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How unusual is my mutant echinacea?
Q I have an echinacea growing in a pot. It flowered beautifully, but one of them was double. Is this unusual?
Mrs J Sharpe, Chesterfield, Derbyshire
A The general consensus is that echinacea are prone to genetic mutations and will often throw up the odd double flower, as yours did. Some growers regard this as a bad thing and discard plants that do, while others enjoy the oddity and hope the plant will do the same year after year.
Some American growers suspect it is caused by a disease called ‘asters yellows’, but this seems to carry a whole raft of other symptoms including very weak and yellow plant growth, so I don’t think this is the case with your plant, which you said grew strongly.
The mutation may have been caused by damage to the plant bud while it was developing, much like fasciation and witches’ broom in woody plants.
Therefore, it is difficult to say whether your plant will repeat the process next year – you will have to wait and see!
If you wish to move your echinacea from its pot into the soil, plant it in a sunny area with free-draining soil.
Cut the plant back in autumn and mulch around the
