we've had the wettest spring and summer in decades in central north carolina, and a couple of my cones, as well as a bunch of rudbeckias, have quickly browned, shriveled, and died away. I've pulled a couple of affected plants and noticed the roots were mushy and stunted. One of my garden books lists both echinacea and rudbeckia as plants that are sensitive to fungal root rot in areas of high moisture and poor drainage (which is what I've got this year). Same thing has happened to the thyme in my herb garden. In general, the rot seems very hit-or-miss -- I have several of each of these plants that are doing just fine.

Not sure what's going on with the dying flowers, but you may have gotten one of the Echinacea cultivars intended for the garden. "Magnus" is a very common cultivar which holds its petals outward. You may want to go to a nursery that specializes in natives to avoid this problem if you decide to replace them.

I am currently looking for a reason for this too---some of my E. purpurea flowerheads have browning crispy rays. Other flowerheads don't.

I am wondering if it's Japanese beetles eating the rays?

The same thing is happening on some of my plants, to the point where most of the rays on individual flowers have shriveled away. I've seen no evidence of insect damage.

Well, in may when it rained like heck here...my whole back yard was under water for a day or so. My coneflowers have been kind of hit or miss so far, and I think the roots of some of them may have been damaged by the water. They are very drought tolerant, but I have find them to be kind of not wet tolerant.

Some of my other coneflower's petals have been all weird looking, but I think that's insect damage, as all this wetness has made it a banner year for earwigs.