Echinacea - Beautiful and Useful

Echinacea, specifically echinacea purpurea, is a wonderful healing herb. It is also great for cold and flu season. One of the best things about echinacea is that it is easy to grow and can be grown across much of the country as a perennial. This plant is not only useful, but a beautiful plant to grow in your garden or flower beds.

Echinacea is a purple coneflower native to the United States. Plains Indians used this plant for all kinds of things, such as snake bites, fevers, and many kinds of wounds. Today it is used for fevers, wound care, respiratory infections, colds, flu, and arthritis, among other things.

Growing & Harvesting

Echinacea can be grown from seed or from a plant bought in a nursery. I have grown echinacea both ways. Seeds should be planted in early autumn. In 2014, I planted echinacea seeds. For weeks they did nothing, not a sprout in sight so I bought two plants from our local nursery.

2 year old plant from a nursery and a seedling 1 year old

A few days after I planted my new plants I saw several seedlings sprout. These seedlings grew extremely slowly the first year. The second year they took off. I also have lots of new plants sprouting up around the plants I bought from the flowers I did not cut back. I now have quite a crop of echinacea. Each winter echinacea will die back completely so do not be dismayed if your plant disappears during the winter.

Echinacea roots, leaves, and flowers can be harvested for use.  They can be used in teas and tinctures. It can also be used in poultices as well as infused in oil and added to salves. The roots of the plants can be used dry without any other preparations. Native Americans chewed the roots for coughs and sore throats.

Harvesting echinacea leaves and flowers can be done when the flowers are just beginning to open. These flowers and leaves can be clipped off the plant and dried on screens or in a dehydrator. If you are planning to let your plant continue growing for another year do not cut all of the leaves off.

Self-sprouted Echinacea about 6 months old

To harvest echinacea carefully dig up the plant after the first frost of the year. If you are replanting your plant only clip some of the roots. For home use, I only harvest a little of my plant's roots each year. After harvesting, place your roots on screens and dry in the sun. You can also dry on a low heat in a dehydrator. Make sure the roots are completely dry before storing. If they are not they can grow bacteria and fungus. Store your dried plant parts in a cool dry place until you are ready to use them.

Tinctures & Teas

To use your dried or fresh echinacea you can put it in high proof alcohol. You use one part plant and one part alcohol. Place this in a jar and shake it up. Then, set it in the sun for two weeks. Make sure to shake your tincture daily. After two weeks you can strain your tincture and store in a clean jar in a dark place. To use the tincture take about 20 drops in half a cup of warm water. This can be taken 2-4 times daily while symptoms persist.

To make teas with echinacea root use about half of a teaspoon of dried echinacea steeped in a cup of hot water. Let it steep 10-15 minutes. You can add ginger, lemongrass, and other healing herbs to taste in this tea. Honey makes a great sweetener and flavor enhancer as well.

Echinacea is a beautiful flowering herb that everyone should have in their garden. It will bring bees and butterflies to your garden. It can also help with colds, coughs, the flu, and many other ailments. The easiest ways to use your own echinacea are in teas and tinctures.

Echinacea in full bloom

Sources: 

ECHINACEA Echinacea purpurea. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2016, from http://www.blessedmaineherbs.com/ececpu.html

H. (2015). How to Grow Echinacea (Coneflower) | Planet Natural. Retrieved October 27, 2016, from https://www.planetnatural.com/growing-echinacea/  

How to Harvest Echinacea for Tea. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2016, from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/harvest-echinacea-tea-73456.html 

Loveplantlife, B. (2012). Echinacea: How to grow and use this powerful antibiotic and immune-stimulant. Retrieved October 27, 2016, from http://loveplantlife.com/2012/02/echinacea-how-to-grow-and-use-this-powerful-antibiotic-and-immune-stimulant/