I thought it might be fun to share which cones have been resistant in the areas with aster yellows. This year it appeared here for the first time in my own coneflowers. Magnus was badly affected, and one plant of Prima donna was, the others were not. My white swan has been around for a long time now and has had no problems either. My magnus was affected in two separate gardens. My top hat bit the dust too. This is a pretty little offspring of magnus that to date is unaffected.
This is another seedling of magnus that is unaffected so far.
Do you think it has to do with how far bred they are from the original hardy wild coneflower, would that be Echinicea purpera?
I definitely think alot of the new cultivars are having problems. I read blog after blog of people who have their new cultivars die and the older strains plug away with no problems. Personally I am going to save the children of my cultivars and hopefully select resistant ones. I will still try the new ones, but I am going to steer clear of any that die quickly. We had so much rain I think it just had alot to do with the spread. Lots of foliage=lots of bugs that spread it.
For instance, Coreopsis that is pink instead of yellow is less likely to be hardy, IMHO, daffodils that are really not yellow and I dunno, stuff that is totally not how Nature intended seems more likely to have problems.
I think that's a good idea. I've had Sundown with it. :(
Like any gardner that loves coneflowers, I was heartbroken when the disease appeared here for the first time. Or should I say, conditions were right for it to infect my plants for the first time. Of all the plant types it can infect, only my coneflowers were visibly infected. Hopefully with time and growing out of some crosses, we can all have robust cones with excellent disease resistance. The new cultivars are grown out for such a short time and mass tissue cultured, it really isn't surprising they are not all that resistant.
I got it for the first time. Identified it today. I need to bag up two sunrise, one harvest moon, and my fragrant angel. That's all that I have in that bed. Three others died off last winter/spring. I suspect that it was for the same reason and I just didn't know what to look for last year.
I have two others that I added across the yard this year---green envy and coconut lime. They're doing okay but I don't have much hope. Sniffle......sniffle......
I'm afraid to try any others.
(((((velnita))))) you poor baby!
It is sad! From what I have read it usually infects two to three year old plants. Mine were two years old with my original Magnus 3 years. I do not think you should let that stop you from trying cones. Perhaps get divisions from others who have had their cones for several years. I am going to stay away from spending alot of money on cones though, and get divisions from friends and also let seedlings grow. Maybe the most robust ones will have some resistance. I think it is up to the cone lovers to work with the new cultivars and really test them and try to raise some good healthy varieties!
Sigh... I guess that's what is happening to my coneflowers. In 2 years I've lost an unnamed purple, Magnus (the original plant and all but one seedling), White Swan, Sunrise, Sundown, but in the middle of that destruction, my paradoxica still looks okay. And my 2 year old Harvest Moon (away from those, by the pond) looks so good, making up for the rest with a ton of flowers... so do the Coconut Lime and Razmatazz I planted this year on the other side of the back yard.
keep your seedlings and perhaps we can have more resistance. It is terribly sad to lose them. Coneflowers are so lovely it is awfully hard to not buy them.
