White Echinacea

I admit it. I look for trouble.  I'm a garden trouble-seeker and am at my critical worst when we are having supper  on the patio.   I created my garden to be a "hug" around my patio, so there's no escaping dinnertime analysis.  We're surrounded by the good (the saving of the July garden by daylilies), the bad (pruning by rabbit), and the ugly (complete annihalation of climbing rose by Japanese Beetle). I really do try to focus on the positive while munching on my chicken and pasta salad.  The sun has sunk low into the sky by the time we sit down, the light is friendly, the evening birds are saying good night, and overall I am satisfied with that garden hug.  But invariably something will catch my eye that makes me jump up nearly upending the table and say, "WHAT WAS I THINKING???" (GDQ = Garden Drama Queen)  

This evening, for example. I love white echinacea.  It's cousin, pink echinacea is fine, but I really do favor the white.  So I looked at what is pictured below and asked myself, "WHY did I plant it right behind Shasta Daisy where it just gets lost?"  Finding the coneflower in this picture is akin to finding Waldo.

It wasn't bad enough that I did that in one spot, I repeated it in the side garden - right in front of the daisies again (though somehow it's not quite as bothersome here).

The third location was near my Happy Returns re-bloomer where its competition is friendlier. I'm one for three.

And so, before dinner was over and while it was fresh in my mind, I made a beeline into the house for the garden steno pad and added white coneflower to the "must move" list for when the weather cools down.

 I made a discovery this Spring when I wanted to thin out re-seeded echinacea.  The pink re-seeds easily while the white is much slower to do so.  In early Spring all foliage looks the same and I didn't want to pull out any new white starters.  I analyzed the plants very closely and saw that the young pink echinacea plant has a faint streak of red in the stem while the white has a stem of pure green.  Just a little hint that should help me next year.