Ann wrote:
"gregpresley" expounded:
I've yet to see a white variety of the coneflower that floats my boat. They
tend to be a muddy, tannish white, rather than a clear bright white. I agree
with the poster who suggests a shasta daisy or some other white daisy if you
want that color in a particular area of the garden. However, if you're
growing them particularly for the shape of the flower and using it in
arrangements or something, I guess that's different.
I agree, Pallida is very....insipid, I guess. And not very vigorous,
at least for me.
White purple coneflower isn't E. pallida. It is several different
cultivated varieties of E. purpurea, namely 'Alba' and 'White Swan' (and
a few other less common varieties). The 'pale' in pale purple coneflower
refers to the pollen color, which usually appears white, as opposed to
other species of Echinacea which have yellow pollen. Ligule color has NO
bearing on the differentiation between E. purpurea and E. pallida. In
fact, many species of Echinacea, including E. purpurea and E. pallida,
have a ligule color which varies along a north-south cline, with more
darkly colored ligules in northern populations, giving way to nearly
white ligules in more southerly populations. Even pollen color is not
always sufficient to identify E. pallida in the wild, as there is some
intergradation with E. sanguinea and E. simulata. As far as
differentiating E. purpurea from E. pallida though, the plants look very
much different, with E. pallida having more lanceolate leaves and a
taproot, as well as other distinguishing characters. E. purpurea is the
only species of Echinacea with a fibrous root system. Ligule color is
only useful for differentiating E. paradoxa from other species, because
it has bright yellow ligules while all other species of Echinacea have
purple/magenta/pink ligules.
As far as the lack of vigor in the albino cultivars, I totally agree. In
my experience, they grow slower, are less resistant to pests, and they
really aren't white. The OP mentioned that they were doing a
red/white/blue thing, using E. purpurea 'Ruby Star' and 'White Swan' for
the red and white. They will come to find that their red/white/blue
motif is actually a magenta/****-yellow/blue motif.
Micah Mabelitini
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