Echinacea Supreme Flamingo - Purple Coneflower

Echinacea 'Flamingo' is a new hybrid from the 'Supreme' series. The varieties that make it up are truly extraordinary, with the number of flowers produced, their size, their shape, and the performance of each plant in the garden. This one offers sublime fully double flowers with a rare colour that blends several shades of warm pink. They bloom for long weeks in summer, on an upright plant that stands proud in the borders. It is also a hardy perennial, resistant and easy to grow for all gardeners.

Native to the western United States, from Georgia to Michigan through Oklahoma and Ohio, Rudbeckia purpurea is a perennial with a strong character, which confidently colonizes rocky meadows, savannas, clear understories and roadsides in its natural environment. It has produced numerous cultivars with varied colours and sizes through hybridization with other species. All these plants belong to the asteraceae family and bear inflorescences organized in heads, which we commonly call 'flowers'.

'Supreme Flamingo' has an upright habit, with a branched tuft from the base, and reaches approximately 60-65 cm (24-26in) high and 35-40 cm (14-16in) wide. This plant shows very good resistance and generally does not require staking. The opposite, lanceolate, green leaves are covered in rough hairs. Flowering occurs from July to September-October, slightly fragrant and loved by butterflies. The branched, green-reddish stems are each topped with a solitary flower head 7-8 cm (3in) in diameter, with a centre covered in small petals dominating a collar of longer, slightly drooping petals. The colour is a fairly soft coral pink enriched with shades of shrimp rose, with a touch of coppery pink. 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 well-developed root system.

Echinacea 'Supreme Flamingo' has remarkably colourful flowering, which brings a lot of character to even the simplest decor. It can be used in mixed borders with other white varieties, or with easy and generous annuals such as love-in-a-mist, poppies, amaranths, or centaureas. Complete the scene by mixing in some ornamental grasses like Mexican feather grass, Schizachyrium scoparium Blue Heaven, or pink muhly grass... Gorgeous in border plantings, the beautiful colours of Supreme Flamingo are also stunning in fresh or dried flower arrangements. Its combination with common lady's mantle is superb!

Medicinal properties: in homoeopathy, the root of the echinacea is used to fight colds and strengthen the immune system, properties first used by Native Americans. The name Echinacea comes from the Greek echinos, which means "hedgehog-like", and acea, meaning "having the shape of", alluding to the flower heads. Purpurea means "purple".