I grew some of these last year from seed, but I was not impressed. The stems are weak and floppy, and the flowers were very small. As a result, I decided that I was going to rip this out of the bed. I think that I have identified it but I was surprised to see that the upcoming plants appeared to be linked together. I haven't seen this pattern in the coneflowers. Is anyone familiar with this?
I will try to post a picture of them tomorrow.
Ratibida - mexican hat coneflowers
They are kind of a diminutive ratibida, alright as an accent or maybe a large group. Mine made it through the winter here last year.