I've only got Sunrise and this year is it's third and it looks bigger than ever.

I've planted Sundown, Harvest Moon, and After Midnight last fall. Only Sundown it up :( Two others are dead... It did not stop me from replacing After Midnight and buying Tiki Torch though.

I just bought Sunrise and Harvest Moon. Nice to hear good reports about them.

Kate

Reporting from zone 5/6:

'Sunrise' is back (had it 4+ years)
'Summer Sky' is back (had it since last summer)
'Sundown' is back (had it since last summer)
'Harvest Moon' never overwintered for me
'Orange Meadowbrite' came back the first year, gone this year
'Doubledecker' did not return (got it last summer)
'Sunset' came back for several years but I had one with the weird quilled petals so it was tossed last year.

Did I just buy 'Tiki Torch'? Of course.

Linda, I have the same ones as you, and they ALL came back:

3 Sunrise (all are even bigger than last year)
3 Summer Sky (all look great)
2 Sundown (one that got moved in the fall, much smaller than the other, but alive)
1 Harvest Moon (not thriving, but alive. Just ordered two more of these this week)

All of these were planted in fall '06, so this is their second full year. I did had two more Harvest Moon's that did not make it through their first winter last year. They were freebies from a mailorder company that doesn't have a good reputation (befoer I knew better), so it may not necessarily be a reflection on that type of echinacea.

Bonnie

Harvest Moon is up for me, though its still pretty small. I bought it last year, but only because it was $3. Mango Medowbrite died a year ago. Doubledecker has made it for six years now, but im really disapointed with it. It has never doubled its decker, just shot up a few straggly petals in the center. From now on im just sticking to the good ole' reliable standbys, like Magnus and White Swan.
CMK

Some came back some didn't all were new last year, all were planted in 2 gallon pots and kept in a protected area for the winter to form a good root structure before planting out. All were treated the same.
Double Decker, Razzmatazz, Sunset, Sundown, Summer Sky all came back.
Sunrise, Harvest Moon and wouldn't you know it Aftermidnight didn't.

A......

Bought 2 Sunrise 2 years ago, they are up and I just moved and divided one of them the other day. They are very vigorous.

Bought 3 Summer Sky on sale last summer, after they had bloomed. $5 apiece, what a deal. I wonder if it would make it through the winter, and yippee, they are up and growing vigorously.

Those are the only 2 hybrids I have, and they have done well. Also have the regular Echinacea purpurea and 'White Swan'.

Mine returned and looks very healthy. I was concerned as it had powdery mildew in early Fall. I ignored it because I knew it would die to the ground.

I have Sunrise, Hope and Fragrant Angel (got them all in the spring of 2006). Sunrise is doing very well - has gotten a lot bigger. Hope didn't grow much last year but is bigger this spring. Fragrant Angel is still pretty small. I got Little Giant in the fall of 2006 and it died over the winter.

Juliet

I only have Meadowbrite and it came back. I was worried since our winter was so severe. Maybe it helped that I planted it were all the snow from the sidewalk was piled.

Had Harvest Moon never came back the first winter.

I planted 3 Fragrant Angels new last year, and they have all made it through. This year I am adding Hope, Aftermidnight and Ruby Giant. I am hoping for a great season of blooms!

I would say that we have mixed results, with more coming back than not coming back. I'd like to take a roll call like this every spring to see how our plants do over winter. I love the color of the newer varieties, but they seem to not be nearly as hardy as the old standby's - Magnus, Bright Star, White Swan, etc. It's a shame they are so expensive. You could almost grow them as annuals if they were less so.

Linda

Most of my Sunrise, Sunset and Sundown are back.

Haven't seen my Harvest Moon. It was very unhappy in the drought. I'm missing my yellow perennials since my coreopsis 'Creme Brulee' is also hit and miss. I planted it in groups of 3, so of course, I now have pairs! All were planted last spring, so not established before the drought.

On the other hand, the Rubinstern 'Ruby Star', my favorite, is coming back in huge clumps...also planted last spring.

Cameron

I have a clump of C. Creme Brulee and next to it, a clump of C. Moonbeam. Both were planted in the fall of '06. Last year both were pretty much the same size. This spring, the Moonbeam seems much larger than the Creme Brulee. We'll see how they do this summer though. Perhaps the CB will grow and catch up with the Moonbeam. I like both of them.

Linda

"Sunrise" is my only one of the new, colored coneflowers, and it has grown vigorously every year since I got it in 2006.

I also have "Magnus" as the "control plant" to compare to "Sunrise" and it is doing just fine, too.

Multiple newer orange and pasteloid hybrids are back and doing well in my garden.

Sunrise: Both returned but one has the quilled petals like the discontinued Sunset.

After Midnight: 1 out of 4 returned

Harvest Moon: 1 out of 3 returned and it is half the size of last year and has smaller blooms.

Summer Sky: 1 out of 2 returned and it is not doing well at all.

Twilight: 1 out of 2 returned and the blooms are no longer red, but a pinker color.

All of my others returned: Coconut Lime, Double Delight, Ruby Giant, Razmatazz, Double Decker, and the old fashioned White Swan. My Tennessee Coneflowers and Pallida also returned.

The Big Sky Series is almost a complete disaster around here. I was going to replace some of the ones I lost, but the local nursery is no longer carrying them because of so many complaints from people who purchased them.

In my opinion The Big Sky Series should be considered Half Hardy Perennials for most people.

Last September we picked up two Sunrise ($3.00/ea!) in the deep discount bin at Lowes and planted them shortly thereafter sometime in mid/late-September. They are thriving this year and have at least doubled in height and width. Their color is a bit disappointing, however. The yellow fades to whitish yellow very quickly and some petals almost look like tubes.

We just bought and planted one After Midnight which has not flowered yet. We will see how that one works out.

Where do you find Tiki Torch? Do you order it?

I ordered Tiki Torch from Territorial Seed. They sent nice plants. Last time I checked they were sold out, but they might have more by now.

I put in mail order Fragrant Angel and After Midnight around May 19th.

Both have stems that can't hold the tallest flower so first flowers on both didn't bloom.

Were planted with Bonide transplant shock solution dosed twice at 7 day intervals. Ten days later lightly fed with dry organic watered in well.

Have kept them watered since but not doing well.

Found white powdery glop on stem and leaf juncture below tallest flower on After Midnight. That was same stem where last tallest flower keeled over and died at stem bend. Cut off entire stem down to base of plant.

Fragrant Angel has same problem holding unopened flower on weak main stem.

Since they're right next to each other maybe there's something in my amended clay soil that's doing them in.

Two Liatris Ligulistylis from same mail order place developed black spot day after I got them. Was told by vendor to either spray with chemical or with nonfat milk/water solution and/or vinegar/water solution. I went the chemical route but one was yanked today since roots were dead. Second one looks like it's going same route.

Found nursery about 40 minutes from here that carries Ligulistylis so I'll hike out there next week and get two more.

These Liatris were behind the two echinacea that aren't doing well. Don't know if that's coincidence or not.

Seems whatever deer/rabbits/groundhogs/moles don't eat above or below ground is either being overtaken by hungry bugs/insects or spots/powder.

Thought I was at least "safe" with Blue Globe Thistle. Someone ate all the nice new growth of middle leaves out of 3 plants.

What a bummer of a first attempt at gardening.

Gardeners must have a higher level of tolerance for "nature" than I seem to have!

On the bright side the Echinacea Kim's Knee High in the front garden is full of blooms. Someone ate the first two but must not have noticed the 11 new blooms.

I suspect the part sun position of the two echinaceas that aren't faring well could be a big part of the problem. Write ups on both say they can take part sun but doesn't seem to be the case. Don't have any sunnier places on father's property to relocate them and other things in back of butterfly garden that I think need more sun.

Just one tree would have to be felled and a second pruned a little to give me the sun those plants need. Unfortunately, it's a perfectly healthy tree and doesn't seem right to cut down a healthy tree. I'd do it in a flash, though, if my father agreed. His fig tree doesn't produce ripened fruit because of shade from same tree so maybe there's a chance.

I put in 3 Echinacea "Magnus" spring of 2006 and added 3 more spring of 2007. All are up over 3 ft. and blooming like mad. The stems are very sturdy and have surived all the windy storms we have so far. I also planted Double Decker in 2006 and they came back and did well last year but so far this year all I have is one and it was really late sprouting. I had given up and was getting ready to plant something else in that spot. I still don't know if it will bloom, doesn't look good at the moment. The plant is nice and green and looks very healthy, but no sign of blooming. I just added Echinacea "Primadonna" to a different bed and hope it does well and returns next year. I hadn't heard of the "Fragrant Angel" Echinacea; but it sounds like one I would like. Off to search!
Thanks,
Kat