I would rip it out and dispose of it. It could just be a throw-back to its hybrid parent, but I would take no chances on it spreading disease.

Thanks. It's not pretty so that makes it easier to rip out. I should've done it already.

I'm still concerned that it could spread to the other plants around it. Do I need to do anything else?
The description I read of Aster Yellows said it would make the foliage turn yellow and the foliage on mine is DARKER. There are more dark leaves toward the bottom of the plant that you can't see in the picture. Any idea what's going on?

Christie - don't throw it out, someone might want to propagate & sell it! :-0

Don't rip it out. You have something unique. There are white types of echinaceas and this is the first time I have spotted a double bloomed one. Yours resemble a lime mum. I can imagine what it would appear like if planted in masses and contrasted with something blue.

Ianna

I'd hang on to it too. I posted about growing some open polinated seeds from some of the newer echinaceas earlier and some of my plants that grew looked exactly like yours. Others had very short quilled petals (pinkish) that never grew into regular petals. In all, there were six different plants and almost all the foilage on the plants were different from each other. Some had long and slender leaves, some shorter, fat leaves, and the colors ranged from a nice deep green to a lighter, limish green. I talked a friend into taking them and growing them for another year or two, just to see what they do. I'll report next year, after they bloom.

Linda

It doesn't look like disease just an anomaly...
Save it....save the seeds and see waht you get....if it has seeds.
Linda C

Yep, save the plant. There's a surprisingly big market for deformed and stunted varieties out there.

A friend of mine and I both have purple coneflowers that came up with no petals but just the green centers. The green centers are growing additional baby green centers on top. She says this has happened before and they don't come back next year. Has anyone experienced this type of growth?

Thanks!

Carol - Do you mean the plant dies or that that they are normal the next year? I have another one now in another part of my yard that has done the same thing. I don't think it's something that would be good to propagate. In the photo I posted above, they're kind of pretty because the sun is shining on them but they don't look impressive in person.

Christie:

I meant to say that the plant does not return the next year; it dies over the winter. I found the link below on another post with information about diseases of the purple coneflower. I hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coneflower Diseases