My flower garden: Echinacea

Also called purple coneflower, echinacea is a beautiful and very useful flower to add to your garden.  I'm sure you have heard of taking echinacea as a vitamin for good immune health, but there are many other uses.  You don't need to go out and buy supplements either, just grow the flower in your own garden.
Echinacea is a wonderful flower to attract pollinators to your garden.  Butterflies and bees love the flower and I often find them all over mine out in the garden.  They attract many types of beneficial insects to your garden which are vital to maintaining an organic garden.  The seeds are also loved by finches, which eat the seeds and the bugs in your garden.
Echinacea root is loaded with antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties.  Western societies use echinacea as an immune system stimulant while traditionally, echinacea is used to treat acne, blood poisoning, cuts and sores, and fever.  The leaves have some of these properties as well, but the greater concentration can be found in the roots.  The roots and leaves are both fairly simple to harvest and store so that you will have plenty you can put in storage to last you all year.