This is just weird...

No, it's not a "dwarf variety" -- it's a tiny gnarled clump I rescued from a bed I came to call "the plant cave." Formerly a sun bed, the shrubs have now taken over and I had to remove all surviving perennials from the middle in June, including this poor thing. What's weird is that I noticed a bud on it a few days ago -- no stem to speak of, just a bud -- which I snipped off in hopes that it would establish itself. Now it seems to be firmly rooted, but if you notice on the lower right, there's another bud nestled in that wee 2-inch clump of foliage! I don't know what kind of E. it is, but I'm quite curious. Do you think I should cut off this bud and wait, or let it flower and see what happens?

Chop it off to promote growth. It will be squished up and small anyway if you let it bloom.

That happened to my paradoxa the first year i seeded them. Down in the axis of leaves is a large flower... with no stem. As amoreuore stated... chop it off.

That thing was on there like a barnacle. But it has been amputated!

Oh no!

On two of my plants the stem is rotting and the blooms droop. Did some reasurch and they say it is stem rot. Will it kill the plant? I have cut all the affected stems off. We have had so much ran and cool weather. Sorry, Jeeem I used your thread but thought it was appropriate.

If it's stem rot it seems that it's very likely to kill the plant within a couple of weeks. The issue is probably present in the roots and/or crown of the plant also from the excessive amount of water/rain. From reading a bit, it doesn't sound like there's much you can do. Sometimes you can save other types of plants that are in the beginning stage of root rot. You dig the plants out of the wet area. Then you try to remove the roots that are rotted. Good roots are white in color and rotted roots are dark in color. Then you let the soil air out a bit for a couple of days. It will dry out faster if you don't immediately replant it. If its still alive then perhaps replant it in a drier location on in a pot water it as little as possible. I tried this process with about 4 hibiscus plants I overwatered back in 2007. I was only able to save one of the four. Not sure if it's really worth all the effort though????

Oh, thats bad news. Guess what ones they are Maui Sunshine and Coral Reef. New ones!
The plants still have good heathy leaves so I am going to give your suggestion a try.

Thanks for your tip

If the foliage/leaves still look ok, perhaps the plants are not in bad shape. Usually with stem/crown/root rot the plants go downhill very quickly. If that area always seems quite wet I would move them. How long you should air out the soil around the plants depends on how wet the soil is/feels when you dig them out. Perhaps just a day, or two days at the most. At least you have a "Coral Reef". I don't think any of my two or three are still alive. I know one is definitely dead. Have to look in the beds to find the other ones. I believe they were bought online last fall and I don't recall seeing a bloom this year.

I've came across some BanRot and have had good results with it and my Echinaceas. It's another tool you can use in the future. It's really effective!

you may also consider looking for a product called 'actino iron'
it's mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria and works quite well in deterring root rots.

I'll try that too! It's really economical. I'm growing more of my Echinaceas in pots and they can be a challenge. I like the fact that it's safer. We need a thread to discuss products like that.

Just ordered the actino-iron . Will give that a try. I grow cuttings (geranium,coleus, other annuals) in a greenhouse and it looks like those my benefit from this product as well. Thanks for the tip.