If you are a herbalist you will recognize the name Echinacea. If you have made even the smallest steps into perennial gardening you will recognize the plant purple coneflower. They are one and the same.

As an herb it is supposed to do something. I'll admit I'm just not exactly sure what. But I am sure it is on every herb list I have ever seen.

In the perennial garden it is a rather tall, strong growing native. I guess I should not say 'it' but rather 'they', for there are many forms in the market place. I suspect that most of the forms seen until recently are selections of plants found in the wild or inhabiting a garden somewhere.

Most of the forms are purple red ranging from very pale to almost red in color. All have a distinct composite center or cone. The petals that are arranged around the center come in many forms. Some are wide, flat and overlapping while others are narrow, separated and sharply curved toward the stem.

Generally, the height is over two feet with course oval leaves. Recently there was an introduction called knee-high. I'm still thinking about that one. Either the person who introduced it was very tall or I saw plants that were mislabeled.

This is a plant that loves sun, can handle dry conditions, and has a strong taproot that makes it able to thrive in clay soils. Plants with a taproot are at best difficult to divide. It can be a leader in the meadow garden along with native grasses, goldenrod, butterfly weed and black-eyed susans.

There is also a common white and a less frequently seen yellow form in the market place. In the garden most coneflowers self seed. Unless grown away from its purple cousin, the seeds of the white one will generally yield purple plants.

Recently I have seen reports of several interesting new introductions. Here, at least in one instance, I'm sure the plant breeders are at work. There will soon be some orange coneflowers on the market. The orange one is getting a lot of press in the industry.

The other one has two rings of purple petals around the cone. I have seen several varieties of this form. One is appropriately labeled doubledecker.

An interesting sidelight on this one is that the double flowers only appear as the plant matures and maybe not in the first year. We'll see.

As usual, the garden press is a bit ahead of the industry's ability to deliver the plants. You most likely will not find the new forms on your first trip to the garden center, but with a little patience they will make interesting additions to the garden.