Had this piece been written about 20 years ago, it would have been a pretty brief article, as the flower forms and colour variations of Echinacea have expanded exponentially since then. I even referenced my 2003 copy of John Valleau’s Perennial Gardening Guide only to find ‘Magnus’, ‘Ruby Star’, ‘Kim’s Knee High’, ‘White Swan’ and a few species like Echinacea pallida and E. paradoxa listed, although there is also a picture of unnamed future colours (much resembling the ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ seed strain, introduced in 2012) and one breakthrough double magenta called ‘Razzmatazz’.
📸 MK Lascelle
Needless to say, we are spoiled for choice in 2026, so much so that it can be difficult to bring home just one Echinacea, which once sported the common name Purple Coneflower, a term that certainly no longer applies. With that in mind, here is a concise but incomplete colour guide to the Echinacea cultivars you will find at Amsterdam Garden Centre.
Echinacea pallida | 📸 MK Lascelle
RED
Red was a real colour breakthrough for Coneflowers, and it all started with the introduction of ‘Tomato Soup’ (the exact hue of the Campbell’s soup) in 2007 by Terra Nova Nurseries who crossed Echinacea paradoxa with the purplish-pink ‘Ruby Giant’. While still available, the most popular red cultivar to date would be ‘Panama Red’, with the semi-double quilled ‘Sunseekers Racing Red’ adding a unique flower form to the mix.
Panama Red | 📸 MK Lascelle
Sunseekers Racing Red | 📸 MK Lascelle
PINK
At the top of your pink options is the 2010 All-America Selections winning seed strain, PowWow Wild Berry, which produces consistent crops of deep pink blooms, often in their first year. We are rounding out our top picks for this hue with ‘Panam Rose’, a bright pink cultivar accented with golden cones that averages 12-20” tall.
PowWow Wild Berry | 📸 MK Lascelle
WHITE
I still think the old-fashioned ‘White Swan’ is a great variety, hence the reason it is still widely available to this day. Newer cultivars like ‘Vintage Pearl White’ from the SunMagic series provide a pearly luminescence with its stiffer petals, while the elegant ‘Vanilla Drip’ produces lovely double anemone form flowers that are not prone to flopping over, like many of the earlier introductions.
Vintage Pearl White | 📸 MK Lascelle
Vanilla Drip | 📸 MK Lascelle
GREEN
While there are pure green Coneflowers like ‘Green Envy’ or ‘Sunseekers Apple Green’ out there, these can be difficult to find at times. More common are green-pink bicolours like ‘Green Twister’ and the quilled-petalled ‘Prima Aura’. A newer colour option is the vibrant ‘Princess Citrus’ cultivar with its bright yellow petals elegantly tipped in green, a variety we have chosen to grow this year.
Prima Aura | 📸 MK Lascelle
Princess Citrus | 📸 MK Lascelle
ORANGE
Most of us first experienced those bright orange Coneflowers with the mixed ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ strain, the only problem being that we had to wait for plants to bloom to be sure we got the right colour. Now you can choose strong oranges like the intense ‘Sombrero Adobe Orange’ or the lighter hues of the bright gold ‘Prima Saffron’ which matures at a mere 12” tall.
Sombrero Adobe Orange | 📸 MK Lascelle
Prima Saffron | 📸 MK Lascelle
YELLOW
Yellow is a universal blending colour whether you are combining it with Russian Sage (Perovskia) at the cool end of the spectrum or say Red-Hot Poker (Kniphofia) where it looks at ease with both the reds and oranges. That should make Echinacea ‘Sombrero Lemon Yellow’ or ‘Artisan Yellow Ombre’ easy choices for any garden.
Sombrero Lemon Yellow | 📸 MK Lascelle
Artisan Yellow Ombre | 📸 MK Lascelle
MAGENTA
An intense pink that is neither red nor purple, this is a colour that really holds up in that intense summer sun. ‘Sunseekers Sweet Fuchsia’ gives the best of form and colour with semi-double quilled blooms of an unstoppable deep magenta. ‘Sunny Days Ruby’ brings yet another flower form of oversized double blooms with a ruby-red cone surrounded by rich magenta petals.
Sunseekers Sweet Fuchsia | 📸 MK Lascelle
Sunny Days Ruby | 📸 MK Lascelle
PEACH
Echinacea ‘Fresco Apricot’ very much resembles the Sunseekers series in flower form with zinnia-like blooms of peach often with a dash of pastel pink. ‘Sunseekers Rainbow’ is more of a bicolour form with flowers emerging a pale yellow and shifting to tones of peach, orange and pink as they fade. Please keep in mind that we may not have every variety in stock when you come looking, but we are currently growing our own crop of hard-to-find Echinacea, such as the aptly named ‘Beautiful Tropics’ and many others.
Fresco Apricot | 📸 MK Lascelle
Sunseekers Rainbow | 📸 MK Lascelle
So, you are bound to find at least a little something to bring home and beautify your garden on your next trip to Amsterdam Garden Centre.
Copyright 2026 MK Lascelle
