yes, I also have done the same and it does not work the new plants have various colors much lighter than the original-that is why I have posted it in the plant want list :o)!! I do have seeds from these plants but am hoping someone who has planted more from a cutting or root seperation has some extas. Thanks for all of the follow ups :o)!!

My Maigold has very little rebloom, altho I've never given it any help, either - - I don't fertilize it or deadhead. Most of my shots are dated in April. A couple of the HMF references (including the grand old man himself, Graham Stuart Thomas) mention scattered bloom later in the season. If it is Maigold, it's easy to ID by the scent. It has plenty of that linseed oil scent. Some people love the notes that scent gives to roses, but I can't seem to smell anything past the linseed oil. Interesting that a number of the HMF references describe it as good scent. I'd say it's distinctive. Good...not so much. The foliage is shiny and very healthy. And the canes are wickedly thorny. My plant is already in bloom, and it will bloom into June. Oh, I just found one of my photos dated late August. So I guess it does have scattered rebloom, onsie twosies. October, tho...I just don't know. The bloom color is very subtle and beautiful, I think, with a reddish wash over deep yellow, great veins of color, fading clear yellow. The effect is of apricot from a distance.

I've done some more homework on the Big Sky echs. Went to a local plant farm near here that I go to about every other year. They have the healthiest, best plants I have ever seen. The reason I only go every other year is because it is over an hour away and they have so many thousands of perennials that I pack my car to the hilt and can't afford to eat for a week! LOL! This farm is retail and wholesale. When I worked as a perennial buyer for an independent retailer, we bought 95% of our perennials from them because of the variety they carried and the quality of the stock. They grow all of their own. So, first thing, I head for the echinaceas. Thousands of them in both quarts and gallons. At least 5 blooms on the quarts and a dozen on the gallons. And tons of Big Skys - Sunrise, Sundown, Twilight and Harvest Moon. I was determined to look at every bloom. In fact, the back of my neck is burnt to a crisp from spending close to two hours looking down at every single bloom! Not a single petal out of place. No quills either. And colors looking exactly like the tags. Even the older blooms were very bright. Harvest Moon had blooms as big as my fist. So I asked an employee, what gives? Why are there so many complaints and why do yours look so good? He had never heard of a problem and has never had a problem. He said it has to be the stock. He directed me to the perennial bed, where there are Big Skys that have been in the ground fo two years and they were just gorgeous. And he said he has a whole garden of them at home and not a single problem. He said the only Big Sky that he has heard of problems with in Sunrise, which he doesn't carry. And of course the old Meadowbrite series. And he quit carrying Razzmatazz because it is very hard to grow in our area. So I'm thinking it has to be the original stock that is the problem? He said there are only 4 or 5 distributers of the original stock and that could be why the problems are nationwide. He did ask me to send pictures because he was very interested in the problem. I might add that I have never bought an ech from him except for Fragrant Angel which is still going strong after 4 years. So I have to confess, I bought one Harvest Moon, just to see how it performs compared to the ones I have with no petals. I also bought some other echs that are not Big Sky series. his stock was so gorgeous. He had After Midnight, Coconut Lime, Fragrant Angel, Green Eyes, Kim's Knee High, Kim's Mophead, Merlot, Pink Double Delight, Prairie Splendor, Purity, ruby Star, Ruby Giant, The King, Virgin, Pixie Meadowbrite, White Swan and Tiki Torch. Not a single bad bloom on any of them. Believe me, I checked each and every one. And I had to take a few more Tiki Torch and Double Delight! I love them! Does anyone have The King? It was not blooming yet so I didn't take the chance. I do believe this grower when he says he doesn't have any problems. He is well known for pulling plants that don't perform. He no longer sells several of the coreopsis because they didn't winter over here. And some signs and catalog descriptions say that even thought the plant is a perennial it does not perform that way here. I will let you all know how my new Harvest Moon does. If it keeps up the way it looks now, I will be over there buying truckloads full!

I was looking into the diseased Asters yellow Echinaceas that i have seen around the local big box stores. I think i might have a one in my garden too. A few sites speak about "Heat Treating" perennials to kill the virus without killing the host plant. Does anyone know anything about this? Something about keeping the plant at 100 degrees for a period of time. Most of this is from scientific pages, so it is hard to get any straight answers.