Echinacea - Purple and Green Jewel Coneflowers
Bumble Bees enjoy the large coneflower heads from as early as June until as late as October.
Echinacea Purpurea Coneflower - Sunflower Family
From the sunflower family, Echinacea Purpuea is a hardy perennial with brilliant flowers that attract many pollinators. Each flower head consists of multiple small flowers or florets that form a pattern similar to sunflowers. The Green Jewel coneflower is a hybrid version of the original wild Purple coneflower.
Purple Coneflower
In the picture below you can see a large bumble bee making a landing onto one of the the purple coneflowers. In two of the moving pictures below you can see bees making their rounds on the flower heads to collect pollen. The flowers appreciate being pollinated so thoroughly.
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Green Jewel Coneflower
Most other colors seem to fade away while glancing in the direction of the Green Jewel coneflowers. It's hard to capture the mysterious pale green color of their flower heads and pedals.
The picture below and on the right was taken while the flowers were not in full sun. You can see in the other pictures how much the sunlight brings out the erie pale green color of the green jewel coneflowers.
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Echinacea Purpurea Propagation
Purple coneflowers are the wild variety and will spread themselves by seed - or seeds can be harvested for planting. Green Jewel coneflowers are hybrid and do not produce fertile seeds. Purple and green jewel coneflowers can be propagated by dividing an expanding clump of plants at the roots for replanting.
Echinacea Purpurea as a Natural Medicine
If you are allergic to sunflowers or daisies, coneflower remedies should be avoided. All parts of the purple coneflower - roots, leaves, flower petals, and the more concentrated dried flower heads - are said to boost the immune system, help fight off infection, and have potential anti-inflammatory properties. For medicinal information, suggested dosages, and additional cautions, these Health Canada and WebMD websites may be useful.
Personally I have a bottle of echinacea and goldenseal root pills and will pop a few if I'm feeling run down and suspect it's a bacteria growth from too much junk food or lack of sleep. I noticed the anti-inflamatory effects from from the pills and can see how that would help fight off infection. I asked a pharmacist recently if he had any goldenseal root extract pills available because I was wanting their anti-bacterial benefits - he said no, and that it's benefits are not proven - but he was trained by the pharmacudical industry, so I am suspicious of his natural medicine knowledge. Often pharmacudical drug components seem to be taken from or are trying to mimmick medicinal plant components. Be sure to do your own research and pay attention to how your body reacts to input. I try to eat well, sleep well, stay active, and keep balanced - with that my immune system seems to take care of the rest - knock on wood.
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My purple coneflower is lovely again this year!
I've dehydrated a LOT of it already.
That's awesome - looks like a very productive bunch. Perfect location too, a nice purple bullseye on your garden for the pollinators :)
That's a really nice echinacea patch!
It's done really well there for the last 2 years. I expect I might get 1 more year like that, then it will need to be thinned out.
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This is a beautiful post.. love the little moving flowers! I must plant echinacea again.. what a powerful herb!
Thanks - they do look very playful swaying with the breeze :) I had read a lot about Echinacea, but wasnt truly amazed until I finally saw what it looked like - it's no wonder they would suspect this plant has medicinal qualities.
I agree years ago when echinacea took off as a cold remedy here my mum planted echinacea flowers and we couldn't believe how beautiful they were .
We tried growing echinacea, our dog ate it: grazed it down like a cow. No joke. Debating whether or not it's worth rigging up a sort of floating row cover to keep her at bay...
Lol I wonder if the dog was self medicating, or just liked the taste. I often see my cats chewing on field grass for the bitters to settle their stomachs :)
Wow! love the animated bee gifs. I find it hard to even capture a good picture of a bee. I agree with you 100% on natural medicines. Its about finding what works for you. Start with advice you trust and see how your body responds. Big Pharma is not a reliable source for info.
The bees didnt seem to care that I had my phone shoved in their faces lol, all they could see was coneflower :)
I have some Purple Coneflower all throughout the herb and flower garden. I just planted last year and have plans to sow a few more before the season ends this year.
I added quite a few bee pollinators last year and have been enjoying more butterflies than I have ever seen; apparently they love bee pollinator flowers too. They seem to love the comfrey, day lilies, primrose and even the oregano that has gone to seed and flowered.
I love the coneflowers - they're so colorful and almost comical. The flowers from fine herbs do seem to get a lot of attention from the bees. I was surprised by the ammount of butterflies the lower tomato trellis was attracting - especially right after watering :)
Echinacea is a very powerful medicinal plant. Only drink/take it when your immune system is run down. It gives your body such a boost that it is only recommended to take for a short period of time.
Love the moving photos of a bee. So cool. Echinacea flowers seem to be one of the only things that will bloom in the excessive heat we have in the Summer time. One tough plant for sure.
Lovely post and photos. Thank you!
I think this is really good advice. I'm heartened by some pharmacists and doctors who ARE doing research into herbs and natural medicines, but we have a long way to go. I think we're right to be suspicious of everything we put in our bodies - we need to make sure that we are informed ourselves.
I love all the flowers in this post - it's so cheerful! You've inspired me to plant these flowers in my garden again - in fact, I just ordered some seeds.
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Definately a must have for the SHTF medicine cabinet!
The Germans REALLY kicked off the benefits of #Echinacea around the WW2 period when they wanted to boost their medicinal stockpiles. I believe they used the herb for the prevention of 'the common Cold'.
Just goes to show how much informaiton gets 'lost' quickly with the modern day Pharma system....
Not really seen any examples of it as a CURE to the Cold/Flu, but will certainly help reduce it's term.
I've also recently read about one of the chemicals that help boost the immune system. This could and should therefore be added to any serious treatment regime. 'Thinking CANCER'.
Lovely! I love bees, and when I first had my garden, I planted plants that are meant to attract them, like oxalis. I never thought about echinacea! I'll probably move within the next year or so, and I'll make a mental note to plant some echinacea in my new home.
People often say there are fewer bees and butterflies about, but I think this is mainly a city centre phenomenon, and it's because so many people are concreting over their gardens to make driveways, or installing decking instead of plants. I prefer plants, and a couple of years ago I got a beehive on my front lawn! There are also plants that butterflies love.