that's not a very good photo on the right, it is very dark, i can't see any color at all.
It doesn't surprise me any that yours does not look like the marketing pic.
Same goes with my Tomato Soup.
I think i am done buying Ech's without blooms. The only way i will buy a plant now is when it is blooming.

I still like it. I have noticed the color is better in cooler zones. It's difficult to plan your colors though when the plants aren't the color promised. It's frustrating. 'Hot Papaya' is more red here and it was supposed to be orange. I do like them though. I'll try to get a better photo.

I'm waiting to buy any fancy echs until I know they won't revert. I heard that after a couple of seasons they become ordinary echs. Is that your experience?

Being that they're hybrids and not genetic mutations, it's physically impossible for them to revert. And just as unlikely that seedlings will look like E. purpurea. More likely with people experiencing such a phenomenon is that a normal E. purpurea seeded into the crown of a hybrid and sprouted and the hybrid died at some point.

Tomato Soup looks just like the pics from Terra Nova for me, not sure what anyone else is experiencing. Same goes with most of their Echs.

Keep in mind that the pro photographers are using natural light to their advantage to get good color saturation. For instance, how many people see Gaillardia Frenzy as the rich vibrant red it's marketed as? Well, go out at dusk during a sunset and take a look. This is what you get. Sorry for any graininess and blur, 1/5th second shutter speed and iso 3200. I should have used a tripod and lower iso.
{{gwi:260846}}

color saturation almost hurts your eyes doesn't it?

The Plant Geek
www.confessionsofaplantgeek.blogspot.com

While hybrids technically cannot "revert" back to their original parents, in reality, and I believe what many are experiencing with Echinacea, when one allows them to self-sow, is that dominant genes are producing plants that are likely more vigorous (than the newer, fancy-coloured hybrids) and look otherwise like good ol' E. purpurea.

So, in an average garden situation that might include a few 'Magnus' along with some of the newer hybrids, where the plants are permitted to self-sow, in a couple of years, one likely sees mostly purple-flowered plants.

Color genes for Echinacea don't show clear cut dominance like so many other plants, which is why f1 crosses of purpurea x paradoxa produce a range of orange, yellow, and amber colors. (f2 and later show the same range of colors- with no purples) I think it would take a number of backcrosses to purpurea to get purple flowers due to strong codominance. I'm not 100% sure, but I can find out easily enough.

In simple dominance f1 would have been either yellow, pink, purple, or white depending on the parents used. Other colors wouldn't be expressed until an f2 generation was produced through a sibling cross or a cross back to the recessive parent. I don't think this is simple codominance either, since we see a lot of yellows in f1 and subsequent generations. I'm guessing yellow is slightly more dominant which means breeding back to get purple is even more difficult.

The Plant Geek
www.confessionsofaplantgeek.blogspot.com

That's interesting info. Maybe it's a function of vigour (and/or the oft-mentioned hardiness issues) then that ultimately produces a bed full of normal-looking Echinacea after a few years.

The problem is some of the new cultivars aren't as winter hardy. I agree. I've never seen one revert. It's impossible.

I have planted seeds of the hybrids and gotten reds and other colors. It's fun to sow them and see the interesting plants they produce. They often look much like the parent and many perform better in the garden.

I've been sceptical about stories of Echinacea changing colours too, until it happened to me. So you can stop all the explanations about a-seedling-in-a-pot or seedling-in-the-other-plant or other 'impossible' versions. Now I'm a believer. Last summer I bought a large pot of Tomato Soup in full bloom. I was too busy to plant it at once, and I was suprised by the very early winter(I'm from Denmark). So the plant wintered in my basement. I planted it out in May this year, and all the shoots- 10 big shoots are now blooming in ordinary purple. The only thing unchanged is the habit of the plant and the branching. Not only flowers are purple, but also distorted and quilled like the Big Sky plants. What about that?? I will try to post the picture soon
My Marmalade looks like on the picture alright, but there is only one flower on the top of each stalk.No branches at all.

The only echinacea that is true to photos in my opinion is Hot Papaya-which I have and is beautiful. The white ones are pretty much close to the photos posted on nursery sites. I also have Echinacea Sundown-which is very disappointing. Color fades in the sun to a pinkish reddish mess. Want to replace them with Hot papaya but evidently since its a new one all the nurseries are overcharging for them. Will wait till the prices go down.

plantgnome I planted Hot Papaya late last summer and it has produced outstanding flowers in this first full growing season. This is a great coneflower in my opinion.

yes rouge21-I have it also planted last fall. It is a beauty as I said. However Sundown-not so much. Just found a site that is selling hot papaya for $7.60 per plant instead of the ridiculous prices on other plant sites asking up to $16.00 a plant. I ordered 3 for my daughters house to replace those ugly sundowns, will put sundown in the back of her yard, see if they get any nicer next season.

I purchased Pink Double Delight this spring and so far, all the buds that have opened show light to medium pink petals but I'm still waiting for the "double" fluffy top to form. I can see where it will be coming from but it's not formed as yet on any of a half a dozen flowers that are open. The plant has grown quickly and is much larger than when it was sent. There are lots of buds and the plant habit is nice and bushy. Now for the flowers to get the correct form....

At the same time, my daughter purchased another newer one, Raspberry Truffle, and it is much smaller than my plant, even from the beginning it was smaller, but the flower are exactly as shown in on-line pictures. They are gorgeous and almost don't look real.

We will see how each of these plants perform the rest of the gardening season and if they return next spring. That will be the real test.

I've had E. Milkshake for two years now and it is a great performer and seems hardy here in my zone.

Linda

I've been very pleased and surprised by "marmalade'. It's blooms are exactly like the picture when they first bloom, but the intensity has faded in the hot sun.
But, unlike many of the new cultivars I've tried, it's a blooming machine, and the orange pompom is arresting. It's a good plant, in my opinion, and I'm not at all fond of double or pompom flowers.

all of my hybrid ech's have reverted after the initial season. love the regular purple, but was going for the variety of colors. anybody know how to prevent this? one nursery said to cut all the flowers off the first season, to strengthen the plant for future seasons and *possibly* the hybridized color would return.

I have my marmalade for 3 years-comes up the same color every year, gets faded in about a week in blaring sun, must still remains a faint peach color, not the orange it is when it first comes up in early summer. All of mine-Hot papaya, Hot Summer, Sundown etc. Never had one revert.

Eight year old Sunrise, Harvest Moon, Summer Sky, and Sun Down are still here and have not reverted. Milk Shake -5 years, Green Envy -2 years old, a 4 year old Colorburst Orange, and a 3 year old Pink Double Delight are all in full bloom and look exactly as they should. I was happy to see them this spring since we had such an awful winter.

I would never not believe someone who did have plants that reverted. It took 3 years but my Gaillardia Arizona Apricot now looks exactly like a Gaillardia Goblin, just slightly taller. Love the color of AA so I may have to repurchase it and just plan on replacing it after 2 years.

Linda

I too have never had anything revert in my collection over the years. Talking to one of the original ech breeders, he noted that they can't actually genetically revert. Don't know the science behind that.

Many times, the hybrid plant doesn't overwinter and then the common ones you have take over... or the offspring of one the hybrid plants seed down at the crown of the hybrid... making it look like your plant has reverted the following year... when the original plant dies.