ech paradoxa should be a reliable bloomer... Doesn't need to much care. What zone are you in? Does it get full sun? Is it growing a nice dense set of leaves at least?

That species does the same thing to me. It only flowers occassionally. I love natives, but I find it not very garden worthy in the environment I had it in. Of note, my unwatered planting area was probably too wet for it...and perhaps detrimental to a healthy deep root system.

Nevermore44,

I'm in Zone 8A. I don't know that it gets full sun, but I think it gets decent sun. My purple coneflowers about 20 yards away get about the same amount of sun, and they bloom just fine. Yes, it does have a decent set of leaves at least.

I have a device that measures sunlight hours, and I'll make a note to measure that. If it doesn't get full sun, should I dig it up and plant it at a new location?

Thanks for the interesting info, dbarron. Glad to know I'm not the only one having problems with this plant.

What kind of soil do you have? I started mine from seed years back and it dig good in my heavy Ohio clay with little amendment besides leaf mulch.... And then they did better after I double dug the bed and added a lot of amendments. So as long as you are getting really wet feet through winters they should do okay... So maybe the sun..... Or the soil.

If you have no buds now... You won't get any this year.... So you might as well move it so it has time to settle in before winter. Late planted echs rarely survive for me... So I try to not move them in the fall either.

if you do move them.... They have deep thick roots... Not fibrous roots like most perennials...... So depending on the size... Dig down a good amount first before you lift it up. Keep a good clog of dirt on the roots to.

Nevermore44,

I think the soil has a good bit of clay in it. It's pretty heavy. I don't really have leaf mulch. What other amendments did you add?

Oh, you started yours from seed? Wow.

Incidentally, for several years, I had a yellow coneflower near our house that bloomed just fine, but 3 years ago another member of the household was spraying those awful chemicals to kill weeds, and it killed the plant. :( So, I planted this new plant far away from the house so that wouldn't happen again. But even though it's still alive, I guess the location/soil wasn't optimal. I got the plant from a different nursery, though, so that might be a factor too. Anyway, I hope to measure the sunlight tomorrow.

Thanks for all the info. In terms of digging up the plant, how deep are we talking about? I measured the plant tonight, and it's only about a foot tall.

I wouldn't be surprised to find (if it's been in the spot for several years), it to have penetrated about five feet. Likely you won't get all the roots, but get what you can. Even E. purpurea tends to sulk greatly after moving...I missed a year last year by moving in November.

five feet down! I need a pick ax or spud bar to go into my subsoil.

Neptune... the clump I have only gets about 1 foot or so... just dense with leaves and spreading laterally. They don't get as tall as purpurea types.

In my soil, when I split the large old clump of mine a few springs back.... I went down a foot and got a majority of them. The a few tips did break off on some but I got most just fine. They did bloom the following year at my father's garden and have been ever since.

I wouldn't be surprised to find (if it's been in the spot for several
years), it to have penetrated about five feet. Likely you won't get all
the roots, but get what you can.

Thanks—I'll just do my best. :)

Even E. purpurea tends to sulk
greatly after moving...I missed a year last year by moving in November.

So Echinaceas are just a bunch of crybabies, huh? ;)

Neptune... the clump I have only gets about 1 foot or so... just
dense with leaves and spreading laterally. They don't get as tall as
purpurea types.

OK, glad to know mine has normal height at least. :)

In my soil, when I split the large old clump of mine a few springs
back.... I went down a foot and got a majority of them. The a few tips
did break off on some but I got most just fine. They did bloom the
following year at my father's garden and have been ever since.

Thanks—that information is helpful. Glad you had success. And even if I don't get all the roots, my Echinacea probably can't do much worse in a new location than it's been doing already. ;)

Well most prairie natives are deep rooted (to thrive in dry times and avoid fire), and really don't like being moved much. It's generally preferable to start from a new young plant (in my experience)...that doesn't mean I haven't moved them.

Just expect sulking....it's their nature (again a general statement).

I always thought it was an Ozark mountain plant, not a plains plant. It did not like my limestone soil , heater lack of water. It never bloomed and stayed fairly small and lanky I Central Texas.

It occurs in MO, OK, AR, and one occurence in Texas, more of a plains, though you could say that's mostly Ozarkian :)

Well
most prairie natives are deep rooted (to thrive in dry times and avoid
fire), and really don't like being moved much. It's generally preferable
to start from a new young plant (in my experience)...that doesn't mean I
haven't moved them.

That makes sense. Since I have nothing to lose, I hope to move the plant. Incidentally, I used my sunlight meter, and apparently the plant has been getting partial sun. Maybe that's just not enough.

Just expect sulking....it's their nature (again a general statement).

If so, I'll give it plenty of Kleenexes. ;)

It never bloomed and stayed fairly small and lanky in Central Texas.

It helps to know I'm not the only who's ever had problems with this plant. :) I would never buy another one. Even when I had one years ago that bloomed, the flowers were just not that pretty or plentiful.

I think of it as a novelty (the yellow echinacea). They're not prolific flowering even in habitat, though they look as if they belong.

They bloom nicely in my part of town. I will say though that they don't send up any secondary blooms like purpureas do.

https://trowelsanddirt.com/2021/02/13/why-does-echinacea-coneflower-often-revert-back-to-the-color-purple/

the linked website contains some wonky information.

"In nature, echinacea can come in purple, pale purple, & yellow. The different colors and varieties (for example, double or triple blossoms) come from humans self-pollinating the plants in labs and creating hybrids through vegetative propagation"

I would prefer to describe it more acurat:

in nature, there are different species of Echinacea with different flower color.

the new colors in garden plants result from breeders cross pollinating plants, sometimes even of different species.

the created hybrids do not fall true from seed and therefore have to be propagated vegetativly in the lab (meristem cell cultures)

now when you have a hybrid with mixed genetics (heterozygous), the next generation will show completely different traits, mostly that of the "grandparents"

as others mentioned before, most likely your fancy garden variety died and was replaced by volunteers/ seedlings which tend to revert.

so, if you want to keep fancy hybrids, it would help if you lift and divide them in regular intervals

Ok that’s good to know but mine never get that far! But love your information!