Echinacea

Fall has arrived in Central Texas and it is time to plant Texas wildflower seeds, herbs and many fall vegetables. One of my favorite Native Texas wildflowers, Echinacea purpurea, AKA Purple Coneflower, is the world’s most popular herbal medicine. This plant is not only beautiful and useful, but easy to grow and perennial. It is now time to scatter the seeds, along with other wildflowers, just by tapping them into the ground and then wait for the fall rains to help them germinate. If you miss this fall planting, not to worry, you can still scatter the seeds in very early spring.

Fresh Echinacea buds are harvested in the spring and are macerated in your favorite menstruum (I use vodka), to get your Extra Echinacea tincture started. I was fortunate to learn some “million dollar” information a few years ago on a visit to Gaia Herb Farm. It was discovered in a government grant that the early buds of Echinacea are high in a compound that helps to prevent the onset of illness. So I started to tincture those first then add fresh flower petals and leaves in the summer and finally 3-year-old roots in fall. The result is a powerful and effective Extra Echinacea Tincture.

These plants are hardy, drought tolerant and quite beautiful. The leaves can also be used as a fresh plant poultice to minimize pain and inflammation. I made an Echinacea leaf, comfrey leaf poultice along with my own Black Salve to help with an inflamed spider bite. Within 2 days the inflammation was gone and I felt no pain whatsoever.

Echinacea is a tall, stately and valuable plant to include in your medicinal herb garden. The deep pink blossoms will bloom in summer (some of mine are blooming again this fall) and at this time of the season the energy of the plants travel down in to the roots. That is why fall is the ideal time to dig up your Echinacea roots and make tincture for you and your family to have available all winter long. I make an Extra Echinacea tincture made from flowers, leaves and seeds harvested and tinctured in the summer, and then I add the roots in the fall to make a powerful medicine.

Echinacea is an immune system booster. The herb should be taken at the onset on any cold or flu symptom. It will assist your own immune system and increase bodily resistance to infection. It also acts as an Alterative (blood purifier), an astringent and is useful for many inflammatory conditions. I like to take Echinacea tincture as a preventive when I am flying on an airplane, going on vacation or if I am going to be around people who are sick. I take it for about 5 days before I leave for a trip and for the entire time I’m away. I find that the herb works exceptionally well when used preventatively.

Echinacea purpurea is listed as an “At-Risk” plant by the United Plant Savers organization. This valuable plant has been over-harvested from the wild and it is not as readily available and plentiful as it once was. This alone is a good reason to get viable seeds from a friend who has grown the plant, and cultivate it yourself. It is important to put these “At-Risk” plants into our gardens for our own harvest, or to buy only organically cultivated herbs when purchasing Echinacea as a tincture or tea.

When thinking about what to plant in your garden this fall, why not choose Echinacea, as it is beautiful, easy to grow, medicinally beneficial and a native to our state. Echinacea grows easily in most parts of this country as well. So when you think of EZ Herbs, think of easy Echinacea.

Green Blessings,
Ellen