Echinacea purpurea Espinosa Green - Purple Coneflower

Echinacea purpurea 'Espinosa Green' is a very beautiful Echinacea with very large bicoloured flowers, in soft pink and pale lime green. This variety is gentle, but also full of character and originality. In summer, it forms a large bouquet of large pastel flowers with flat brown-orange heads, for almost 3 months. It blooms from the first year. The plant, with sturdy stems, maintains a neat upright appearance in borders while providing good flowers for fresh or dried bouquets. The Purple Coneflower is also a very resistant plant that is easily cultivated in the garden. Its lightly scented flowers are highly visited by butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.

Native to the western United States, from Georgia to Michigan, passing through Oklahoma and Ohio, Echinacea purpurea (or Rudbeckia purpurea) is a perennial with a strong character that resembles nothing known, but confidently colonizes rocky meadows, savannas, open woodlands, and road edges in its natural habitat. The 'Espinosa Green' Echinacea is a horticultural selection. Once mature, it has an upright tufted habit and measures approximately 80cm (32in) to 1m (3ft) in height and 50 to 60cm (20 to 24in) in width. This plant does not weaken or collapse, showing excellent durability. The leaves, opposite, lanceolate, green, are covered with rough hairs. The flowering, lightly scented, takes place from July to the end of September, accompanying that of Inulas, asters, and ornamental tobacco plants, and is highly visited by butterflies. The reddish-branched stems bear at the end of each branch an inflorescence in a large head measuring 15cm (6in) in diameter, with a flat central disc composed of tiny brown-orange florets. This central disc is surrounded by spatulate ligules: very thin at the base and then widening significantly towards the tip. They are soft pink on the lower half of the petal and pale lime green afterwards. The fruit is an achene that releases seeds that birds are fond of. This plant firmly and deeply anchors itself in the soil, thanks to its highly developed root system. Its above-ground growth is deciduous and dries up in autumn.

The 'Espinosa Green' Purple Coneflower offers a long-lasting pastel and luminous flowering, pleasant to contemplate until the beginning of autumn. It can be planted in large borders and mixed flower beds with other flowers whose forms contrast (ornamental tobacco plants, daylilies, columbines, Phlox) or in the company of asters, yarrows, and daisies. Lighten up the scene by mixing in some ornamental grasses such as Stipa tenuifolia and Muhlenbergia capillaris... Gorgeous in borders, the beautiful color of the purple coneflower is also stunning in fresh or dried flower bouquets.

The scent of Echinacea is not the same at each stage of flowering. At first, when the florets are in an upright crown, the scent is barely perceptible. At full bloom, when the florets hang down as if drained of their strength, it exhales a fine honey fragrance, very attractive to bees, butterflies, and other insects. Once the head is pollinated, the scent takes on a more vanilla note.

Virtues: In homeopathy, its root is used to fight colds and strengthen the immune system. These properties were already used by Native Americans. The name Echinacea comes from the Greek echinos, which means "hedgehog-like or prickly," and acea for "having the shape of," alluding to the flower heads. Purpurea means "purple."