Enuf wrote:

I have a large established bed of purple cone flowers. I recently
purchased some red and some white cone flowers also. I was told that
these colors come from hybrid plants, so my question is: Will they
cross polinate or will they retain their true colors? Anyone have any
experience with this?

Assuming that all the plants involved are E. purpurea and not some other
species of Echinacea like E. pallida or E. angustifolia, they will
readily cross-pollinate with each other. What varieties are the 'red'
and 'white' plants? Presumably the white plants are 'Alba' or 'White
Swan' or some other common albino cultivar. White coneflower cultivars
are typically less vigorous than purple varieties. I would expect the
crosses between your regular coneflowers and the 'red' variety to be of
normal vigor though. The actual plants you put in the ground should
retain their variety traits, although you can expect them to produce
quite variable progeny via seed. If you deadhead immediately after the
bracts turn black, you don't have to worry about self-seeding. Don't be
surprised if the white plants 'fade' after several seasons. If you
haven't stuck them in the ground yet, I would suggest getting rid of the
whites altogether and replacing them with a pigmented variety, or some
shasta daisies or something.

Micah Mabelitini


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