Hi,
I was at Lowe's today and they just had a shipment of Big Sky series Echinaceas come in. I just glanced over them because everyone has such bad luck with them but then I spied something different. There was one plant with light green/dark green variegation and peach-mango colored flowers. It was very vigorous, all the leaves showed the variegation, the flower form was normal and the roots filled the gallon pot. I haven't seen anything like it advertised but I thought the Echinacea fanatics here might know if this is a known cultivar or a one-of-a-kind find.
I bought it just in case, figuring that I could return it if it was nothing special. I'll try to get some pictures later.
Thanks for the help!
Danita
Variegated Echinacea
I'm glad you bought it Danita. I would have grabbed it myself!!! I'm sure many of us would like to see a picture of it so we can possibly figure out what it might be.
Jon
Please post pictures. It sounds awesome.
Danita.... Shoot don't return it. If ya don't like it I will buy it from ya. I have a passion for weird and unusual so I can work with them.
Okay, not the best photos because I waited until it got too dark to get a good exposure without the flash but here goes:
Focused more on the leaves:
Leaves:
Close-up of leaf with flash:
Close-up of leaf without the flash, it's not as dark or blue as this photo shows:
This message was edited Jul 5, 2009 10:07 PM
No opinions on this?
The new flowers do seem to be showing some of the abnormalities that seem inherent to the Big Sky series and the old blooms fade to a boring color.
But the variegated leaves are different.....
I'm not sure. I've never seen that before. Wish I could help.
This is very interesting. Are the leaves still variegated in the same way? Are all the leaves like this? I was wondering if it is a true variegation or discoloring but if they are staying the same then it could be a mutation. Too bad the flowers aren't staying nice for you. Keep us up to date on how it does the rest of the season okay.
The leaves are very nice. It could be a mutation caused during tissue culture. I hope it comes back next year. Very pretty.
Danita.. It could be anatural mutation or it coudl be that it is missing a nutrient, or too much of anutrient in that clump of soil that it was potte d in , which is causing the lighter coloration on the outside edge.
Pretty neat though. : )