Echinacea Arts Pride - Purple Coneflower

Echinacea 'Art's Pride' is a lovely hybrid Echinacea, recently obtained in the United States, which caused a sensation when it was introduced to the horticultural market in 2005. This variety is not only a very hardy perennial and remarkably floriferous, but also an original, bright, unassuming and easy-to-grow flower. Its large inflorescences resemble daisies with exceptionally delicate petals and an almost fluorescent coppery orange hue. The centre is occupied by a prominent, rounded, spiky cone of dark colour. This variety offers abundant and fragrant flowering in June-July, and again in September-October. It will make a good impression in the background of sunny borders and provide long-lasting flowers for bouquets. It adapts to everything, except perhaps drought. It even manages to grow in poor soils.

Echinacea 'Art's Pride' is a hybrid resulting from the cross-breeding of E. purpurea 'Alba' x E. paradoxa, crowning a successful research programme conducted by the Chicago Botanic Garden. This plant belongs to the Asteraceae family and descends from two species native to North American prairies. This perennial combines the qualities of robustness and vigour of its two parents, while offering a new hue and exemplary floribundance. It has a dense clump habit, reaching a height of 60-70cm (24-28in) and a width of 50cm (20in). This plant does not weaken or collapse, showing very good stem strength on its medium-sized stems. The deciduous leaves are opposite, lanceolate, vibrant green, and covered in rough hairs. The fragrant flowering occurs from June to the end of summer, in two distinct waves. It is highly visited by butterflies. The stems are topped by a solitary large head inflorescence, with a prominent conical disc, like a glowing pinecone formed of tiny florets, first orange then bronze and finally brown. This cone is surrounded by narrow but very long ligules, slightly curved backwards, with a vibrant yet soft orange colour. This plant anchors firmly and deeply in the soil, thanks to its well-developed root system.

Echinacea 'Art's Pride' offers a joyful flowering, pleasant to contemplate on slightly misty autumn days. It is used in mixed borders with red or blue flowers, from lavender blue to violet through mauve, for a magnificent contrast. Combine it with Inulas, Aster cordifolius or A. laevis, yellow or orange Achilleas, daisies, Echinops, or paniculate Phloxes, and lighten the scene by mixing in some ornamental grasses such as Stipa tenuifolia, Muhlenbergia capillaris... Splendid in borders, the surprising flower of Echinacea 'Art's Pride' is also very beautiful in fresh or dried flower arrangements.

The scent of an Echinacea is not the same depending on the stage of flowering. Initially, when the florets are in an upright crown, the scent is barely perceptible. At full bloom, when the florets droop as if drained of their strength, it exhales a delicate honey scent, very attractive to bees, butterflies, and other insects. Once the head is pollinated, the scent takes on a more vanilla note.