I love all the new coneflower varieties coming out, but in the past few years I've been really disappointed. Green Envy did well for me last year, but I wasn't impressed with the color combination on the plant. Merlot had one bloom and then disappeared entirely. Mac n' Cheese never made it. The jury is out on Tomato Soup - also had one flower, and was still living in fall. I know you've got to give them time to work on their root system and this next year will be the deciding factor, but still-not impressed.

I've heard that alot of people have had problems with these new hybrids being as floriferous as the standard pinks. Any thoughts/comments? They're rather pricey while they're new - are there any that are worth it?

I have tried two of the somewhat newer ones (Sundown and Crazy Pink)and found that they were fussy and needed a lot of water to survive the summer. While Sundown was quite floriferous, it really needed babying after flowering and nearly died. IMO neither compare to the tough Echinacea purpurea.