Mind didn't return but they are easy to start.

The first purple coneflowers I added to my garden was about 4 years ago, could be longer, tag just says 'Eastern Native plant', both are doing great, when first planted one didn't do very well, too much shade, I relocated it and since then it has been fine. This year I added 'Prairie Splendor, 'Cheyenne Spirit' and 'Fatal Attraction, it will be interesting to see how well they do this winter, they looked good all summer.

Frillie, Blanket flowers do very well here, I did manage to kill 2 plants that I had for a few years by moving them too often, poor things. The one I have now is about 4 years old and I have moved it a couple of times, but it did great this year.

Many purchased plants are hybrids and sterile,they produce seeds but seeds wont produce plants.
Your roadside wild plants reproduce because thats how they survive.

I planted Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Burgundy' in 2005, and not only is the plant still alive, but it has seeded itself into the gravel driveway next to the flowerbed. The offspring are all red, but have some variability, as the following pics show.

with the Hybrid Echinacea, NOT for me…Spent some fairly good $$$'s on a couple of E. 'Tiki Torch'. They were absolutely stunning! A beautiful, large, bright orange coneflower. They performed very well the initial year, but then they never returned for me! Very frustrating!

We had a spurt of Aster Yellows its a virus I think.I lost 6 new echinaceas.
I wount buy echies again.
My TikiTorch has shrunk since planting.It should be a nice big clump after 5 years but it only gets a stem or 2. It went out with thye diseased plants.

June your blanket flowers are very pretty, love the burgundy.

with Margaret! June, those are lovely! I haven't had much luck with blanket flowers, but I may have to try that one! I have a couple of purchased hybrid echinacea that I put in just this year. We'll see how they do.

Have tried Blanket flowers a few times , but they never overwinter. If I find them cheap enough I get them as annuals.

Their seeds wintersow well, too. They're usually short-lived for me, about 2 years.

Karen

The fancy hybrids all died for me as well. The one that we've had 15/20 years is an oldie, Bravado, and all I intend to have. They have colonized and now there must be 20 plants. We gardeners want reliable, not something that just disappoints us.

Great thread everyone! I feel the same way and I am happy with my seed varieties but I am a little confused about some things. I was wanting to purchase a 'Solar Flare' I saw it listed on a nursery as a hybrid and also on a seed wedsite as 80% true to name from seed.
Also I noticed that not all are recommended for zones higher than 8 and I am on the edge. Sometimes I get zone 9 heat and sometimes zone 7 cold so I do not do zone 8 plants they always die.

Harvest Moon for example is recommended for zone 9 and maybe that is why it tolerates more heat. I saw that the Meteor Series Coneflower is good to zone 10 so they might be a good choice for the southern heat. Problem is I do not like them. :(

But...Echinacea 'Leilani', Julia, Hot Papaya, Hot Lava, Hot Coral, Hope, Daydream, Flame Thrower, Coral Reef, 'Colorburst Orange','CheyenneSpirit','Chiquita','HotLava','Irresistible','Lilliput','LittleAngel',MeteorSeries','MacCheese,''Magnus','Marmalade,''Maui Sunshine,'Echinacea paradoxa', 'Piccolino,''Pineapple Sundae','Prairie Frost','Purple Emperor','Quills & Thrills', 'Raspberry Tart','Secret Glow','Secret Love','Secret Passion',''Sunbird',Big Sky Series,'Supreme Cantaloupe,''Tangerine Dream','Tomato Soup','Vanilla Cupcake', and 'White Swan' all good to zone 9 or 10. Most of the ones I lost here in the south are only good to zone 8 and they all did well for my friends in the north.

Also I am seeing more and more coneflowers that are good to zone 10, but on the flip side these heat tolerant coneflowers might not do well in the North, even though they want you to believe there is a designer coneflower that can handle all types of weather from zone 3-10, I don't think so.

Also, NOT all nurseries and websites are truthful about the zones, Plants are just merchandise to some people and they exaggerate for the sake of marketing.


http://www.daytonnursery.com/e...

Susan I agree they do like to make the zone thing confusing. I was checking out the new Echibeckia and one site had zone 4 and another zone 6.

As far as hybrids I would not buy seed. There are many on e-bay that try to sell seeds that in no way will come true.
Remind me this fall and I can send you Solar Flare seeds.

Ok, thanks Bob! I do not buy any seeds or plants from eBay. They can send anything they want because the buyer protection will expire before they bloom. It is a great environment for crooks. LOL....

I can't believe how tempted I always am to try these! Thankfully there's this thread, and I always manage to remember it in time! Thanks everyone! Seventeen dollars per plant is too rich for my adventurous side!

Chelle, you can get your feet wet next time dutchman does a co-op on Echinacea & it certainly won't cost you $17 per plant. This is the last one he did for them so you can get an idea.
The thread "Echinacea Co-op" in Classifieds and Group Buys forum

Thanks Ann.

The $17 was local. I was at the same store today and a few days ago and had to drool a bit over their blooms on both trips! None were allowed in my cart, but it wasn't exactly easy to walk away.

I can relate.

Watch the shipping dates. One coop shipped my plugs at the end of October and all died except one. The coneflowers need time to get some good roots down before winter. Get them now and do not let them bloom after September. They need to put all that energy into putting down roots. Just saying.

You can find some very nice ones at Home Depot and Lowe's for around 8 dollars and when Santa Rosa gardens has their sales you can get then for as low as $2.99.