September Beauty: Coneflowers

 

This month’s beauty comes courtesy of the High Line in Manhattan, New York. I had the absolute pleasure of wandering the walkways of this rejuvenated railway track several days ago and these Coneflowers caught my eye. Echinacea purpurea is their latin code name and they are a native of North America, part of the daisy family. (Apparently it is the same plant used in herbal cold and flu tablets, if you thought echinacea rang a bell).

Coneflowers on the High Line: Hats off to the Friends of the High Line, a group of New York local area advocates which formed in 1999 and lobbied over many years for a disused, raised rail to be transformed into a public space, instead of demolished. Thanks to their insight and persistence, and along with public support and clever vision and design, the beautiful walkway was opened in 2009. It is obvious that this space is much loved by the city and its thousands of interstate and international visitors.

The design of the planting along the walkway is based on what the track would have looked like in the 1980’s, when it was no longer in use and self-seeded plants began to pop up between the metal rails. The plants have been selected because of their hardy quality but also with careful thought given to their colour, texture and seasonal appearance. There is certainly plenty of colour and variety at the time of writing, as we enter New York’s Fall.

The Coneflowers appeared along the walkway in sturdy, vigorous clumps between longer feathery bushes and grasses; pink-purple and white. They make you think of big, open prairie plains, which is delightfully unexpected in the Big Apple.