Mac n Cheese is a very slow grower. I treated mine with a root stimulator product today. It does seem to have a lot of basal shoots, however.

Tomato Soup is growing much better with many basal shoots as well. I treated it too.

I see the problem with Pink Poodle...it still only has one basal shoot. This is horrible. This means if it blooms on this stalk there will be nothing left. I'm worried about this one. I suspected this because their marketing images never show the entire plant. It looks like someone got blooms off several plants and arranged them. LOL.

Tiki Torch from last year, my only survivor, looks pitiful. The plant actually shrunk! These Terra Nova plants are the pits. Someone posted the other day that they test these for 3 years. I don't believe that. These plants are horrible so far.

I just got my Mac N Cheese this year. So far, I'm not seeing any problems with it. Actually Mac N Cheese is about to bloom for me!! I amended the soil when I planted it with fresh potting soil, so I hope that helps. With my Tiki Torch, I've noticed that a lot of the stems (with flower buds) are flopping over. However, the buds were on the plant when I got them and they were already drooping. Do you think I should cut them off??

Anyways, I agree completely with echinaceamaniac, these plants aren't really that great. I think we should right letters to Terra Nova nurseries expressing our concerns. Maybe, if we're REALLY LUCKY, we might even get a refund. Also, a word of advice to echinaceamaniac, try buying larger plants with more established root systems. I know they're more expensive, but this may help them survive in the long run.

I've had mine for a couple of weeks, when I got them they were just out of the plug stage and had been planted in 4" pots. The nursery where I got mine still had them in the greenhouse and were growing them on before the were put out in the sales area. My instructions were to keep them in my greenhouse and water sparingly. So far so good they are looking perky and starting to grow. I plan on leaving them in the 4"ers until the pots are filled with roots. After that I will have to decide whether to plant them out or pot them on into gallon pots. I haven't fertilized at all yet but was thinking of giving them a little osmocote now that I see signs of growth.

Annette

I got one of each in 4 in pots from a nursery last week. Both seem to be putting out new leaves. At that nursery, i looked over their stock and in general, all the tomato soups were much healthier and thicker then the Macs. 90% of the macs only had one growth point. The Tomatoes... all had 3+.

we will see!

Well at least you could find some to buy. I have been to every nursery in my area and no one has either Tomato Soup or Mac n Cheese. I was so hoping to try them. Well maybe next year. I knew I could have mail ordered them but I wanted to wait and see what they looked like before plunking down my money.

I too have noticed that Mac n Cheese seems weaker than Tomato Soup. I would have bought larger pots had they been available -- but they weren't. I also got Pink Poodle and Coral Reef & they are doing pretty good.
I so hope these new ones come around as I do love my echincea!!

ghoghunter, some nurseries don't get the new varieties in or sell them till later in the season. The nursery I bought mine at was growing them on before putting them out for sale. So keep checking. It was July/August last year before I found Summer Sky and After Midnight locally.

They are still alive, so I am happy! lol. They are slow growers though. There are small basal shoots, and only a couple of them, but I feel lucky that they still live!
I have had such bad luck with echinacea's. Tiki Torch that I planted last fall died over winter, so I planted another this spring. So far it hasn't grown at all, but is not dead. A lot of the problem though is that it is planted where a lot of the daffs, tulips come up. The daffs and tulips, oh and alliums are shading Tiki Torch. But it is not dead yet so that's good. More reports when the bulbs finally die down to the ground and let in some light!