(Black Coneflower, Western Coneflower)

Strange looking but elegant and sophisticated at the same time, the blackened purple and brown flowers of the western coneflower also have modest petal-resembling green sepals (bud leaves). A clumping herbaceous perennial native to the shortgrass prairies and montane meadows of the American West, it attracts butterflies and seed-eating songbrids. Growing from a rhizome (underground stem), it appreciates moisture and usually grows in acidic moist pockets or alongside streams.

The lance-shaped...

(Black Beauty Western Coneflower, Western Coneflower)

Strange looking but elegant and sophisticated at the same time, the blackened flowers of the Black Beauty western coneflower also have small petal-resembling green sepals (bud leaves). A clumping herbaceous perennial native to the shortgrass prairies and montane meadows of the American West, it attracts butterflies and seed-eating songbrids. Growing from a rhizome (underground stem), it appreciates moisture and usually grows in acidic moist pockets or alongside streams.

The lance-shaped dark...

(Sweet Black-eyed Susan, Sweet Coneflower)

Named for its sunny anise-scented daisies, sweet coneflower is a tough, beautiful summer bloomer that thrives in high heat and full sun. Native populations exist in the central United States with a few adjunct eastern populations in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Wild plants can be found growing on prairies, meadows, streamsides and roadsides. It is an upright, deciduous perennial that forms clumps that spread over time.

Its green to gray-green leaves are soft, fuzzy and said to have...

(Henry Eilers Sweet Coneflower, Sweet Coneflower)

Henry Eilers sweet coneflower gets its name from the anise-scented, bright yellow daisy-flowers that appear from summer to mid autumn. This beautiful native of the central and southern United States is an upright perennial that displays medium green leaves that have a vanilla scent. The unique pinwheel flowers are alluring: the lemony yellow petals are long, narrow and quill-like, encircling a honey brown disk in the center, and emits the fragrance of black licorice. Flowering begins in midsummer...

(Black-eyed Susan, Coneflower, Summerblaze Black-eyed Susan)

From midsummer to early fall, the prolific ‘Summerblaze’ offers lots of large daisies with downward-curling lemon yellow petals and dark eyes. This compact, clump-forming perennial is vigorous, fast-growing and ideal for bright sunny perennial gardens.

This hardy perennial forms clumps of basal foliage that spread slowly over time. Its sends up upright stems lined with oval, dark green leaves with deep veins. They are well-branched and become topped with lots of colorful daisies in summer. Each...

(Coneflower, TigerEye Black-eyed Susan, TigerEye Coneflower)

From midsummer to early fall, ‘Tigereye’ offers lots of large golden-yellow, dark-eyed "daisies" on uniform, well-branched, knee-high plants. This vigorous, fast-growing F1 hybrid is ideal for bright sunny gardens. It grows from seed to bloom in about 80 days.

This warm-season annual or short-lived perennial forms clumps of oval dark green leaves with deep veins. In early summer, it sends up leafy, multi-branched, upright stems that produce numerous semi-double daisy-flowers from their tips...

(Brown-eyed Susan, Thinleaf Coneflower)

The brown-eyed Susan is sister to the more common black-eyed Susan except that its numerous yellow flowers are smaller, have shorter petals and brown central eyes. It is tough, long-blooming and much underused in the landscape. When the tall, bushy plants bloom in summer they create a colorful cloud of dark-eyed daisies.

This short-lived perennial is native to a vast expanse of the central and eastern United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. It is clump-forming and has...