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Page 70
| Echinacea Cultivation for Future Generations |
| As the interest in medicinal plants continues to grow and as people realize the true therapeutic value of botanical medicines, plants such as echinacea will become more and more scarce in the wild. This is happening already. As little as four years ago, the roots that were being harvested were almost twice the size of those being harvested today. It takes approximately three to four years for the plant to mature before the root should be harvested. While echinacea is still plentiful in some areas, it is disappearing along roadsides where it was once prolific. |
| Grow Your Own |
| E. purpurea is a beautiful plant that is very easy to grow in your own garden whether as an ornamental or for the purpose of making your own medicines. Its beautiful purple flowering head is an elegant addition to a fresh or dried flower arrangement. The seeds are very easy to come by. Most every nursery carries them, sometimes under the herb's old Latin name, Rudbeckia purpurea. It is easy to germinate. Simply place the seeds in flats in the fall, cover or tamp into the soil 1/8" or 1/4" deep and keep the soil evenly |
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