Seasons of Interest: Spring foliage is dark green and attractive. Echinacea blooms all summer long and into the beginning of fall as well. Some gardeners choose to leave the coneflower seed heads on the plant at the end of the season to provide winter interest and food for native songbirds. Uses in the Garden: Coneflowers make excellent cut flowers and do well in butterfly gardens, prairie or native gardens, water wise xeroscapes, and full sun gardens.
Henry Blair was the second black inventor issued a patent. Blair was born in Montgomery County, Maryland around 1807. He received a patent on October 14, 1834 for a seed planter and a patent in 1836 for a cotton planter. Henry Blair was the second black inventor to receive a patent the first was Thomas Jennings who received a patent in 1821 for a dry cleaning process.
An energetic Frenchman named AndrÃ© Michaux impacted Southern gardens more profoundly than anyone. Plant explorer and botanist to King Louis XVI, he established the Southâs first botanical garden just north of Charleston in 1786.