A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Odd Coneflower

Here is a pic of an odd mutation of one of my purple coneflowers (after the petals had fallen off). You can see in the background other flowers on the same plant that are not mutated.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e47/alankhart/DSCF1367.jpg

Wow that is pretty odd!

Geesh, that is really strange! I have a lot of coneflowers, but I've never seen anything like that.

That's really weird, Alan. Looks like seedheads from spent Phlox that I just deadheaded. Maybe you have a new hybrid, Conephlox. lol!

Wow that is interesting..definitely some sort of cross pollination. Are you going to save the seed and see what grows from it next season????

I didn't think of that, but that's a good idea. I wonder what I'll get?????

I think it would be interesting, but I love to experiment with doing things like that to see what happens.

i've never seen that happen with my purple coneflowers. really odd!

question about harvesting seeds from coneflowers. when do you take the seed heads off? how big are the seeds? are they easily visible? how should they be stored? in frig or just at room temp? and what about planting next season? do they need to be treated before planting?

obviously, i've never collected seeds before...

joclyn, wait until the cone has turned brown and is sticky, then just cut off the whole head and plant it.

k.

about how long (after the bloom dies off) does it take for that to happen?

what about pulling the seeds so i can use them for trades? i've got more than enough for my gardens...i'd like to share

You might want to look into something called Aster Yellows. Although this looks cool, it may be a sign of problem.

Aster Yellows

Another Link

I think that's exactly what is wrong! I have heard of aster yellows, but never really new much about it. Looks like I better cut off the infected parts so it doesn't spread, even though it does look neat! Thank you VERY much!

jocelyn, I can't say for sure how long it takes after it blooms - seems like it's several weeks. In this climate, NC, the cone flowers blooms for a while. You certainly won't have trouble trading them on the seed exchange forum though. Everyone loves cone flowers.

Pianolady, I'm glad you posted that site. I've seen that on some of my plants too. A wierd thing happened on one of my camellia bushes this past year too. It looked like magnolia leaves (sort of) grew on it in one area. I posted it in the mystery section. It was really strange.

Man, I was hopin' you could get a new flower out of that,
and probagate it and then hold the patient on it,
and become a millionaire Alan..

That does look like what that thing says..
*I have never heard of that.. I learned something new today *