Subject: Growing Echinacea HELP!

From: [email-masked] (NEOMASTINO)
Date: 29 Aug 1995 21:42:44 -0400

Can anyone give me some information on the needs of Echinacea purpurea?
Water needs, weed control, insect control anything!!!!
Thanks!

---

From: Scott Ranger <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Aug 1995 13:36:08 GMT

The seven or so species of Echinacea are all strictly American and 
restricted to the eastern US.  They are prairie/grasslands plants that 
like plenty of sunshine and don't do well even in filtered sun.  They 
normally like circumneutral to basic soil, so don't try them on acid soil 
unless you modify it before planting.

The seeds readily germinate, often at a 50% rate, and several species are 
available commercially.  Two species are federally listed, E. 
tennesseensis, the Tennessee Coneflower, very rare from the Cumberland 
Plateau area, and E. laevigata, smooth purple coneflower from Georgia and 
the Carolinas into southern Virginia.  Some records show it once was 
found in the serpentine barrens of Pennsylvania.