Pale Purple Coneflower

Narrow pink petals hang straight down from a spiky coppery-orange cone, giving the flowers a swept-back look you do not get from the common garden coneflowers. Echinacea pallida is a native prairie perennial growing 2 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide in full sun to part sun, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 10. Bloom comes in early summer, ahead of most coneflowers, and holds for several weeks. Bees and butterflies come to the flowers steadily, and goldfinches strip the seedheads through fall and winter if you leave them standing. The whole plant is finer and more open than purple coneflower, with narrow hairy leaves and wiry stems that move in wind. This grows wild on dry prairies and rocky open ground, so it wants full sun and well-drained soil. It sends down a deep taproot, which makes it drought-proof once established and difficult to move afterward, so choose the spot and leave it. Rich or wet ground shortens its life. Deer generally leave it alone.