Pale Purple Coneflower reaches 3 feet tall and flowers early, from June to July, with a large lavender blossom. This blooms a bit before Purple Coneflower, so including both in your garden can extend the showy purple bloom time.
 
It prefers full to partial sun, medium to dry soil and will grow in clay, loam or sand. Pale Purple Coneflower is especially popular with bees, butterflies, and skippers. It is one of the host plants for checkerspot butterflies and also several of the prettier moths. The large, bright flowers attract hummingbirds, and the seeds are enthusiastically eaten by birds, despite having one of the pokiest seed heads I have ever seen.