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!

Nice plant! I have Sundown too & love mine. I hear terrible things about it, but it has done really well here. Has reseeded quite a bit & all but 2 seedlings-out of dozens-have been the same as the parent.

I planted 4 that I bought on ebay last spring. They were small, about a 3 inch pot. I think they were plugs that had been potted up one size. All four bloomed last year and made it well through the winter. This year they were quite big, the largest was Sunrise. Harvest Moon, Summer Sky, and Sundown were nice sized too. All bloomed most of the summer. We have heavy clay and I always thoroughly amend the soil with compost, top soil, and peat. I would suggest planting these in the spring to give the plants time to get used to their surroundings before cold weather sets in. After reading here about all the problems that so many seemed to have, I worried that my plants might not make it through their first winter, but they came back nicely. Linda

I like it with some of the ornamental grasses, Shenandoah Switch Grass has a red cast that would play nice off the coneflower, and the textures work well. I also like it with some of the blue meadow sages, like 'May Night' or 'Caradonna', it would also be nice with Sedum 'Matrona' or really deep burgundy Asiatic lilies. I agree it is a bit touchy to place; total yuck with pink, kinda blah with white, clashy with orange, yellow could work but it is not the best. I would walk around the nursery with one and just set it next to everything I think might work...Good luck, Helen.