Kewl! Your link isnt working, but I had to google it anyway! They look great! Maybe I wont try to hard to grow the seeds saved from the big sky flowers that dont work anyway.

:)
D

I had no trouble with the link. Looks like a nice variety in the pack. Hmm, who do I know in UK?

I love them.
did you click on the november archive for his blog?
He has 2 new ones.
Also a lovely red banana. I just love tropical soooo much.
Bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: 2 types of echinacea

Or closer to home, who do we know in Canada ;) I understand Mr Fothergill's Seeds are sold in Canada.

Another echinacea color mix seed packet is listed on Chilterns website.... I may include in my annual order from them - Echinacea purpurea ÂLustre Hybrids - that reads "includes pure white to purple through deep red" but I don't know if it includes the orange or yellow shades, no photo. I bought (plant, not seeds) Evan Saul in tangerine last year and added white Fragrant Angel this Fall but I don't have the yellows yet.

Now those are a winter-sowers dream, don't you think, being able to grow Coneflowers in a mix of gorgeous colors from seed! I will definintely buy a packet of those when they are available.

If these seeds are stable, I wonder why they're not here in the US yet??

Beautiful mix! I checked it out earlier along with the 2nd one but didn't have time to post. I just love Pink Poodle!

I checked them out too ... even though I can't for the life of me get a coneflower seedling to thrive - that is, if, by some miracle, I manage to get a seed to germinate. Even the plant I bought croaked on me. I've not been able to get a plant from seed since my first year WSing - it put out a couple flowers that first year, and then I tossed it at the end of the summer. Yup, tossed it - didn't know jack about gardening back then. I've been kicking myself since. Oh well.

Not usually a big fan of pink flowers, but I like the 'Pink Poodle' too. Kinda looks like a zinnia on steroids.

morz8 - I got echinacea purpurea ÂLustre Hybrids from T&M a couple years ago. Haven't sown them yet, but I will. I'm determined to get some coneflowers up here!

T&M has a pic of the 'Lustre Hybrids' - here ...

PV

Wow! Check out this one -- not seed, and not available yet, but ... WOW!

Echinacea 'Hot Papaya'

PV

I think people in Canada can order seeds from Mr Fothergills(did I read that right?)!!
-B

Wow! That hot papaya is hot,hot,hot.

Karen

I can't for the life of me get a coneflower seedling to thrive - that is, if, by some miracle, I manage to get a seed to germinate.

Pvick - I WS'd Echinacea pallida this year, some seeds from a trade - they were a dud, zero germination. But then all the Echinacea in the gardens self-sows quite abundantly, despite virtual neglect! I've gotten seedlings from E. purpurea, 'White Swan', and 'Summer sky'. I would think they would WS pretty easily!

terrene - they ARE easy to WS .... for everyone but me. I'm coneflower-challenged.

PV

I don't get real high germination rate on my WSown ones, either, but they do volunteer in my yard. Maybe that's one that, like columbine, sprouts best when really fresh, dropped right from the plant.

Karen

Wow, my jaw just dropped seeing that Hot Papaya!

I used to have too many echinaceas in my garden, but they all died after a couple of years. while everything else around them survived. I have no idea what the reason could be, they all got the same amount of neglect while I was not up to gardening the past 2 years. It's time to try again, I really do miss them.

Mary

Mary: Glad to hear you are back and ready to take on the world in your garden. Echinaceas really are too wonderful not to have in your yard somewhere.

It might be my imagination, but it seems to me that the regular old purple coneflower seems to be the more hardy and reliable when compared to some of the newer hybrids. That's not to say that they're not worth trying, though.

Karen

Not a contessa, it's possible that your Coneflowers got infected with Aster yellows, which can wipe out a patch of Echinacea. See link below or you could try a search of GW.

Karen, I've tried a couple of the "Big Sky" Echinaceas, and although some of the colors are pretty enough, mine do seem to have a lot of malformed flowers. IF you read through the threads on the Perennials forums about these, many people report that they lose them over the winter too (mine have survived okay so far).

My favorite Echinacea remains the good old reliable Echinacea purpurea, and its white cultivar 'White Swan'.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aster Yellows

terrene: The only big sky one I have is a "Twilight". My husband bought it for me for my birthday. I've had it 3 years, the blossoms are pretty, but there aren't many of them. The plant has stayed small. It lives, it doesn't thrive.

I've WSown doppelganger and magnus. Both have grown huge, tall and wide, seem to thrive. Both the blossoms and the stems get so big and tall that several stems have just collapsed, seemingly too big to stay upright. I considered that it could be cutworms, even tried BT on cornmeal, never found anything. I think they're just too big.

I never have these issues with the old standard purple coneflower.

Karen

I bought one Sunset in 2007 and I still have the poor thing but doubt it will make it through another winter. Won't be buying the Big Sky series anymore. Just not worth it especially after hearing on the Perennial Forum that some place were in such a big rush to produce these that they fumbled in the labs when doing the tissue thing and due to the tissues not being kept sterile the plants ended up with lots of problems.

I have one which resembles the Kim's Knee High and have found that although it is close to others which I grow, the seeds from it produce far superior plants with stunning pink/purple flowers and vigorous growth.

I know there are some suppliers of Fothergills around here so will have to look for those seeds. If not, then I just might order from them. :O)

Check out Echinacea Hot Summer and Irrestible not available in the US yet!I do have Hot Summer and cant wait untill it blooms!More great plants fro Marco Van Noort!Hot Summer is listed in Fothergilles also but is plants not seed!

I only have one big sky- it's "Twilight". Now in it's 3rd spot in my garden, it didn't do well in the first two. If it doesn't do well in its current location it's outta here- shovel prune and compost.

It's few measly flowers are a pretty bright color, but there are few each season. The plant stays small, never really thrives, I'm not impressed with it. I hate to get rid of it only because my husband bought it for me. But it's now occupying a prime real estate spot in my garden and it is living on borrowed time.

I won't buy any more Big Sky.

Karen

Has anyone seen "tomato soup"? I would love to get that one. It looks so bright. I loved pink poodle too.

There is a seed mix available Echinacea x hybrida 'Paradiso' that is a mix of colors from seed. It's sprouting in my jugs right now. I found a photo from a Swedish website, but can't get it to work, so Burpee link is provided here : http://www.burpee.com/product/code/19821.do
(Gardenweb is being stupid and won't let me put this in the link section).

Burpee sells plants that it calls Paradiso mix and claims they are exclusive - but show the same photo.

I got my seeds from GeoSeed (they have a plain text black and white catalog, no online sales, you need to request a hardcopy catalog to be mailed to you through their very minimal website- just google their name.)

Hardy Seeds also lists the seed on their site.