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These "green" disfigured coneflowers were removed and destroyed.

I didn't plant any new "green bloom" echinacea cultivars, so what's wrong with a few of my coneflowers? While most of the coneflowers in my garden are blooming and thriving, I watched three delinquent clumps and wondered:

Did voles eat the roots? No
Are they getting shaded out by the other plants? No
Is it aster yellows disease? Yes

As difficult as it is, there's nothing to be done except to remove and destroy infected coneflowers to keep the disease from spreading by leafhoppers feeding on the plants.  Out with the bad to save the good.