Echinacea Sunny Days Lemon - Purple Coneflower

Echinacea Sunny Days Lemon is a particularly floriferous variety with sunny and pleasantly scented flowering. It is part of the excellent series of Sunny Days echinaceas that brings together plants remarkable in every respect. Of medium stature, this selection bears large, very double flowers in a large yellow pompom with a green heart. It is a hardy and generous perennial that blooms throughout the summer. Ideal in a pot or as a border plant, it adapts to all properly prepared soils, not too dry in summer. 

Native to the Western United States, from Georgia to Michigan via Oklahoma and Ohio, echinacea purpurea is a perennial with a strong character that colonizes rocky meadows, savannas, clear undergrowth, and roadside edges in its natural habitat. 'Sunny Days Lemon' belongs to a line of hybrids recently developed in the USA by Terra Nova Nurseries. It forms a dense clump 75 cm (30in) tall when in bloom (55 cm (22in) for the foliage) and 60 cm (24in) wide. This plant doesn't weaken, doesn't collapse, and demonstrates a very good posture. The opposite leaves are lanceolate and dark green, covered in rough hairs. They are clustered towards the base of the plant, exposing the flowers. The very generous flowering lasts from July to October and is loved by butterflies. The branched stems each end in a solitary flower head, adorned with a large prickly pompom surrounded by trailing petals or ligules. 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 highly developed root system. 

Echinacea Sunny Days Lemon can be grown in pots or in open ground. This perennial fits well in borders mixed with other compact varieties of echinaceas or inulas, compact tritomas, achilleas, daisies, echinops, coreopsis. Lighten the scene by mixing in some ornamental grasses such as Stipa tenuifolia, Muhlenbergia capillaris... Splendid in flower beds, the beautiful colours of echinacea are also appreciated in fresh or dried flower bouquets. 

A medicinal plant: In homoeopathy, the root of echinacea is used to fight colds and strengthen the immune system. Native Americans first used these properties. The name Echinacea comes from the Greek word echinos which means "hairy or like a hedgehog" and acea meaning "having the shape of", referring to the appearance of the flower's heart.