Tennessee Coneflower

Echinacea tennesseensis

Tennessee Coneflower is a conservation story with excellent garden performance. Once listed as federally endangered, this compact coneflower is now recovered enough to propagate for home gardens. and it's worth growing. The pink-purple petals reflex more strongly than purple coneflower, and the plants stay tidier at 18 to 30 inches, making them better suited to smaller gardens and formal borders where the sprawl of species Echinacea can be too much. It blooms from midsummer into fall, attracting the same goldfinch and butterfly parade as other coneflowers but in a more manageable package. The spent seed heads are as important as the flowers. leave them standing through winter and you'll watch goldfinch work them systematically on cold December mornings. Tolerates dry, rocky soil with excellent drainage, which mirrors its native cedar glade habitat.