominent and displays changing colours, from green to pink and then to purplish hues. These large perennial plants, standing at 80 cm tall, bloom from July to September. They are perfect for creating a romantic and wild atmosphere in a garden. Robust and floriferous, they are easy to grow.

In the garden, you can pair this lovely wildflower with hardy geraniums, Japanese forest grass – Hakonechloa macra ‘Naomi’ with its golden-green tones turning to purple, as well as Pennisetum orientale to create a light, natural-looking border that undulates in the breeze.

For further reading

You can consult:

• our complete guide on planting and maintaining Echinaceas
• as well as our complete range of Echinaceas.