2 year crosses.

I collected seed from my collection 2 years back and seeded them last year. Below is the list of plants i collected seed from. I have 3 times the variety so what they might have crossed with is quite random. I didn't do any intentional crosses.

Last year a few standard looking blooms did open, but i just pulled or gave those away. The ones with the more thin tapered leaves are what i kept my eye on, since i assumed they have some paradoxa "blood" in them to some degree. So this year i am just now getting blooms opening on some.

When planting them last year, i just took all of the seedlings from the same seed head and planted them in a common planting hole. So there is 4-6 seedlings kind of bundled together. hence the below blooms coming from the same planting hole. This one is 3 feet tall. The orange one has smooth leaves, while the purple one has fuzzy leaves.. but bother are similarly shaped. I do have paradoxa, pallida, and 'hula dancer' in the garden, so it my be some cross of them to a degree. Many flower heads in my collection right now have those caterpillars burrowing in. That is why some petals have fallen from the head. I am hoping subsequent flowers are better looking overall. i like the color on the orange one though.

And the last image is of the paradox group i seeded many years back. These guys bloom like crazy. I actually have my stop motion camera set up on these, so after a week or more, i will post a movie of them blooming.

Coconut Lime
Flame Thrower
Green Envy
Hot Lava
Mac n Cheese
Tikki Torch
Tomato Soup

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww350/m_derhodes/dual.jpg
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww350/m_derhodes/leaves.jpg
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww350/m_derhodes/para.jpg

Awesome. I have a lot of fun collecting seeds from mine too. I've saved seeds from one of my hybrids last year. I have planted them and I'm growing them this year. I bet if you save seeds from the yellow/orange one you'll get more interesting plants next year. I'd keep up with where that bloom is and save those seeds. I have some "Magic Box" seeds growing, but they probably won't bloom this year. That seed variety called "Cheyenne Spirit" is going to be awesome though. If it's as good as PowWow but with the other colors, they'll have a very hard time selling plugs of those pitiful hybrids out now. I think they are supposed to bloom the first year too. You'll be able to go to Lowes or somewhere next year and pick out plants in bloom and just pick out the color you want. They will be cheaper too because they aren't tissue cultured. I don't think I'll buy anymore plants until they come out with a spectacular variety. Seeds are all I'm focusing on now with Echinaceas. I can't wait to see them next year.

yeah... it's looking like they are running out of ideas on colors for the new varieties... unless they get a blue color. I like the long thing petals of the pallida form, so crossing with these would be nice.

Another thing i noticed with my hard clay soil is that any of my seed grow plants are much more hardy and dense compared to the ones i have bought in gallon containers. I assume this is from me not prepping the planting hole well enough for the potted plants. I think the super loose soil they use is making a well against the clay soil hole and just holds water at the roots of some, causing some loss from rot. If i do buy any potted plants this year, i will plant to amend a large hole to get around this.

They have a ton of PowWow and Hot Papaya's at lowes these days to pick from... but all the hot papaya aren't double at all.. they look like standard coneflowers.. but orange.

That Cheyenne Spirit looks nice. Getting reds from seed would be great. The magic box looks great too.. i wish i would have started some of these this spring... i like the bicolor versions they are showing.

When I buy plants, I shake as much of that potting bark (crap) off as I can. I hate that stuff. It dries out so quickly.

The PowWow Wild Berry is awesome. It's perfect for the front. They are about a foot tall their second year and covered with blooms.

also... i thought that when the red/orange/etc flowers started coming out years back that they were doing something fancy to get the colors.. not just doing simple crosses??

i think for the double versions they are doing some sort of embryo thing...