Re: purple & white coneflower

> From: gardenqueen@academicplanet.com
> Has anyone ever heard of a purple and white coneflower on
the same plant?
> I have one, that was all white last year and now has one white and
one
> purple/pink flower.  That's different.  The 'renegade' is almost a
lavender color.  Do they mutate?
----------

All cultivars have the ability to revert to species; has to do with
the cell development within the plant.  

I have had a clump of a soft warm pink single hardy mum for over 20
years.  Noticed a year or so ago that a  third of the blooms were a
magenta pink.  Now, this does not seem to seed, so I am assuming that
some bit of it reverted and I just didn't notice until it got to the
point where it made lots of flowers.  I have just left it; rather an
interesting combination.  Since I cleverly cleaned up and uncovered
that clump in very early March and now see that it's about half the
size it has always been (think some of it got frosted), it will be
interesting to see which part survived....hope I have not lost my
original altogether...

I would remove the stem with the pink flower at the crown if you want
to keep the white clump.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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