Eastern Purple Coneflower

You won't see this attractive flower growing in the wild here in Oregon. Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is native to the Eastern US, Mid West, and parts of the South and thus is familiar to many outside of our area. However, it's an ideal plant for our dry, sunny summer weather and can be planted in your garden and requires very little water!

Reams of material have been published on the possible medical benefits of members of the Echinacea genus, so I won't repeat here. Wikipedia has a good summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinacea

Coneflowers are herbaceous perennials, pollinated by bees and butterflies, and cannot grow in the shade.

We found these coneflowers blooming at the Cooper Mountain Nature Park, in the model gardens by the education building. 7/24/2013.