Echinacea purple flowers (in Latin - Echinacea purpurea) were brought to us from the east of the USA. The plant is a perennial, with large, beautiful purple flowers resembling a camomile. The flowering period depends on the climate and falls mainly in the second half of summer.
Echinacea flowers are wonderful honey plants that attract bumblebees, butterflies, and bees. The plant is recommended for planting in gardens and orchards for better pollination of other plants. Echinacea flowers are not particularly whimsical in cultivation, able to survive on permeable soils of any composition, in partial shade or under the open sun, but it is preferable to plant it on moist, fertile and slightly alkaline soils. No special care needed.
Echinacea flowers, photo:
The vitality of a plant can be compared with the vitality of a pharmacy chamomile. Cultivation is possible both through sowing directly into the ground (in the spring, immediately after the earth warms up), and by planting seedlings. Wide row spacing (40 cm) is preferred.
It is very convenient to propagate echinacea flowers by dividing bushes from growing plantations, which are best done either beforeflowering (early spring), or after flowering (late autumn). In any case, Echinacea plantations should be divided at least once every four years. Seeds are harvested at the end of the season (they are easily removed from the blackened dried seed pods). These seeds are sown the very next year in a cool (but not cold) period, at an air temperature of 12 degrees. To achieve earlier flowering, you can sow the seeds at the very beginning of winter and grow seedlings in the usual way for the townspeople - on the windowsill. The seedlings grow up to 15 cm in height and after that they are planted in a flower garden, in a permanent place. A plant grown in this way will bloom in the second year, and then will bloom every summer.
Echinacea flowers can be pleasing to the eye for more than two months, but flowering occurs only in the second year after sowing. If you are not going to propagate this plant from seeds, then removing the faded heads will help extend the flowering period by at least two weeks.
In autumn, before frost sets in (end of season), the stems of the plant should be cut (shortly, to the ground without damaging the root) and mulched with a generous layer of fertile garden soil or garden compost with leaf humus. In regions with cold winters, echinacea is additionally covered using spruce branches (pine or spruce branches) or well-dried hay (without signs of debate).
Tall echinacea flowers look great in mixborders (mixed flower beds), lower varieties can be settled on the front lines. Very natural echinaceain gardens for the lazy. It goes well with dahlias, and rudbeckia, and yarrow, and monarda, and salvia, and heliotrope, and many other plants, including ornamental cereals. Echinacea flowers are also suitable for bouquets. In addition, they last quite a long time in vases.
Traditional medicine uses echinacea as an immunostimulating, antimicrobial, antifungal agent. The plant is effective in the fight against warts, accelerates the healing of ulcers and wounds, and reduces pain. It can be used for overwork (physical, mental), often recommended after radiation and cytostatic therapy, after antibiotic therapy. Sometimes causes allergies. It is sold in pharmacies in the form of extracts and tinctures.
