Who it feeds
Bumble bees, sweat bees, and butterflies work the disk florets all summer; silvery checkerspot caterpillars eat the leaves. From September to March the seed heads are goldfinch feeders, and the standing stems shelter overwintering insects.
Host plant for: Silvery checkerspot.
What it does for the place
A long-lived, drought-tolerant perennial that provides three months of nectar and six months of seed. Straight-species plants are the ones that do this; double-flowered cultivars have traded the nectar for petals.
The story
Plains tribes used Echinacea for more than any other plant: toothache, snakebite, burns, coughs. It became one of the most-sold herbal remedies in the world, and Echinacea purpurea is grown commercially by the acre. Its garden career took off in the 1990s, and it is now one of the most recognizable American wildflowers.
Worth knowing
- Each cone holds 200 to 300 seeds, each one a separate fruit.
- Bees see a bullseye pattern in ultraviolet on the petals that we cannot.
- It is native to the central and southeastern United States, not to Long Island. Here it is a garden plant that sometimes naturalizes, and it feeds the same bees and goldfinches as our local natives.
Saving its seed
Ripe: Sep, Oct, Nov. Cone turns black and spiny; seeds are tan, wedge-shaped, and hard when pinched.
Collect: Snip dry cones, crush in a bag with gloves (spines), winnow chaff. Leave half for the goldfinches.
Sow: No pretreatment needed; sow in spring after frost or in fall. No cold needed: Prairie Moon lists it as germinating without pretreatment. Winter sowing outdoors is optional and still works.
Cold-stratification days follow Prairie Moon Nursery's January 2026 germination codes where that nursery lists the species; others follow common nursery practice. Protocols vary with seed lot and supplier, so check your seed packet.
Seed saving calendar for your zip code →
