welcome to the forums.. if you are going to hang around ... add your location on your members page ... it often matters ..

you are obviously a much warmer zone than i am.. based on plant size ....

have you had any cold event since those leaves grew out???

if we rule that out.. i wonder if they are growing so fast ... they just havent fully unfurled yet ... any early heavy fert use??? .. obviously they arent fully to size yet ...

ken

Darrell, I don't want you to panic, but you should consider that your coneflowers are infected with aster yellows. It's more obvious when you see the deformed flowers, but the symptoms also include narrow and curled foliage. Sorry, there's no cure and the plants would have to be destroyed immediately. I've had it in my garden for a couple of years now, so I see it everywhere. I hope I'm wrong.

Aster yellows was my first thought as well. You will know once they bloom......... :(

AY ... which the bloom should tell you... or an herbicidal drift ?

Well... looking at both photos. I wouldn’t say ay. The curly leaves now just look like it could use some water.... so maybe it has passed ? When I get cones like the ones you show... I just call them mites... and cut them off to reduce the mite problems which collect in the cones.

Ay causes the green petals and the individual florets grow into miny flower stalks and mini blooms. It’s a wild look. Your flowers aren’t showing this issue.

Got it any more photos of other plants ?

Well for my collection.... I get some drooping during hot days like this during spring. They seem to harden up later in the summer and are fine through the baking summer heat.

No insecticide will touch these mites.... that includes topical or systemic. Plus you don’t want to be poisoning the bees anyway.

You’re only option is to cut the blooms and toss them. The mites are embedded deep in the cone heads. The other thing is to clean up the plants a bit early in the fall... to not leave any of the plants litter through the winter to carry eggs in. I’ve been doing this for a handful of years and the mites are in check and don’t cause much damage any more. Google their cycle if you want to know the details.

I say this... but will also let a mited bloom hang around for a bit if it’s a nice one before I pop it off and chuck it.

And in regards to diagnosis.... I go by the rule ... if there arent green distorted petals or the odd secondary mini blooms... then it’s mites.

Mites will give the clustered conehead.. and cause petals to not develop... but can’t cause the above issues.

Here are some asters yellow infected echinacea and rudbeckia.

or here are the funky mini blooms

The OP's supplemental photos do indeed indicate aster yellows. Deformed or not fully formed flowerheads are a classic symptom as well as deformed or curled/congested foliage. Flowers do not need to be green in color for it to be AY.

Nevermore, your echs are amazing! And thank you for the tips on dealing with mites. Darrell, it may not be so bad! This article explores the difference between mite damage and AY:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/home/ct-home-1215-garden-qa-20161213-story.html

Though it’s not fun... pop the bad ones off and toss them.

My Flowers look normal but the leaves are darker curling with whitish thin linear objects that do not move. HELP?