Astonishing not only for their colours but also for their robust, branching habits and thick sturdy stems which was the result of making many crossings with E. purpurea, the 'Big Sky' series was first unleashed to an unsuspecting public in 2006 with the introduction of E. 'Sunrise' and E. 'Sunset'.  

Echinacea 'Sunrise'

E. 'Sunrise' has broad sunny yellow petals that overlap and hold out straight around the cone.

E. 'Sunset' has salmon-orange petals. Catch this one while you can as it's a limited edition and may be discontinued soon!   E. 'Sundown', E. 'Twilight' and E. 'Harvest Moon' become available from 2007.

Echinacea 'Sundown'

E. 'Sundown' is an improvement on E. 'Sunset' with even more intense colouring in both petals and the matching cone.  

Echinacea 'Twilight'

E. 'Twilight' has rosy-red petals around a deep red cone. "The best blend of colours and best use of E. purpurea's intensive pigments" according to Richard. It's also the most branching plant of the series.

Echinacea 'Harvest Moon'

E. 'Harvest Moon' is the first golden Coneflower to be introduced and the most fragrant of the 'Big Sky' Echinaceas.

The 2008 introduction E. 'Summer Sky' gives the world its first taste of a bi-colour Coneflower.

Put them all together and see what you get! This picture shows 6 Big Sky Echinaceas. Clockwise from top right: 'Summer Sky', 'Twilight', 'Sunrise', 'After Midnight', 'Sundown', 'Harvest Moon'.

Look beyond the petals and you'll notice that even the cones of each variety have a very special unique colour.

'Sundown' and 'Harvest Moon' together as cutflowers. Just the cones themselves make a great contrast!

This image of 'Sundown' together with 'Summer Sky' shows how well the colours can be complemented with each other and also by purple-leaved companions