Any word on the release of Rockstar?

Bloomstruck is Rockstar. Issues with using the name Rockstar.

What is the difference between Bloomstruck and the Original? If any.

Bloomstruck is a cross between the original ES and Twist and Shout. It gets its red stems from TS. Blooms are smaller and so is the shrub, slightly. Other than that, unless someone can convince me otherwise, or has one, I'll stick to the original and give it good winter protection.

This post was edited by mainegard3 on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 20:46

What is the difference between Bloomstruck and the Original? If any.

Very different looking plants.

Darker green leaves, very red stems, flowers can be more deep purple or rose-pink, leafs out later, heavy bloomer.

Seeing Bloomstruck show up in nurseries now...I had a test plant that did come thru this winter with no die back. Most other did die back except Lady in Red and Twist and Shout....

What did you think of it in leaf & bloom? Really liking the no die back part!

leaves have a slight red tint and are smaller than Es but certainly handled winter well with no die back-blooms will wait and see but the unopened blooms in the nursery seemed smaller too.

Mine appears to have survived the winter quite nicely. Macs always dieback here, but lots of buds around the base and part way up the stems.

A couple of my local nurseries are loaded with 2-gallon pots with many branches for $25, before "shopping season" has even really begun. Might snatch one for testing...

I do relate to the similarities and redundancies between this and other products, but I can't say I haven't been markedly disappointed with any ES product yet (aside from Bella Anna behaving a bit more wimpily than Annabelle).

But so far, Bloomstruck looks to potentially be a viable candidate for filler and replacement in northern gardens, where cross-year reliability is paramount.

So impressed with the no die back. Lady in Red and also no die back. Twist and Shout some die back but not much. Lilacina and Prezeosia also no die back.

My Bloomstruck, after dying back to about 6", has a lot of flowers coming.

It does seem to be a little floppy but that just may be the young plant.

Here's a pic of mine from today (new from nursery stock). It has cotton-candyish themed blooms with lighter centers that get darker toward the edges. The blooms are the main seller - forget the red stems. Colors range from medium pink to magenta to blue to purple. Very cool.

Again no die back and lots of buds-very impressed!