Very nice, but it doesn't even look like a coneflower.

Wow - that is gorgeous!

'Tis is a beauty! Is the plant very tall? Too tall? Does it need support?

Gorgeous, I bought one this spring, left one flower bud to develop, fingers crossed it's as nice as yours.

Annette

Right now this one is about 2 feet tall. It should be a little taller next year. It has very sturdy stems and doesn't require any staking so far. It seems to be a very good plant.

I know it doesn't look like a typical coneflower....but I think it is very unique and interesting. It gives the look of a dahlia or zinnia, but it's a perennial. I just hope they release other colors with this form. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in my eyes this is beautiful!

EM - do all your blooms look like that or are some single/less double?

This plant only has one bloom right now. I have 2 other plants, but the blooms haven't opened all the way yet. I'll post a picture when they open. This one has another bud that isn't open yet too. I'll post an update when more open.

I have to admit I was really skeptical when I saw your pretty flower that it is a cone flower. It sure has the appearance of a dahlia, if I remember correctly. I did a search on the web and found where they were offered, in fact several places, and yes, theirs' look like yours. I immediately ordered 3 and they should arrive next Mon. or Tues. That is the prettiest echinacea I have ever seen.
I hope they do well here in PA.
Thanks for sharing. Jane

Yes, it is very pretty, janepa , where did you order from? I want one now. Anybody else know where to get one for a reasonable price?

Great Garden Plants has these on sale for $9.75. That's a pretty good price for these. Sometimes you can get them on sale for $6.95.

Great Garden Plants is where I ordered my Pink Poodle, quart size, 3 @ 27.75 + 10.?? FedEx shipping. White Flower Farms also has them listed for $21.?? ea., if I remember correctly.

Jane

Beautiful in my eyes too!!

I am replacing roses with coneflowers but haven't found any varieties like that. I have 4 plants now - Coconut Lime, Paradox Yellow, Sundown and Primadonna White, but I think $15 is the most I paid for any - LOL.

Somewhere in my WS plantings I would think there's the more boring varieties that grow well from seed...Purple and White Swan.

Going to Great Garden Plants now...

Have any of you ordered from McGlauflins in Maine? Here is the link http://mcgperennials.com/index.php?cPath=25&osCsid=7bb95a2cd7091559f78c32ec09fcab62

I am thinking about ordering a pink poodle and mac n cheese from here. They have free shipping.

I've ordered from McGlauflins. They are awesome! I ordered Tomato Soup from them and it is beautiful.

I pray in advance for your Mac n cheese...That one is far behind my Tomato Soup. Tomato Soup is loaded with blooms and it is just sitting there. I only know one person who has a Mac n Cheese blooming!

I'm hoping for better results from my PP, as it was given to me as a gift, and I know the gal that I got it from paid about $25 for it. It had 3 buds on it, and they never materialized to much of anything, but I don't know if all the rain we had in June might have done it in. Maybe it'll settle in and give a better show next year, or later in the season, but it suffered, and I have excellent soil. It got prime real-estate in my garden, but didn't perform.

Crossing fingers for it to over-winter; I'll mulch it a little just in case.

Can any post more blooms of their Pink Poodle? I bought two large gallon size plants distributed by the Novalis 'Plants that Work' label and I have had 9 blooms over the past 3 weeks, none of which are as full as the one shown above. They all look like 'Double Decker' on steroids, but there is a clear gap between the petals at the top of the flower and the petals at the bottom where normal cone is visible. At first I thought maybe as the flower matures it would fill in, but after 3 weeks it isn't and I think the flower may be inconsistent like so many other of the recent echinacea introductions.

echinaceamaniac - I have two Mac N Cheese and both are blooming. Two blooms on one and three on the other. They were both quart size, and I did cut off the initial buds to give them more time to root in. However, my two Tomato Soups are much bigger plants - and one has three blooms and one has six.

Kowalleka, could you post some pics. of your Mac N Cheese and TS?

There is a problem with the tissue culture of Echinacea "Pink Poodle." I bought 3 and only 1 is like the pictures. My other 3 are blooming now and they look like a "Double Decker" as someone else mentioned.

I'm sorry I posted this before I realized there was a problem. I hope if you all buy this plant you will pick one out while it's blooming so you don't have the same problems. This plant isn't stable in tissue culture or they are not doing something correctly because something is clearly wrong if 1 out of 4 looks normal.

Unfortunately, I think your beautiful pic and post above caused many people to mail order the plant where it now seems they'll be taking an expensive gamble on if they'll be getting anything more then a improved 'Double Decker.' I wonder if the mail order companies will honor a return when the flowers don't come true to advertised bloom.

Let's start an informal survey to see how severe an issue this is - between our 6 plants, 5 are not correct. I also know that all 3 I recently saw at a garden center were wrong, so they're batting 1/9 so far.

Can anyone else report their blooms?

At least I have a true Double Decker now. I'm keeping that one.

I bought only 1 PP and it blooms as a DD. I will look for one blooming in a nursery; they are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing, EM.

My Mac-n-Cheese is quite strong; Tomato Soup so-so; Tiki Torch I planted last year is unbelievable! Very strong plant - it has been blooming for 2 months.

Does anyone have Flame Thrower?

Mickie

I have 2 Flame Throwers. These are awesome growers, but they haven't bloomed yet. These are huge plants!

So far only 1 of 10 Pink Poodle plants reported has correct blooms - who else has blooms to report?

Can you collect seeds from Pink Poodle? I have a Pink Double Delight i snipped 2 brown cones last night. I checked them out but did not see any seed. Can seed be collected from the Pink Double Delight? or Meringue?

I have collected seeds from Pink Double Delight before and germinated them. You'll get a mixture of singles and doubles depending on what other plants are nearby. I had a white double from some of the seeds.

I'm sure Meringue has seeds. I will check tonight for sure. Pink Poodle may not have many seeds at all. I know Tiki Torch has very few either.

Emaniac, i know you posted a link to a ech. seed picture. I didn't see anything that looked comparable when removing the dried heads of the Pink Double Delight. But i will still save and try to grow in the winter.

Your blooms may not have been pollinated if there are no seeds. They won't have as many seeds as the regular Echinaceas, but these do produce seeds. I saved tons of them last year from Pink Double Delight. Is this a first year plant for you?

Yes, it is a first yr. plant for me. I pulled 2 spent flowers off the plant but there are still about 20 more flowers on it. Another plant i got from Lowe's just full of buds. The Meringue i got from Lowe's is my nicest. I swear there must be 30 flowers on that plant right now, and they are just beautiful! The healthiest of all my echs.

Some blooms were probably on the plant when you bought them. They probably didn't get pollinated. Your later blooms since you've had them outside should have some seeds.

Pink Poodle update...I'm concerned about the winter hardiness of this Echinacea because the basal branching is so poor. I'm spraying my plant with Configure at 300 parts per million to see if I can bulk this thing up for winter survival. If not, I may have to bring it in over the winter.

Is there a way of increasing the
Basal at the bottom of the plant.

Here's an article that describes how to increase basal branching in Echinacea. You need some form of 6-BA in a spray. I am trying Configure. I don't normally use this on my plants, but in this case I think it's needed because the plant doesn't grow many branches on its own. It also is good for propagating these because it increases the number of cuttings you can take.

Here is a link that might be useful: Branching of Echinacea

To add to the information on Pink Poodle. I ordered two this spring. One, after the various mutations turned into the Poodle as shown. The other is trying to go through the contortions but is very much behind and at this point remains mostly a double decker. My problem is that both plants have a single sturdy stalk and that's it. Nothing growing from the base. I pinched them on arrival and they are well branched but division might be a few years down the road if ever.

I was out at one of the garden centers yesterday of course made a beeline to the Echinaceas to see if any more of the new varieties had arrived. I found Flame Thrower :o) and then I saw a perfectly formed 'Double Decker' or so I thought (by the way the flowers on my DD are the pitts) I looked at the tag and it said 'Pink Poodle' hmmmm, I though that maybe the tags got mixed up as I was previously at another garden center and they had their 'Mac'N'Cheese' labeled 'Tomato Soup'.
So I came home and did a little patent search on Ec's, found the descriptions right on down to the RHS color chart codes for a lot of them.
Apparently 'Pink Poodle' was a seedling found in a bunch of Double Deckers, I'm very tempted to go back out and buy the PP that looks like a perfect DD it was very pretty. My 'Pink Poodle' hasn't bloomed yet so the jury's still out on it, Echinaceamaniac I think you lucked out with at least one of yours, the pic you show of your PP really is lovely.

Annette