Hi Mike, thanks, it was just that first pic that was from the cell phone, i usually keep my nikon dslr in the car with me when i'm working up at the house, to take any nature pics and house progress pics, this garden is all at an abandoned house I bought and have been working on fixing for the past few years, a couple miles away from my rental house

Hi Ann, ya I was looking for a good butterfly thread but just started my own wasn't sure where to jump in haha

Nice!

question to those who grow from seed, have u ever pinched seedlings down to get them to branch out more? I've read it mainly as a zinnia suggestion but just thought i'd ask if anyone has any experience with this & echi's

I've never done it. And given how the seedlings grow, I'm not sure I'd know how or where to pinch. It's not like they grow from one main stem like a zinnia. They put up more new leaves from the base of the plant.



Karen

I have never pinched and I agree with Karen, it would be sort of hard to tell where to pinch. I do know, however, keeping the flowers cut will produce more flowers.

Thanks didn't think they needed to be, this is my first time seriously growing from seed so I was just curious. In the fall of 2013 when I collected seed from my white & wild berry pow wows I just sprinkled and worked a bunch of seed heads into the mulch all around the area where I wanted to expand the patch and this past summer I had a whole bunch of tiny seedling that never really got taller than an inch or two, does that sound normal? I'm hoping this year that patch will be filled with fuller size plants.
I got a few other echi's in 2014 like the sandy yellow, orange flemenco and a huge cs and saved the seeds to start indoors this winter, I bought 6 germination stations which have 72 cells and the dome with heat mat, I posted my seedling pics of these indoor plants over at cubits echi page, some of you may have seen it.
The sandy yellow did awesome like 99% germ in 12 cells and the cs did pretty good too i'm doing over 100 cells of cs and some have moved on to 4" pots already. But my huge cs was all the dark yellow/gold color, so it will be interesting to see what I get for colors from all my seedlings.
Arlene - you mean cutting the first few buds of the season or deadheading throughout the season?

Where do you live? If you're in a colder climate, then it would be pretty normal to not have blooms until year two. They should bloom this year. They follow the rule of thumb for perennials: first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap.

Indoor ones, started early, will bloom the first summer.

Karen

Hey Karen, i'm in connecticut. Ya I didn't expect the seeds started in the ground to flower the first year it just surprised me that they stayed so small all season, growing nice root systems I hope!

True. They should grow bigger and better this year, and bloom too.

Karen

Jason and glad you are enjoying the thread and looking forward to pics of your gardens.

Thanks Bob! Yeah i'm looking forward to this summer, the garden should be filled in better, I had white & wild berry pow wows planted in 2013, and that fall I spread all the seeds from those in the area where I wanted to fill in with those more, they were tiny little 1-2" seedling last year so I hope they put on a show this year. I had a whole huge bed (in front of my wrap around porch of my painstakingly restored victorian farmhouse, man I miss it) of the old purple coneflowers at my old house and when we were forced out after 10+ years (the economy crash killed me as a house painter) and I bought the abandoned property i've been working on, I brought 5 or 6 big buckets of dug up echi's to plant at the new property, well as my luck goes there were some black eyed susan that had worked their way into the old bed and you'll never guess what 99% of what I dug up was??? The damn black eyed susans! Had to dig in late fall so i didn't know what I was getting! I was one who took all those old common ones for granted (well i loved them but u know what i mean) and now i'd give anything to have them back!! Would it be wrong to sneak back when they're not home and dig some up???

Well, either way, cutting will produce more blooms, but I cut mine for bouquets for market. So I cut them when they are just about fully open.

Hi, Hope there is someone here.The last post was over a year ago.
I need information on the reliability of a ,new to me, veriety.
Milkshake. I am in z6a.
I realize there are a few new varieties that disappear after a couple of years.
I am also interested in Lailani and Tomato soup.
Any experiance with these will be most helpfull.

My Milkshake only lasted 2 years. I never tried the others.

Karen

Jo Ann my Milkshake is still blooming. Been here three years now and it is getting bigger.


The latest picture. Haven't tried the others either.

Thanks Mike and Karen.
The others might be new at Bluestone this year.
I have to hire gardeners to do the cleaning and planting these days.
I would like reliable cones so I dont have to pay quite so often.
Both my wishlists from Santa Rosa and Bluestone are this years catalogue so come winter and new web cats I might change my mind.

Tomato soup never grew for me and I tried 2 times . The other 2 have done great. They need good drainage, also I don't cut foliage in the fall. I just let it stand until I see new growth in the spring. I read someplace they have hollow stems and with all the rain we get rots them if you cut the foliage.

with Julia Tomato soup has never excelled for me but has lived for 4 years now. The other 2 have been 2 of the best I have had.

Julia and Bob, thanks.I will omit Tomato Soup. My list is so long now I need to cull out a few varieties.