Chris...I don't think what Terra Nova has on their web site nor Heronswood's Pomegranate' can hold a candle to your plant. There was a  picture or two that you sent or posted a couple of years ago (or more?) of yours...would love to see those again as I have never been a big fan of Echinacea until I saw those. As I recall, you were not keen for the tissue culturing at the time but that seemed to be the only avenue to follow. When you discovered your sport I believe you had to trial it to be sure it was stable (not revert). So you had a lot of time into it. What other avenue can someone take to market a new plant? Joanie Anderson

 

----- Original Message ----->
> Chris...thanks for the picture ability...this will be great fun and
> even more interesting. Your pic of the Echinacea is fabulous...is
> the one Terra Nova claims is entirely theirs just like yours? Is
> there anything you can do or is it too costly to fight them? Did you
> breed yours or was it a sport of some kind? Any possibility of
> re-producing something similar? What a beauty and what a terrible
> shame. I know you worked hard on this and had very high hopes for
> it.

The one from Terra Nova is different, although they were working on
others as well.  To be honest, I stopped following the new introductions
because I found it depressing.  :)

I did notice that 'Heronswood' has a very similar-looking one out this
year, called Echinacea 'Pomegranate'.

   http://bit.ly/mQu6w3

Theirs is an obvious sport of 'Doubledecker' (as was mine), but
appears to revert to the old Doubledecker form readily.  Mine had
the same color-changing effect -- early flowers were a shell pink
with a hint of lavender and became darker with age.  Attached is a
photo as the petals were first opening.

Chris