Very short echinacea

Lunarz

Hi,  I have got two echinaceas in my 'sunny' border (although the border only actually gets sun about 50% of the day).  They are supposed to be the same type of echinacea and the flowers look identical.  One is about 120cms high - like it is supposed to be - but the one the other side is only about 30-40cm.  The tall one is surrounded by lupins and the short one has got a lavender next to it and a large jasmine behind it with lupins on the other side.  I have fed them both equally this year with a diluted seaweed feed plus put chicken pellets around them both.  Any ideas why one is so stunted please?  Thanks 

sotongeoff

You have answered your own question

If both plants are identical then in ideal and similar conditions they would grow identically

In a garden situation that is not the case,different levels of light, sun/shade and then different competition for water and nutrients.

That is what you have got-but once again are both plants identical?

Lunarz

Thanks gents - both of them are supposed to be Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' although I am wondering whether I accidentally got sent one of these and one of the standard Echinaceas, which are supposed to be substantially taller. Not sure whether these are old or new varieties? Even the smaller one, though, is supposed to be 1m rather than 30cm.  The small one is by a large Jasmine which I actually thought was dead as it got fooled by the warm weather around Xmas time into thinking it was Spring, put on loads of leafs and then all of them got killed when we had the really cold weather in March.  Amazingly though it has come back strong and even flowered this year.  Perhaps it is taking a lot of the moisture and feed out of the soil leaving the Echinacea on that side starved, although the lupins and lavenders around it are all the same size as the ones on the other side of the border.  Or perhaps as Christopher says, it is just temperamental!