Echanaceas in our Yard

I have been doing some stewing about what's going on with my coneflowers.   I went around and took photos of all of them, and after doing some thinking, have come to some conclusions about my dilemma.

When we first moved here 13 years ago, a neighbor lady gave me a start to the honeysuckle vine that is behind this coneflower, and some purple coneflower.  At some point I forgot that she told me not to plant other kinds, because they would cross pollinate, and then we could lose the native ones. I'm thinking that I thought it would be OK to plant the 'White Swan' in front, since I put the ones she gave me in the back yard.  Those are gone now, I'm sad to say.  At some point, the white one quit blooming white.  When we put in the east front bed, I moved some of this over there.

I planted 'Kim's Knee High' next to the ones I moved, and the native thinner leafed kind in front of them.  In the back of this bed, I planted 'Harvest Moon'.  I'm not sure if the original plants are still there. I had lots of seedlings last year, and they are now blooming.  This photo shows the front of the bed.

It looks like there is some 'Harvest Moon' in this plant.

 This is close to where the original plant was.

The bright colored bloom reminds me of 'Kim's Knee High'. 

There is also a white bloom in there!

I like the shape of this one.

I don't like this one as well.  Its stem is thick, and the cone is larger.  I will take it off so its seeds don't get planted.

This is the back of the bed where 'Harvest Moon' was planted.  The original plant is gone, and a little way over is a new clump.

There are lots of buds, but just a few opening so far.  This does not look yellow, like 'Harvest Moon'.

There are pink and white ones now.  I should check to see how many plants are in this clump.

When I started planting the new area on the west side of the front yard, I moved a couple small plants from the front of the east bed.  They did well, and are starting to bloom.  It looks like this one is pink.

 

This one is right next to the pink one, and as you can see, it is white.

When we expanded the curb bed to the west in 2009, I got 2 'Prairie Splendor' echinaceas thinking they were an older variety. 

The plants are loaded with blooms, and looking quite healthy, except for a few odd looking blooms.

I've been looking online, trying to figure out it this is aster yellows.  From what I've read, the leaves should look abnormal, too, but they don't.  I need to get these cut off, though.  Have you had any flowers look like this?  I guess I did have some last year in the east bed, too, and tried to figure out then what was going on.  They looked fine other than a few like that, too.

I planted these two plants in 2009, also.  They are east of the previous ones, and may be 'Magnus'.

Continuing east, up to the sidewalk, this is a volunteer I've shown before. 

I have a yellow and white flower scheme with some red leaved plants in the small area in front of the vegetable garden.  I think these are 'White Swan'.

The 'Magnus' I planted in the back yard are not blooming yet.

These may be 'Ruby Star' that I planted in the flower bed across the street a year or two ago.  They look to be struggling a bit.

I planted 3 small Echinacea purpureas in the new growing area.  I've decided that I am not going to plant any more hybrid echinaceas.  I am planning on keeping an eye on any new plants that come up, and keep the ones that look more like the native ones, and maybe deadhead the ones that I don't want to reseed.  I may even pull a few plants out if they are crowded.  So, it looks like I'll have my own "hybrids". 

I know there are gardeners out there who love the new hybrids, and my aim isn't to say folks shouldn't plant them.  We have to do what works in our own gardens.  There are those who do not like them, saying they aren't as hearty, and the pollinators do not like them as well.  I saw bees and butterflies on all of the coneflowers the last few years, and couldn't tell if they had a preference.   You may share your experiences or thoughts on these matters if you like.  I just don't want a heated debate.

Our land phone line and internet were down most of the day.  I went to a bookstore to use their internet to work on this post because the cable company said they weren't going to be able to come work on the phone and internet until Tuesday.  When I got home, Larry said the internet is back up, so now, I am finishing up.

We are having both sides of our family come over for the fourth.  I need to clean and organize the toy room.  That's where the internet connection is, too, so I need to free up space for a cable person to work if they end up coming over.  I hope to make it your way to see what is going on in your garden this week, too.  Have a great week!