Purple coneflower

Coneflowers come from the North American prairie, where the soil is deep, the sun is unbroken and the winter is cold and dry. Reproduce that and they are among the easiest perennials there are. Seed is sown indoors in trays and given a spell in a cold frame, then hardened off and planted out between May and July in the north. In South Africa they go in through the spring planting months. The one thing that kills them is a wet winter on clay, so put grit in the planting hole and choose the driest, sunniest part of the border. Leave the seed heads standing when the flowers finish, because goldfinches take them apart through autumn and the black cones look well under frost.