ECHINACEAS are robust hardy perennials, much admired for their big, bold daisy flowers, that were introduced to Britain from North America in the 1790s but it took them a long time to catch on. These tightly clumping plants, with their stems each topped by a 4-5in (10-12cm) flower that faces the sky, soon became one of the favourite flowers with garden butterflies and other pollinators, but for the gardener the flowers of the first varieties came in rather watery colours.
The first step forward
The first developments were in improved flower colours that appealed to gardeners, pollinators and to cut-flower enthusiasts. The flowers were in the traditional daisywith flowers like big daisies, but with yellow and orange or scarlet petals.
