In What Climates Do Purple Coneflowers Live?

Purple Coneflower Facts

• Purple coneflowers (Echinacea spp.) are hardy from U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 to 10. They tolerate a wide range of soils, but will not thrive in wetlands. Plants in Southern zones begin blooming in April, while the rest begin blooming in June or early July, and they bloom through summer heat, humidity and drought until the first hard freeze. Plants are deciduous; seed heads stand through winter, providing winter interest for the garden and seed for birds.

Eastern and Pale Purple Coneflowers

• Hardy Eastern (Echinacea pupurea) and pale (Echinecea pallida) purple coneflowers are the generalists in the purple coneflower family, although the pale purple coneflower is listed as endangered by the USDA. While they are equally at home in the cool, humid climate of the Midwest, the warm humid Southeast, and the hot dry climate of the central plains and Texas, pale purple coneflower is less successful along the humid coastal climate and cool, humid continental climate of coastal and interior New England than is the Eastern purple coneflower. Both species grow in south Louisiana, where tropical rains may provide an average rainfall of 60 to 68 inches or more, and in the plains of Nebraska, where rainfall averages 30 inches or less per year. They grow equally well in full sun or part shade, regardless of the temperature.

Old South Purple Coneflowers

• Smooth purple coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) grows along the Atlantic coast, primarily in the warm, humid southeast, but also in the Middle Atlantic state of Pennsylvania with its cool humid climate. Wavy leaf purple coneflower (Echinacea simulate) grows farther west to Missouri, but grows in the warm, humid southeastern states of Alabama and Georgia, and mixed humid areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. The Tennessee purple coneflower (Echinacea tennaseensis) lives only within the mixed alpine climate of the state that gives it its name. The southern half of Missouri receives from 40 to 50 inches or more average annual rainfall; most of Virginia receives 40 to 50 inches average annual rainfall. The Appalachian mountains that run along the coast may see as little as 35 average annual inches. All three plants are listed as endangered by the USDA.

Deep South Purple Coneflowers

• Topeka purple coneflower grows only in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas, in progressively warmer and more humid climates -- with the exception of West Texas, which is hot and dry with less than 22 to less than 14 inches average annual precipitation. Two endangered plants round out the subtropical heat and humidity-loving purple coneflowers; Bush’s purple coneflower (Echinacea paradoxa) in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri, which is a paradox in that it is yellow, and sanguin purple coneflower (Echinacea sanguinea) in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.