Echinacea purpurea Tweety - Purple Coneflower

Echinacea 'Tweety' is a new variety of hybrid Echinaces that stands out for its compactness and generous sunflower-like flowering, two qualities that make it a wonderful little plant for terraces and sunny borders. Despite its small size, it produces numerous, bright golden yellow flowers of a beautiful size, as long as the faded flowers are regularly removed. It is a hardy and resistant, radiant perennial, suitable for all gardeners, even beginners!

Native to the western United States, from Georgia to Michigan through Oklahoma and Ohio, Rudbeckia purpurea is a perennial with a strong character that confidently colonizes rocky prairies, savannahs, clear undergrowth, and road edges in its natural environment. It has produced numerous cultivars of various colours and sizes through hybridization with other species, all of which are very easy to grow. All these plants belong to the asteraceae family.

'Tweety' is a very recent creation, and probably the smallest echinacea available to date. The plant has a rounded habit, forming a small clump, well-branched from the base, approximately 35 cm (14in) high and 35-40 cm (14-16in) wide. This plant has excellent stability and does not require staking. The opposite, lanceolate leaves are olive green and covered in rough hairs. Flowering occurs from July to September and is loved by butterflies. The green and hairy branched stems are each topped with a solitary 10cm (4in) diameter head with a prominent, bristly disk that transitions from green to brown and bronze, surrounded by a well-filled collar of wide, slightly trailing ligules in a true golden yellow. The fruit is an achene that releases seeds that birds love. This plant firmly and deeply anchors itself in the soil thanks to its well-developed root system.

Echinacea 'Tweety' brings dynamism and cheerfulness to even the most modest setting, on a terrace, balcony, or in the garden. It can be used in mixed borders with other varieties in warm tones (orange, red), or alongside generous and easy-to-grow annuals such as nigella, poppies, amaranths, or cosmos. Complete the scene by incorporating some ornamental grasses like Stipa tenuifolia, Carex comans Bronze Form... The beautiful colour of  Tweety echinacea is splendid in mixed borders and also shines in fresh or dried flower arrangements. It looks superb when combined with common lady's mantle and white Nemesia!

Properties: In homoeopathy, its root is used to fight against colds and strengthen the immune system. These properties were first used by Native Americans. The name Echinacea comes from the Greek word echinos, which means "hedgehog" or "prickly", and acea, meaning "having the shape of", alluding to the flower heads. Purpurea means "purple".