Because birds and plants are so interconnected, you can attract specific birds by growing specific plants.
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Echinacea pallida pale purple coneflower
pale purple coneflower
Characteristics
Descriptions
Light Requirements
sun, part-sun
Soil Moisture
dry, moist
Soil Description
average, poor, sand, gravel/rock
Height
2'-4'
Recommended Spacing
12"-18"
Bloom Time
May, June, July
Bloom Color
pink, lilac, lavender
Hardiness Zone
4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Description
Echinacea pallida is a tall growing wildflower. Plants produce undivided stems that grow to a height of 4', each topped with a single flower. The petals (ray florets, technically) are narrow, in pale shades of pink to purple, and droop gracefully away from the large, reddish brown cone. On rare occasions, the petals are white. The green leaves are basal, and the tall, rigid stems are leafless and covered with coarse, white hairs. This coneflower's primary native range is tightly centered in the southern middle of the U.S., with rare populations in the East. It makes its home in rocky prairies, on open wooded hillsides, and in glades and pstures where it can get plenty of sun. It also grows along roadsides and railroads, one of the ways it's likely found its way to the Eastern U.S.
Cultivation
Pale purple coneflower is an easy, low maintenance plant. It tolerates poor soil and drought. It can be used in cottage gardens and perennial flower beds, in full sun and moist but well-drained soil. Rich soils, too much water, or shady conditions may cause it to flop over. It is best planted among other perennials, flowers, or grasses, in order to hide the bare, leafless stems and to give it some support. Plants self seed readily. Deadheading can extend bloom time and limit reseeding, but it reduces seeds available for wildlife. Clumps should be divided every few years to ensure best flower yield. Can bloom continuously from May to July. Zones 4-8
Recommended Spacing
Space plants 12"-18" on center.
Pale purple coneflower benefits from having supportive companions near it, as it can flop when in pampered conditions or in less than full sun. It will self seed readily.
Companion Plants
Good companions for pale purple coneflower include Ratibida pinnata (prairie coneflower) and Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's root). Mix in the colorful and pollinator friendly blooms of Coreopsis tripteris (tall tickseed), Eryngium yuccifolium (button eryngo), Liatris pycnostachya (prairie blazing star) or Liatris aspera (tall blazing star), Ruellia humilis (wild petunia), Symphyotrichum laeve (smooth blue aster) or Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster), and Vernonia fasciculata (prairie ironweed). Add to the plant community with cool-season graminoids like Koeleria macrantha (prairie junegrass), Carex brevior (shortbeak sedge), and Carex bicknellii (Bicknell's sedge), along with warm-season grasses Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), Sorghastrum nutans (yellow prairie grass, Indiangrass), and Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama).
Additional Notes
Echinacea pallida is visited by long-tongued bees, butterflies, and skippers, along with the occasional short-tongued and green metallic bees. Caterpillars of several butterflies feed on the foliage and flowerheads, while goldfinches sometimes eat the seeds. Pale purple coneflower can be used as a cut flower and in dried flower arrangements. It blooms about 2-4 weeks earlier than the more familiar E. purpurea (eastern purple coneflower). The word Echinacea comes from the Greek word echinos, meaning hedgehog, in reference to the spiny center cone.
Pricing & Availability
Would you like your plants shipped later? You may choose to do so in the shopping cart.
Note: Early spring shipments might include plants that have not yet broken dormancy, or have not been vernalized and will be frost-tender. Please use your best judgment when selecting your preferred ship week.
Note: Early spring shipments might include plants that have not yet broken dormancy, or have not been vernalized and will be frost-tender. Please use your best judgment when selecting your preferred ship week.
Did you know? When plants are available from multiple growers, we list growers closest to your location first.
Why choose plants from the nearest grower? Choosing a the grower closest to you makes it more likely the plants are consistent with your ecoregion and better adapted to your location. In addition, shipping plants shorter distances typically uses fewer resources, something we can all get behind!
Why choose plants from the nearest grower? Choosing a the grower closest to you makes it more likely the plants are consistent with your ecoregion and better adapted to your location. In addition, shipping plants shorter distances typically uses fewer resources, something we can all get behind!
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Maps, Wetland Status & More
MAP OF NATIVE RANGE
Recorded County Distribution: USDA data.
Native To
| AL, AR, CT, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, NC, NE, NY, OK, SC, TN, VA, WI, LA, TX |
Legal Status
| Threatened | TN, WI |
Wetland Status
MAP OF WETLAND DELINEATION REGIONS
Interpreting Wetland Status
|
Code |
Status |
Designation |
Comment |
|
OBL |
Obligate Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Almost always occur in wetlands |
|
FACW |
Facultative Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Usually occur in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands |
|
FAC |
Facultative |
Hydrophyte |
Occur in wetlands and non-wetlands |
|
FACU |
Facultative Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Usually occur in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands |
|
UPL |
Obligate Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Almost never occur in wetlands |
Classification
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants |
| Superdivision | Spermatophyta | Seed plants |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons |
| Subclass | Asteridae | |
| Order | Asterales | |
| Family | Asteraceae | Aster family |
| Genus | Echinacea | purple coneflower |
| Species | Echinacea pallida | pale purple coneflower |
ADDITIONAL COMMON NAMES:
pale coneflower, pale-flower echinacea, pale purple-coneflower
SCIENTIFIC SYNONYMS:
Brauneria pallida
Rudbeckia pallida
Plant Sizes
Sizes Sizes
Sizes info
Shipping & Planting
SHIPPING INFO:
Shipping is free on all plants orders!
Your plants will ship using each grower’s preferred method: FedEx Ground, UPS Ground, or Spee-Dee Ground (in select midwestern states). Our growers ship orders Monday through Wednesday. The farther your plants need to travel, the earlier in the week they will ship. The goal is to have all plants delivered by the end of the week.
Shipping plugs:
Plugs are shipped in full flats, sometimes also referred to as trays. Multiple flats can be shipped in a single box. The flats are wrapped in netting or craft paper to secure the plants, and spacers are used between flats to keep the plants from being crushed.
When you unpack your plugs, the plants will have been somewhat flattened by the netting or craft paper. They will straighten out within a couple of days. You may also gently “fluff” them a bit to speed up the process. In some cases, your plants might have been cut back before packing, if the grower deemed them to have become too tall for safe packaging. Don’t worry, though, these guys know what they’re doing and would not compromise the health of the plants. They’ll fill back in in no time.
After receiving your plants’ journey in a dark box, it will be important to acclimate them to sunlight again. Over a couple of days, you should gradually move them into their preferred light exposure, and water them as per their requirement.
Although we always recommend putting your plants in the ground as soon as possible, they can stay healthy in the flats for a considerable amount of time. The key is to respect their growing requirements: if the species requires full sun, do not store them in the shade. If it is best adapted to dry soil, do not over-water.
PLANTING INFO:
Planting plugs:
We consider plugs ready to ship when the plants’ roots have filled the entire liner cell and the plants can easily be pulled out. In some cases you will have to go about it gently, wiggling the plant by the crown, and possibly squeezing the bottom of the liner to compress the growing medium and release the roots. Other times, the plants will appear to be root bound. They are not in the traditional sense. The plants are healthy but they have used up all the growing medium available to them. Plugs are at an aggressive stage of growth. As soon as planted the roots will immediately expand into your native soil. They establish faster than plants in larger containers, because they don’t have the luxury of a lot of growing media that can inhibit the roots from venturing outside of their comfort zone.
We are not going to address area preparation because the process can be complex and is always site-specific. However, as a rule, we recommend disturbing the soil as little as possible, and we do not recommend amending the soil. If you chose the right plant for the right conditions they will thrive. Any disturbance and amendments will only encourage weeds to emerge that never had a chance to do so before.
Installing plugs cannot be easier: dig a hole large enough for the roots to fit snugly inside, then water them in to eliminate air gaps. We recommend using a soil knife, sometimes referred to as hori hori, or a drill-adapted auger if it’s a large installation. If you use an auger, you will need a powerful drill. Depending on the size of the project and the type of soil, the process can be beyond what an average drill will bear. Mulching is recommended after installation to help keep weeds down while the plants establish. Be sure to keep it away from the crown of the plants. For large projects, you may want to mulch the area before planting, rather than tiptoeing through it after the fact. As a side note: if you are installing plugs in the fall, you might want to plant them so that the crown is about ¾” lower than the surrounding soil. The winter’s freeze/thaw cycles can push plugs out if the roots did not have enough time to establish and anchor them in.