I've grown both and have seen them in a grower's setting as well. They ARE quite similar in appearance - in full sun, side by side, it's a bit difficult to tell them apart until flowering. 'Blackbird's bracts are not as intensely chartreuse or limey green as 'Purpurea'. They have more of a reddish tone to them and can be mottled with the same deep purple tones of the regular foliage, which in full sun can get very dark - nearly black. I've never seen this with 'Purpurea', which generally has very bright lime green/chartreuse bracts. 'Purpurea', being a straight cultivar of C. amygdaloides (wood spurge), is more shade tolerant as well. And a zone or two hardier. Not to be too nitpicky, 'Redwing' is a hybrid, being a cross of E. amygdaloides and x martinii. And obviously, E. x martinii is itself a hybrid, a naturally occurring cross of E. amygdaloides and characias. So there's a great deal of amygdaloides in 'Blackbird's parentage but enough characias to make it somewhat less hardy than 'Purpurea'. 'Purpurea' will self-sow under good conditions: 'Blackbird' is sterile and will not.

Here's a general pic where bottom of pic shows this bloom (as detailed below) & the upper part of the shot, w/ very shrubby looking E. milii is the one I said is stingy w/ bloom (which I had thought might be 'Lemon Drop'). This bloom looks white here w/ yellow pollen in center. But after a day or 2 the bloom looks yellow. (An older pix of these blooms) I shot pix over wknd showing both old & new bloom but haven't uploaded them yet. I'll share w/ the group the advice given me about these plants which has made all the difference. While they ARE succulents, I was advised to grow them, more like tropicals than succulents. That is to say to give them WAYYYY more water than one would usually give to a succulent & more fertilizer too. I also use a humidity tray under them along w/ fast draining mix. Once I started following this advise, I got more blooms, more frequently, especially on my charming little favored E. milii x. moratii (whose pix I love to show, but can't find right now).

Thanks for the reply, John! You know, I had been wondering if it wasn't getting enough sun. The label that came with the plant said something vague about how this species liked it cool and the light indirect, but it was a rough translation, from Finnish into English, of an already rather confusing and brief set of instruction... I was just planning on looking up online when I got home, but when I couldn't find any other info I just went with the 'indirect light' bit. It seemed strange but... go figure! I bought it from a large plant store, I'm sure you know the type, that has a huge variety of different plants crammed in one giant, brightly lit room and all are either drowning in water or dry as a bone... This guy was so dry he threatened to fall out of the pot when it tipped over at the cash register. Since I've had it for a month or so, it was getting rather negligible light, so I just moved him about a foot away from the shelf-sill of a large, west facing picture window. I would, ideally, like to have him sitting on the sill with my other plants there, but I'm worried the cat will take some bites of him and get sick... he has lots of dangley bits and she's already tried getting him in the new closer position. I think I will be eventually moving him directly into the window with the others, though, it's just a matter of acclimating my kitten to his new postion and convincing her that he's not as fun to play with as my thorny cacti. ;) My home gets the best light from these west-facing windows, so it's my only option for this guy. Hopefully it's enough for him. I have quite a few other C&S, and the west windows seem to do just fine. We'll see though! I was so worried that he was suffering from too much water, but now I wonder if I can start easing up on the rationing... the soil is extra dry and he's looking a bit on the wilty side the past couple days. I think I'll give him a drink today and see how it goes.. hopefully nothing bad happens. Thanks again, John!

Nothing at this time but yours is nice Opps there is that little something but only by relation