Here's another fantastic double white coneflower. This one surprised us. At first glance, we weren't excited, but having grown it in our garden, we now think this could be the best double white selections for the mid-border. Another piece of brilliant breeding, we present Echinacea 'Milkshake', from  AB-Cultivars. Milkshake is "regular" sized. It's not tall, it's not dwarf, it's just the right size for all you coneflower traditionalists out there. The trait that surprised us the most about Milkshake is that the blooms DO NOT age. Seriously...We've never seen anything like it. It started blooming in June and we thought , it's a taller, poor man's 'Coconut Lime', but then all of the heavy, seriously double, white pom pom blooms opened fully and there they sat, perfectly white and untouched through June, through July through August and even September. They show no signs of browning or petal discoloration. It's as if they are fake flowers.

This would be a fantastic cut flower because it would last in a vase for 8 weeks. Imagine that! The plant is also very sturdy and strong. Each mature plant holds 40-50 blooms (the same ones since early June...) high with great confidence and no sign of flopping. The blooms are the size of Coconut Lime's, but they are almost true white, with a hint of say, french vanilla milkshake-y-ness. The ray petals are long and drooping and the cone has white to creamy white, double flowers covering the entire surface.