“Love is the flower you‘ve got to let grow.” ~John Lennon
I have to admit that one of my all-time favorite flowers is native to the northeast United States, Echinacea purpurea or Eastern purple coneflower. I had drifts of it in my old garden. And when I moved here, I had to wait almost 4 years for new plants to finally grow enough to produce flowers that attracted butterflies and bees.
The genus name, echinacea, comes from the Greek word ekhinos, meaning “hedgehog”, due to the spiny center. I love that visual.
And look who came and brought his friends, a monarch butterfly. I am a firm believer, if you plant native plants, the critters will come. In my old garden monarchs loved my coneflowers as a nectar plant. I hope these flowers continue to spread and attract more pollinators. And I will definitely take the seeds and spread them around. The birds will help with that too.
I thought I would take a couple coneflowers for a vase and add yarrow which is still flowering and spreading.
And I added a hosta flower plus some seedbeds from my clematis Chacewater. Don’t they look so cool.
With this week’s lovely vase, I am linking in to the wonderful meme, In A Vase On Monday, at Rambling in the Garden.
All the pictures shared in this post were taken with my Nikon Coolpix or iPhone camera, and manipulated on my iPhone using the apps, Pixlr and Prisma. You can follow my progress with #the100dayproject in my Instagram and Facebook feed.
All original content is copyrighted and the sole property of Donna Donabella @ Gardens Eye View, 2010-2023. Any reprints or use of content or photos is by permission only.
I was just admiring the myriad of pollinators, frits, skippers, solitary and bumble bees, visiting my coneflower patch. Such a great native!
I couldn’t agree more!
Thank you for sharing the derivation of “ekhinos.” I love Echinacea but I’d never heard it called a hedgehog flower. I buy an Echinacea – or 2 or 3 – every few years to plunk into a pot or elsewhere in my garden but sadly they’re just expensive annuals here.
Oh that is too bad. Yes I can see it would be expensive. I tried potting them here but they did not survive. They prefer being in the ground here.
Two of my favorites Echinacea and old fashioned Yarrow. Wonderful to see them in a vase and with the pollinators.
I agree. They are huge pollinator flowers. They make me happy.
The Echinaceas, Hostas, and Yarrow combine elegantly, Donna. And your arrangement is lovely. Beautiful photos, too!
Thanks so much Beth!
So pretty Donna! The Echinacea is a wonderful flower to have if space is limited. I grew some from seed last year and this year too and a couple actually flowered in their first year.
I do so agree!! I am so glad mine flowered enough to cut.
Beautiful flowers in your vase. I agree with you about echinacea, Donna. Lovely to see the monarch.
Thanks so much. I was so excited to see it too!
What a lovely Monarch. I have only seen two so far this summer. I am longing for their visit and have a garden bed full of milkweed as a host plant. Beautiful photo and beautiful vase.
Thanks so much. Sometimes I see more in their trek southward so I make sure I have native helianthus, aster and Joe pye