Hmmm, that would be interesting. To be honest with you I don't even know what to do and/or how to collect seeds from Echinacea. Is It easy?
Jon
A Few Photos Starting With Echinacea "Mac N Cheese"
It's very easy. I let mine dry and you will notice the seeds between the spiny parts of the cone. You can get many different plants by just planting the seeds from one bloom.
So you just let some of the blooms completely die out of the plant over the course of a month or so? When you remove the dead bloom will they fall out if you turn it upside down or do you have to kind of pry them out?
Jon
Maybe that's why I have a couple of new Echinacea growing in the proximity of the other varieties? I didn't sew any new seeds so maybe these are seeds from the established varieties that have self sewn?
Which reminds me: is there a weed with leaves that look a lot like Echinacea? I have a healthy clump like that but the leaves are not QUITE the same as coneflowers, a little wavy maybe. Nothing else in the area is similar and I don't recognize it as one of my many regular weeds.
Jon,
I don't deadhead my plants. The seeds will fall out over time, but I try to get to them before the birds or this happens. They are hard to get out. The cones are sharp and stick me sometimes, but it's kind of like a miniature version of a sunflower. It's not as easy to get the seeds out though. You should try it. With your weather you'd be able to plant all year long!
Thanks. I'll have to leave some blooms on and let them die back and see what's there. Speaking of sunflowers, here's a picture I took a couple of days ago of this insanely large Sunflower growing near my front door. I don't know exactly which variety it is because it came out of a package of Sunflower seeds named "Large Flowered Mix" by Burpee. It's approximately 9-10 feet tall right now.
Jon
I've planted Mac N Cheese, Tiki Torch and Tomato Soup this year - hope they look as good as yours
I hope they do well for you Irwells. My Echinacea "Mac N Cheese" is continuing to look pathetic and I've really cut back on the watering. It seems to be very very sensitive as to water amounts. Tomato Soup seems to be a much better grower. Neither one my two have bloomed yet, but they are growing well and looking healthy. Here's a photo of Echinacea "Sundown" today. At least I think its still Sundown. The reason I question it is because this came up about 4-5 inches away from where Sundown was last year and now it's kind of two toned in color. Either its Sundown or a seed that came out of Sundown.
Jon
And here's the new Rudbeckia "Tiger Eye Gold". I only grew 3 of them but they all are doing extremely well with great foliage compared to many others.
Jon
You have some of the prettiest echies; is Sundown one of the Big Sky cultivars? I think that is the name of the one I considering buying. I know it was a two-tone color with shades of pink and maybe peach.
amore- good point. I'm unclear on the issue too if cultivars are coming true from seed. My E/ tennesseensis 'Rocky Top' appeared dead at its root ball but another coneflower is 4" beside it.....Hmmm.
Anyone, please chime in on this issue...
Thanks
phughes - That is Summer Sky.
Yeah Patty its Summer Sky. My "Summer Sky" didn't make it through the winter and looked so good last year. It's in Echie heaven.
Echie heaven must certainly be a beautiful place; maybe with nice music as a certain song refers to Rock and Roll Heaven....pardon me, I'm middle aged...
None of these come true from seeds. After Midnight will make plants from seeds that are very close, however. Summer Sky produces very interesting off-spring with blooms that change colors...at least they did for me. My plant is back this year with the changing color blooms. I'll post pics when it blooms.
Okay thanks! I should write that down in case I ever come across it. I'd probably have to order it online anyway. I just hate to pay what they ask for that series of plant and then it not make it through the winter. I did noticed that my echinacea 'Ruby Star' came back this year but no blooms yet. That is the only echinacea I have this year.
Yeah, the hybrid Echinacea are very pricey plants with no guarantees. Noone down here in South Florida even sells them so buying online or growing from seed is the only option....unless it's regular purple coneflower. At least you can purchase those as small plants in the herb section at Lowes or Home Depot.
Jon
Here's a photo from this evening of some of the Echinacea coming along in the front yard. Slow to come around this spring and finally making some pretty good progess.
Jon
i am just amazed at how well you grow them. especially some of the ones you grow are listed as 'dormancy required for flowering' in the growers guides.
how's the M&C coming along?
Howdy there. I'm a bit amazed myself to be honest. Most articles I had read said they wouldn't do well here. They all went into a "Florida Winter Dormancy" but only 3 or 4 out of 25 varieties I'm attempting to grow here didn't seem to be coming back. Most of them stopped blooming by October and die back somewhat. They then just go through about a 4 month period where they basically do nothing. Starting around late March they take off pretty quickly. The other pleasant surprise for me down here have been "Reblooming Bearded Iris". I had basically no success with Bearded Iris, but the Reblooming ones have been doing great. I get the feeling/have a hunch that rebloomers are less dependent on winter dormancy.
The Echincea "Mac N Cheese" is a struggle. It seems overly sensitive on the water issue and may be more susceptible to mildew. I get the feeling Mac N Cheese is proving to be difficult for others also. The "Tomato Soup" is doing wonderful and growing great. Today I received "Flame Thrower" and "Tangerine Dream" Echinacea from you guys and they look great. I had been looking for those two new ones for some time and just noticed a few days ago that you had them. I don't recall anyone else online having those 2 new ones available. Thank you, thank you for the great looking plants.
Jon
I hadn't heard of flame thrower, so I am attaching a link for other people who may need information.
http://www.terranovanurseries.com/wholesale/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=507
The picture is from Terra Nova.
Sorry I hadn't figured out until tonight that you're the ones that had grown some of those Echinacea I have purchased GreenThumbsTN. I'm a little ditsy/easily confused at times.)) My apologies.
Here is tangerine dream. Once again, the picture if from Terra Nova.
It seems like there is a new coneflower every day.
http://www.terranovanurseries.com/wholesale/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=510
It will be interesting to see how well these new coneflowers perform. I love the bright orange.
I just read back on everything and won't give up on Echinacea "Mac N Cheese" since you said many of them had grown back for you. I really cut back on the watering Mac N Cheese and hand water everything, mornings only, due to our current water restrictions here. Watering anything here in our humid climate in the evenings is generally a bad idea. Your asking for mildew problems when you do so.
Jon
Yeah, there sure are quite a few new Echinacea this year pennefeather. I just stumbled across the two you just posted pictures of a few months ago when searching for something on google. It linked me to Terra Nova and just decided to look at all their plant introductions. Tonight I sewed seeds for Echinacea "Amado". It's another Echinacea that I just stumbled across when looking for something else recently. Not sure if its relatively new or not, but hadn't recalled that name before.
Jon
Jon,
some suggestions for the M&C:
try trimming off all the foliage except for the newest leaf coming from the center and repotting it into fresh soil (if it's mildew, the spores will have fallen into the soil in the current pot). spray the little, now very sorry looking stick with daconil. water only when the soil is dry (check with your finger down at the 2 inch level in the pot) and try not to get any on the foliage for a couple of weeks or so. put it in a spot where it will get good morning sun and dappled sun the rest of the day until it shows growth again. respray with daconil in about 10 days.
lots of new coneflowers this year and some of them i can't tell apart without looking at the tags.
That Daconcil is something I have on hand at all times now. I love it. I have to spray my Pallida plants because they will die to the ground due to the rains we get in May. It hasn't happened since I got the Daconcil. It's an awesome product. I've sprayed all my new coneflowers with it after planting them. It protects them from several different diseases.
Where can you find Daconcil? I have a honeysuckle vine that gets mildew and I'm having a difficult time getting rid of the mildew.
I got mine at Lowes. They also have it at some Wal-Marts and Home Depot. It was about 7 dollars for one spray jug though. It does last the entire summer depending on how many plants need it.
We've had rain almost every single day this month. I sprayed all of the coneflowers last week. If they start wilting a lot, it's a sure sign of a fungus attacking them.
Does it help with zinnias do you know?
daconil is an antifungal available to gardeners and it works on most mold or mildew problems.
we buy the wettable powder and mix our own solution but the premix from a box store should do ok. try it on a small section or single plant first to make sure the plant will tolerate the solvents that are in the premix.
be sure to remove the diseased leaves as it does not kill existing disease, nor does it kill the spores in the ground or soil. you have to think of it more as treating the symptoms as opposed to curing the disease.
it's best to take some of your diseased leaves in to a nursery or to the extension service and get a definitive diagnosis - and a recommendation on how to proceed/treat that will save the involved plant and keep the disease from spreading to other plants.
Many thanks for the advice GreenThumbs. I looked up Daconil and saw it on the Lowes Website. I will go out hunting for it today/this evening and get to work on the "Mac N Cheese". Much appreciated. If it does also work on zinnias that would be a miracle. Zinnia's in the summer here are a nightmare to grow.
Jon
Thanks for the info.
Hey Jon while your out and about tonight, zip by and spray my plants too will ya buddy ole pal???? LOL
That sure would be nice if it worked on zinnias, huh, Jon. Guess we should spray em before they get infected. I'm going to have to really cut back my honeysuckle in order to get rid of the infected area. Bummer . . . it is blooming right now.
OK, I'll try spraying your plants from here with Daconil. I pointed westward and sprayed. I just hope the spray range on this bottle is 1000 miles!!! Yeah it is a bummer when you have to start stripping the foliage to clear up powdery mildew. I'm not sure why I ever thought there was a possibility the existing foliage would just cure itself eventually.
Jon
Can't remember the name of this one, maybe Sundown? It's the only one I have blooming yet
looks like summer sky to me. nice picture! love the way you captured the pollen in focus.
I think you're right - that sounds familiar. I planted a bunch of new ones this year, hope they bloom
Since we were talking about Gaillardia earlier, I might as well post this photo here. Here is a photo of a new Gaillardia named "Mesa Yellow". It seems to be listed as a new variety for 2009 & 2010 and I've read a lot of good things about it. I noticed it has been named as a Fleuroselect (flower award in Europe for new flowers) Award Winner for 2010.
Jon
Jon
Do your gaillardia grow upright or do they kind up flop over after a while? I have grown two different cultivars and after a couple of years they just weren't pretty and I chunked em.