Echinacea, Double Coneflower 'Pink Poodle'

This is year 6 for my pink poodle Echinacea. Unlike other Echinacea that died only after 1 year, this one keeps going and looks exactly ...Read Morelike a zinnia in bloom. It does not get that fungus on its leaves, nor do the blooms wilt under the intense hot sun. I can't say enough praise for it. I was shocked to see so many negative reviews. My pink poodle blooms are HUGE and the plant gets bigger every year.
Wonderful plant.

Here is what Plant Delights Nursery says about 'Pink Poodle' in its July 27, 2010 e-newsletter:

"In other plant news, let'...Read Mores talk about Echinacea 'Pink Poodle', which we first listed in 2009. Well, as we say in the nursery business...woof, woof, woof. Yes, the name 'Poodle' should have clued us in, but indeed, it turned out to be a real dog. While we first trial almost all of the new plants that we offer, there are a small number that we will occasionally list from trusted breeders, or from where we regularly monitor certain breeding programs. On a very rare occasion we find that a stray dog has made it into the nursery and such was the case with Echinacea 'Pink Poodle.' After two years in our garden, only one flower out of several hundred turned out to be the nice double that was pictured by the breeder. The rest resembled the insanely ugly Echinacea "Doppelganger", which must be in its parentage. Anyway, we have discarded our remaining stock and are offering credits to anyone who purchased this from us...just contact our office at office@plantdelights.com. We apologize for letting this one get past us."

I have talked with several other owners of this plant and we all have experienced purchasing this plant and finding out that the blooms a...Read Morere not true to the image, but rather look more like 'Double Decker.' I would suggest anyone interested in acquiring one only buy it when you see the plant you're getting in bloom as there is a very high incidence of plants not being as advertised due to tissue culture propagation.

I bought 3 of these and only 1 looks like the proper bloom style. 2 of them look like what an Echinacea "Double Decker" is supposed to lo...Read Moreok like.

Another problem with this plant is poor basal branching which means this plant is not going to have many bloom stalks for you. Plant growth regulators will be required to make this plant more full. This lack of branching also means this plant's winter survival rate is very likely to be poor.

I would be more positive about this plant had it matched the plant tag the way any plant should. Terra Nova is bad about doctoring the images on their website. If you look at them, you will see that they are all flower arrangements that are cropped to make it look like an actual plant is growing. This is very deceptive and shouldn't be tolerated.