Echinacea summer joy. Health up! Growing it & practical uses.

Composition and Characteristics

Description: Echinacea is a perennial with tall stems, single distinct pink or purple flowers and a central cone that is usually purple or brown. The oversized cone is a seed head with sharp spines resembling a stiff comb.

Properties & Actions: Antioxidant, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiseptic, astringent, immunomodulator, and anti-ageing.

Nutritional value: Vitamin C, vitamin D, beta-carotene, zinc, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, and potassium.

Phytochemical compounds: Polysaccharides called heteroxylan & arabinogalactan, glycoproteins, phenols, alkamides, volatile oils, flavonoids, caffeic acid derived from echinacoside, cynarin & chicoric acid. The roots have high concentrations of volatile oils (essential oils). We believe the combination of both is the most effective.

Health Benefits

Echinacea supports a healthy immune system not only by stimulating innate immunity but also by enhancing adaptive immunity. It is a wide-spectrum immunomodulator that regulates both innate and adaptive immune responses. [mfn]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2362099/[/mfn] Echinacea is high in antioxidants that fight free radicals & improves oxygen levels in the blood. It supports a healthy upper respiratory system and is traditionally used to relieve coughs, colds & flu. [mfn]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15813158/[/mfn] Echinacea fights infections, soothes inflammation, and is a mild pain reliever. It protects your gums from inflammation and prevents bad breath. It alleviates urinary tract infections and has mild laxative properties. Echinacea also supports cognitive and mental health and relieves anxiety. [mfn]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34217960/[/mfn] It treats diabetes by regulating blood sugar levels [mfn]https://www.discoveryjournals.org/medicalscience/current_issue/v25/n111/A3.pdf[/mfn] , with anti-ageing and anti-cancer properties.

Echinacea is available in In Sync with Nature online shop. Buy Echinacea tincture/capsules, tea/powder. 

Skin Care

Echinacea clears eczema, psoriasis, acne, blackheads, and whiteheads. It soothes bug bites, itchiness, skin irritations and skin inflammation. It promotes skin cell renewal & growth. Echinacea protects the skin from oxidative stress, the abuse of harsh elements & premature ageing caused by the sun. Its anti-ageing properties add skin hydration, decrease the depth of wrinkles, smooth fine lines, and reduce age spots. Echinacea also keeps the skin’s outer layer strong preventing moisture from escaping.

Hair

Echinacea encourages hair growth & prevents early onset hair loss. It has anti-dandruff properties, reduces scalp irritation and fights bacteria that cause inflammation.

Growing & harvesting Echinacea

Growing Habit

Echinacea is a herbaceous, drought-tolerant perennial plant growing up to 140 cm in height. They become dormant in the winter & re-emerge in spring, brightening your garden with beautiful purple flowers. 

Season

Sow seeds from early spring onwards. Echinacea often does not bloom reliably until its second year in the garden.

Position

Echinacea thrives in full to partial sun. It needs at least four hours of sunlight per day. The plants grow natively along the edges of woodlands, so they will thrive in spots with morning shade and afternoon sun or vice versa.

Soil

Echinacea prefers rich soil with a near neutral Ph. It thrives in sandy, loam and chalk soils. Echinacea will tolerate poor, rocky soil but not grow in wet, muddy soil. They grow in most soils, including acidic and alkaline soils. It is best to improve heavy clay soil conditions by digging in good compost. 

Spacing

Coneflowers are clumping plants. One plant will tend to get larger, but it will not spread and overtake the garden via roots or rhizomes. The eventual size of the plant clump depends on the cultivar. The estimated space between plants is 35 to 45cm between plants. Because Echinacea establishes deep taproots, you need to plant them where you want them. They do not like to be moved once established.

Sow & Plant

Plant young Echinacea plants in the spring or the autumn in well-drained soil and full to part sun. Echinacea is easy to grow from seed but also tricky as it requires a cold, moist period—called stratification—to germinate.

Sow seeds directly in the garden from early spring onwards. Echinacea often does not bloom reliably until its second year in the garden. It covers them lightly to discourage birds from eating them. Seeds will germinate in the spring. Otherwise, sow the seeds in trays of moist sand (first refrigerate them for a week). Plant the seedlings into pots of compost once they are big enough to handle. Keep them in partial shade, moving them further into the sun for longer times each day until they are hardened off and ready to plant in the garden. 

Feeding & Mulching

Spread rich compost over the dormant plants each winter—mulch plants with compost at the time of planting. Do not bury the plant stem, but mulch in the spring with compost to improve soil fertility around the plant.

Watering

Echinacea is a low-water plant; however, you’ll need to water young plants to help them establish new roots. That is usually a sequence of every day or every other day right after planting, moving to a couple of times per week, to once per week, to every other week, to water only when your area is experiencing extreme drought. The second year after planting and beyond, you should not have to water Echinacea unless you’ve gone eight weeks or more without rain. They are that drought-tolerant.

Trimming & pruning

You can prolong the already-long bloom period of Echinacea plants by deadheading them. Cut dead flowers to a leaf where you can see a bud ready to swell and break. Toward the end of the bloom, leave some flowers on the plant to dry and go to seed. Birds love to snack on the seeds, which is enough reason to keep them, but the plants will also self-sow, allowing you to end up with some freebies during the next growing season.

Control size and delay the entire plant’s bloom by cutting plants back in June to 75cm tall. If you prune some of your plants, but not all of them, you’ll have a lovely, long, staggered coneflower bloom season.

Harvesting

Harvest the tops in the third year and the roots in the fourth year. Thoroughly wash and dry the roots. Dig plants up in early autumn to harvest the roots. Small divisions with skimpy root systems can be replanted and allowed to grow for another year. 

Drying

Lay roots out in the sun to dry. You can dry your plants by either hanging the whole plant or removing the petals and leaves and then laying them flat to dry in a cool dark place. Once dry, gather the petals and leaves and gently cut or crush them into minced-size pieces.

Gathering the seeds

A couple of weeks after the flowers have bloomed, seeds will form.  There are two places on the seed head to collect seeds at the base of each petal and within the ‘cone’ of the cone flower itself. After the seed head starts to dry out or turn brown, you can harvest the seed heads. It would help if you cut the seed head off 12cm below or below it. Place these into a paper bag. The seed heads must be thoroughly dried out before harvesting, or allow the seeds themselves to dry for a week after you have separated the seed.

How to use echinacea

Parts used: Flowers, root, leaves & twigs.

Tea

Use the flowers, leaves & twigs as tea. Place 1 tsp into 500ml boiling water. Let it steep for 15 to 20 minutes. Squeeze in the fresh juice of a lemon and add honey according to your taste.

Add Echinacea tea to water for a deeper cleansing rinse or face wash.

Decoction

(Root): Place two teaspoons of root in 500ml water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Drink 250ml one to three times per day. Or drink 500ml during the day. (Powdered root): Place half to one tsp of the powder in 500ml water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 15min. Drink 250ml one to three times per day.

Powder

(Power shot): Place half a teaspoon of powder in a small glass. Slowly add +- 50ml (a shot) water or juice to the powder while stirring. Take a shot one to three times per day. You can also add the powder to a smoothie or yoghurt.

Tincture

An Echinacea tincture is an extract of the herbs leaves, twigs or tea in ethanol alcohol. Tinctures are very potent and one of the best ways to take herbal remedies. It extracts almost all active ingredients from a plant, making a broad spectrum of a herb’s medicinal properties available to the body.

Dosage: 1 to 2ml three times per day. Dropper bottle: 20 to 40 drops three x per day. Spray bottle: 3 to 5 squirts three times per day.

Glycerite

Glycerites are herbs extracted in glycerine. They are used extensively in herbalism as alcohol-free tinctures. 1tsp 3 x per day Dropper: 30 to 60 drops three x per day.

Oxymels

Herbs are extracted in a 100% natural base of pure honey & raw apple cider vinegar—1 to 2ml three x per day. Dropper: 20 to 40 drops three x per day.

Infused oil

Infusing Echinacea leaves in Grapeseed oil is excellent for all skin conditions. An infusion of Echinacea in coconut oil adds to its anti-inflammatory properties & is ideal for mature skin. Use the infused oil directly on the skin, or blend 20% with 80% botanical oil of your choice or blend 10% infused oil with a neutral aqua cream.

Creams

Therapeutic – Stir 15 to 20ml tincture into 80g aqua cream to treat acne & other skin conditions. Add 10 to 20 drops of essential s oil of your choice. 

Nourishing treat – Stir 10g infused oil into a 90g aqua base for a gentle moisturising treat. Add 10 to 20 drops of essential oil of your choice. 

Toner & Rinse

Add 50ml of echinacea tea to 500ml of water for a facial rinse. You can also add 10ml tincture to 90ml mineral or distilled water & use it in a spray bottle as a therapeutic skin toner & rehydrator. Add 5 to 10 drops of essential oils of your choice.

Scrub

Use the finely powdered herb as a gentle scrub to exfoliate & cleanse the skin.

Potential side effects

Exceeding the recommended dosage or overuse of Echinacea can lead to nausea and dizziness, specifically affecting people with allergies. Side effects may occur in people who exceed the dosage and are allergic to flowers such as daisies, marigold, and ragweed.

There is a debate about Echinacea’s immune-stimulating and immune-modulating properties.  Due to the stimulating effect on the immune system, people with autoimmune disorders or taking immunosuppressive drugs were warned to avoid it or consult their health practitioners first. New studies make it clear that Echinacea not only acts as an immunostimulant or immune system booster but is more likely to have an immunomodulatory effect. [mfn]https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2019/3548396/[/mfn] Talk to your health practitioner If you have an autoimmune disease. Even though Echinacea is okay for pregnant or breastfeeding women, it should be used cautiously.

Echinacea detailed information