Wow... nicely grown. So when can you send me some seeds? :)

Wow! This is amazing. No more tissue cultured plants for me. I will be getting some seeds of these babies for sure! I was told seeds of these would go on sale later this month. They keep postponing them.

This is going to be a big hit. You'll be able to grow nice colors at a fraction of the cost and risk. I see why they won that award now!

Thanks for sharing these!

Those are very nice. And healthy looking, too, and so full of buds.

Karen

Oh my, this is not helping my addiction at all :), it's a beauty.

Annette

Wow!!! Very neat!! Thanks so much for sharing :)

Are you by any chance an AAS Trial site?

goblugal, no we are not.

How tall are these? They look short like the Pow Wow plants. Now they say seeds will be available in November. I am saving a spot for these!

coolplantsguy.......those are sooooo pretty...they are on my list for next season.........very clear pics of them also....

carol

Heavily budded and striking. Do let us know though if they winter over well. A lot of the new echinacea do not.

Those may make me retry newer echinacea. but yes, please let us know how they winter.

Even if they don't overwinter, they are a seed variety that blooms the first year. It will be cheap enough to get more seeds. No more expensive duds!

They are approximately 45cm (18") in height. Overwintering will be interesting -- especially when planted this time of year, although I'm very confident that they will be fine.

Cheyenne Spirit will be available coming spring in Europe at the consumer level. It won a Fleuroselect Golden Medal. It has been introduced to the seed houses this summer. Breeder is Kieft-Pro-Seeds.

Official word today from Kieft: Not released in the US until July 1, 2012

I wonder how this July 1 date will correspond with date for which one can these plants in pots at a Canadian nursery. Any idea coolplantsguy?

Double checked the info - July 1 NORTH AMERICA release, not just US.

July 1 is really too late to produce any crop for 2012, so likely spring 2013 is the earliest we're going to see potted plants.

I'm not sure why there is such a delay between trial seeds going to growers and commercial availability of seed. It's possible that someone has an "exclusive" for the first year and bought the entire seed inventory. Or perhaps seed production is taking a longer time to build up.

The local Agriculture agency tested these seeds and the blooms were horrible. Every single one was deformed. The color was great but ugly form! I don't know if they got bad seeds or what. Maybe that's one reason for the delay.

Shouldnt't they have to give the award back if the seeds aren't available? You have to plant these in January for blooms the first year according to their descriptions.

Do we have any European members or maybe just someone vacationing over there who could do a seed buy for those of us who are drooling.

Cooplantsguy how did you get your seed?

There are a number of reasons why the introduction of an item is delayed. This variety is being released in Europe first, undoubtably because they have not harvested enough seed to satisfy all markets. I'm not sure how Fleuroselect works, but in order to win an AAS (All America Selections) they must have a pre-determined amount of seed available before it can get the award. I have seen these in about 8 trial sites across the country, and have seen no deformities.

coolplantsguy said:

July 1 is really too late to produce any crop for 2012, so likely spring 2013 is the earliest we're going to see potted plants.

Thanks for that as I now will not plan for this plant for next year.

I work at a nursery, and we received seeds this spring to trial. The sow, plant and flower dates are mentioned above.

Also, no deformed petals/flowers here (but that's pretty obvious by the pics).

Here is a photo of a trial of these seeds. It could just be their conditions; however, this is more like "real world" conditions than potted plants. I hope they are worth the wait!

Here is a link that might be useful: Trial Photos

All of the trials I saw were in the ground. I would say 30-40% are standard purpurea purple shades. The rest range from primrose to deep orange to nearly red. They are working to segregate the colors, will probably take a few years. Per Kieft, they did decide to delay NA introduction because they didn't have enough seed harvested to meet the demand of both the European and NA markets.