Echinacea Strawberry and Cream - Purple Coneflower

Echinacea 'Strawberry and Cream' is a variety of Echinacea with a delicious and fun flowering: its prominent spiky cone of pinkish-red resembles a strawberry and rests on a collar of trailing petals in a creamy white with a pinkish halo towards the centre. The plant easily steals the show in a sunny summer border where its double and bicoloured flower pairs well with equally unique, or more traditional companions. It is also a very resistant plant that adapts to difficult conditions, tolerating occasional intense heat, humidity, and drought.

Echinacea 'Strawberry and Cream' belongs to the Asteraceae family. It is a horticultural creation derived from Rudbeckia purpurea, native to the western United States, from Georgia to Michigan, passing through Oklahoma and Ohio, among others. This deciduous perennial with a strong character confidently colonizes rocky meadows, savannas, open woodlands, and roadside edges in its natural habitat. 'Strawberry and Cream' has a solid, bushy, upright, dense habit, reaching approximately 70 cm (28in) high and 35 cm (14in) wide. The opposite lanceolate leaves are dark green and covered in rough hairs. Flowering occurs from July to September, slightly fragrant and loved by butterflies. The branched stems are each topped with a solitary, double head, measuring 10 cm (4in) in diameter, with a particularly prominent and rounded spiky disk, pinkish-red in this variety, surrounded by a collar of trailing petals in creamy white. A pinkish halo infuses the petals towards the centre. The fruit is an achene that releases seeds which are eagerly consumed by birds. This plant firmly and deeply roots into the soil with its highly developed root system. Its above-ground vegetation is deciduous, drying up in autumn and regenerating in spring.

Rudbeckia 'Strawberry and Cream' delights butterflies, and its remarkable flowers add a touch of cheerfulness to borders. Play with perennials in similar colours but different forms, such as Coreopsis Ruby Red or Rosea Sweet Dreams, Digitalis or Achillea. The simplicity of ornamental grasses complements it beautifully: Stipa tenuifolia, Schizachyrium scoparium, or Muhlenbergia capillaris with their pinkish spikes. Its beautiful colours brighten fresh or dried flower arrangements. It also grows well in a large pot.