Echinacea SunSeekers Salmon - Purple Coneflower

Echinacea SunSeekers Salmon is a variety with a delicate colour, evolving from salmon pink to soft pink during the season. The young flowers have some yellow petals in the centre. Compact, full of sweetness and floriferous, it holds up very well in flower beds as well as in pots. Its semi-double flowers have numerous petals in several rows, in a coral and soft pink gradient, around a large brown-orange heart that attracts pollinating insects. They succeed each other on the plant for several weeks in summer, if you remove faded flowers. It is an easy-to-grow perennial that blends easily with all other plants in the garden or on the terrace. Ideal for cutting or drying.

Echinacea SunSeekers Salmon is a recent horticultural hybrid. This cultivar is part of the remarkable SunSeekers series, which stands out from other echinaceas with their unique shapes and colours that do not fade over time. SunSeekers also have exceptional vigour, and produce masses of flowers carried by short stems, above narrow dark green leaves. This Salmon variety forms a dense and sturdy clump, reaching 50-60 cm (20-24in) high and 40-50 cm (16-20in) wide. The opposite lanceolate dark green leaves are covered with rough hairs. The abundant flowering extends from July to September and is loved by butterflies. Each branched stem is topped with a solitary head, with a prominent, rough, brown-orange central disk surrounded by petals or ligules with frayed edges, in several rows, from coral pink to soft pink. The young flowers have some yellow petals in the centre. The fruit is an achene that releases seeds loved by birds. This plant firmly and deeply anchors itself in the soil, thanks to its well-developed root system.

Rudbeckia SunSeekers Salmon can be grown in pots or in the ground. This perennial fits into border plantings when mixed with other varieties of Echinaceas or in the company of Inulas, compact Tritomas, Achilleas, daisies, Echinops, Coreopsis... Lighten the scene by mixing in some ornamental grasses like Stipa tenuifolia. Splendid in flower beds, the beautiful colours of echinacea are also highly appreciated in fresh or dried flower bouquets.

A medicinal plant: In homeopathy, the root of echinacea is used to fight colds and strengthen the immune system. These properties were first used by Native Americans. The name Echinacea comes from the Greek echinos which means "hairy or like a hedgehog" and acea which means "having the shape of", referring to the appearance of the flower's heart.