Re: echinacea

**D* C* <d*@sympatico.ca>**

Some interesting discussions, here's my 1.5 cents worth ( if i was as 
experienced and knowledgeable as Mr. Green, I'd add the extra ha'penny.

We are inundated with requests for the newest cultivars, sometimes before we 
even know they exist. Media drives the frenzy.
[Sidebar: It's not just coneflowers- hosta, heuchera/heucherella/tiarella, 
coreopsis verticillita are the other in demand ones. Of them all, the hosta 
are best for being a reliable new introduction. Some of the heuchera group 
seem to sort of melt away and the coreopsis need to be treated as an 
annual.]
If we don't want to carry new echinacea until we see some survivability 
data, the big boxes will have them. Better to have a customer ticked off 
about one plant that didn't survive than lose all of their spring business. 
We'll give all the warnings and instructions that we can but it is very, 
very tough not to carry the "newest."
Retail customers don't want 9cm pots, they want 1 gal in bloom: they might 
buy a 2 gal but are very reluctant to do so. Anything larger just isn't in 
our inventory.
We overwinter ours (Cdn Zone 5a/(USDA 4) in unheated polyhouses- 6ml poly, 
1' high strip of styrofoam around the bottom, covered with mulch after 
freeze-up. We seldom lose plants due to cold.
Diseases can be problematic but proper cultural controls work well.
Insect pest that is starting to become an issue is the sunflower sawfly.
my .015
Dan 

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