Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea
 
A purple coneflower patch is a busy place in your garden, always feeding bees and butterflies. It is a showy perennial that attracts attention with large daisy-like purple-pink flowers featuring drooping rays surrounding an architectural brown central cone. Blooming from June to September, this popular prairie native is easy to grow and extremely resilient. The plant can grow 0.60-1.20 m tall with long-lasting flowers that provide continuous colour throughout summer.
 
Ecology:
One of the most valuable pollinator plants, purple coneflower attracts a wide range of pollinators, including bumble bees, sweat bees, mining bees, leafcutter bees, long-horned bees, butterflies (monarchs, tiger swallowtails, skippers), flower flies and even hummingbirds. It is a host plant for the silvery checkerspot butterfly, wavy-lined emerald moth, and several other caterpillar species. The large seed heads provide important winter food for goldfinches, sparrows, and chickadees. Hollow stems offer nesting habitat for stem-nesting bees. Purple coneflower supports 2 specialist bee species.
 
Growing conditions:
Highly adaptable and easy to grow. Thrives in full sun to part shade. Tolerates a variety of well-drained soil types, including sandy, loamy, and clay soils. Once established, purple coneflower is extremely drought-tolerant, heat-tolerant, and deer-resistant. Prefers moderate moisture during the first year to establish its roots. Leave seed heads standing over winter for birds.