Echinacea Orange Skipper - Purple Coneflower

The 'Orange Skipper' Echinacea is part of a Dutch series of Rudbeckia called 'Butterfly' that butterflies love, including the "Skipper" with its orange-tinted wings. This variety bears a multitude of dazzling mandarin orange flowers, perfect for adding a beautiful touch of color to the garden, as well as the terrace, throughout the summer. It is a floriferous, medium-sized plant that is sturdy in the wind, with orange flowers and a prominent reddish-brown center that bloom from July to September. Truly beautiful and intensely cheerful, this perennial also provides very beautiful flowers for cutting or drying. It is also a very resistant plant that adapts to many growing conditions as long as it doesn't lack sunlight. Essential in gardens that make room for nature!

Native to the western United States, from Georgia to Michigan through Oklahoma and Ohio, Rudbeckia purpurea is a perennial with a strong character that doesn't resemble anything known, but boldly colonizes rocky meadows, savannas, clear understories, and road edges in its natural habitat. It has produced numerous cultivars of various colors and sizes through hybridization with other species, always very easy to grow. The 'Butterfly' echinaceas were selected for their brightly colored, highly nectariferous flowering, their floribundity, and their good resistance to bad weather.

'Orange Skipper' exhibits a relatively compact habit with a dense and sturdy clump measuring 60cm (24in) in height and 35-40cm (14-16in) in width. This plant doesn't weaken or collapse, showing very good form. The deciduous, opposite, lanceolate green leaves are covered in rough hairs. The flowering continues from July to September and is highly visited by butterflies. The branched, greenish-red stems terminate in a solitary 8cm (3in)-wide head with a prominent, bristly, reddish-brown disk surrounded by a collar of bright orange ligules with a base of deeper orange-red. The fruit is an achene that releases seeds which birds are fond of. This plant anchors itself firmly and deeply in the soil, thanks to its well-developed root system.

Under a cloud of butterflies, the 'Orange Skipper' Rudbeckia offers remarkably colorful flowering, bringing a lot of dynamism and good mood to even the simplest decor. It is used in borders mixed with other white varieties or in the company of easy and generous annuals such as nigellas, poppies, amaranths, or centaureas. Complete the scene by mixing in some ornamental grasses like Stipa tenuifolia, Schizachyrium scoparium Blue Heaven, Muhlenbergia capillaris... Splendid in flower beds, the beautiful colors of the Purple 'Orange Skipper' Echinacea are also stunning in fresh or dried flower bouquets.

Properties: In homeopathy, its root is used to fight colds and strengthen the immune system. These properties were already used by Native Americans. The name Echinacea comes from the Greek echinos, which means "hedgehog-like," and acea, which means "having the shape of," alluding to the flower heads. Purpurea means "purple."