In my experience, Cone Flower will bloom the 2nd year from seed here in my z7 NC garden. I sowed them in a flat, potted them up as seedlings, then planted them into the garden last year. This year they came back and bloomed for the first time. I dont know if this everyone's experience, but that is what happened here.

I have purple coneflower seeds that you are wanting. I do not need black eye susan seeds. Would be interested to trade some of my Hosta seeds, wildflowers (tall) different seeds. I will e-mail you. DW: Dancinqueene/pc

It's a common problem with BESs. There have been a number of other threads on this issue. Since BESs tend to seed around everywhere after a few seasons in the garden, it seems to me that the best thing to do is to remove any old ones that are having problems & just keep the newer seedlings, especially those that are at a distance from the mother plants. The new ones in my garden have generally been very clean, at least for the next few years. Toss any seedlings that are not clean. I usually don't let any of them stay around for more than a few years & this seems to keep all the plants clean & with a much longer bloomtime. I have been really surprised by the length & quality of bloom on my BES seedlings over my older diseased plants - must have forgotten what it was like to have healthy BESs! IME other kinds of plants don't seem to be bothered by whatever fungus, mildew, or mold this is that causes the blackening & eventually reduces bloom of the BESs, so I've never bothered to clean the soil, just planted different perennials in their old space. Others here may have had a different experience however. If you are worried about not having enough seedlings if you remove all the mother plants, keep them around (ugly as they are) until the seedheads are ripe & shake the seeds around where you want them to come up next year. I never had heavy seeding until the year I removed the 6 foot long patch of original plants on a pretty day in late fall - the seeds must have accidentally spread every which way - because I had new plants many yards away in at least 6 or 8 spots the next summer without even trying to seed them. LOL.

Must agree with the above. We had so much rain this year and the Echinaceas are only starting to perform now that the rain has stopped. Thought we were going to lose quite a few before then. I must say the garden center Manager did a good job of 'up-selling' the fertilizers to you. I agree with Echinaceamaniac about the MG, and will add that the addition of compost to the soil should have been sufficient to start your plant off in the right direction. There was no need to buy fertilizer unless you knew that your soil was deficient, and from all indications, that was not the case since you say that all other plants in the same bed are doing fine. I would urge you to google the "ironate", do some reading, and then see if you wish to continue using it or dispose of it properly. I hope your plants come through and do well the rest of the season for you. :O)