G'Morning - Got Ech DD ... I'm truly excited she looks so lovely ... the first thought I had was a pic of my dau, tons of years ago, as a Jr-bride's maid, at a wedding! This DD had a crown, so very full w/o covering her entire cone my grand-dau called her, 'Princess' ... several buds in stages should be coming soon!!! ;) I think this $10 - 1gal beautiful lady was a great buy, yes? Mount Hood - would be wonderful as a combo ... Bride & B'Maid, LOL!!! The Nursery had 'K Mophead', I thought about for combo, but I have 9 H paniculatas, all in their white/creamy white show, right now, that I decided against white. They have several shades of yellows & oranges, but as ignorant as I am abt Ech, with a bad experience on Big Sky, I'll wait a while just until concerns (valid or not) clears ... I have 2 huge clumps of Blk E Susies & Coreopsis to satisfy my 'yellow fever' LOL ... too bad 'Lemon Drops' are done. 'Still looking for something complement/separate this Ech DD from my P Cone group ... any thoughts? I appreciate all the edu' from this group!!! ;) TIA! ;) ... Have a great garden day ... this is the last of our unseasonably cool July ... we're headed to real Summer as we know it!!!

Paul, It sounds like you have a leaf hopper problem. I've been seeing them a lot lately too. They are the number one enemy of my coneflowers. I had one or two plants with that disease last year, but I immediately pulled them. I've learned to grow plants that leaf hoppers don't like around my coneflowers. I've been told to plant garlic, yarrow, mint, and alliums. Most of these look good with coneflowers too. I also spray and kill any leaf hoppers I see. I saw two tonight. They seem to attack at night so it's best to spray in the evening right before sunset. I hope you get it under control.

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!

dtowjbrown, drought resistant in a description refers to plants that need very little or no extra water - once established...key word is established :) Nothing newly planted in your garden is going to be exceptionally drought tolerant, but you can ease off on providing supplemental water once fully rooted into your beds which may take the first year after planting.