You’d think a flower whose common name refers to a tiny bug wouldn’t be a highly desirable plant, but coreopsis or tickseed is a beautiful flower for your garden.
Coreopsis is a native flower and you’ll find versions of it across the country. In the wild it has small yellow, daily-like blooms reminiscent of its aster family roots. But recent breeding has expanded the range of flower colors and made this common wildflower a beauty. ‘Early Sunrise’ features double yellow flowers on 20-inch tall plants. ‘Desert Sunrise’ features coral and peach colored flowers on 10-inch tall plants. ‘Sweet Dreams’ is another short variety with white and raspberry colored flowers. The classic ‘Moonbeam’ has pale yellow flowers with finely cut foliage. You get the idea. There are many variations in plant size and flower color to match whatever flower you’re growing near by. However, some of these unusual colored versions aren’t as hardy as the species types, and are short-lived. They do self-sow, but of course, the hybrids won’t come true to seed.
Not only do coreopsis put on a show, they’re deer resistant, a favorite of butterflies, a good cut flower and the goldfinches love eating those “tick” sized seeds on the spent flower heads. The key to growing coreopsis is full sun, hot conditions and well-drained soil. Grow coreopsis in the front of a sunny flower border, along a south-facing wall or even in a container. The taller types pair well with gaillardia and echinacea. The thread-leaf types with their airy foliage look good near salvias and liatris. After they flower cut back the plant by 1/3rd, to stimulate new growth and more flowers.
And now for this week's tip, not only are daylily flowers beautiful, they’re edible. Eat raw flowers in salads, sautee them like squash blossoms or make fritters from the buds. You can even steam the tubers like potatoes. Just make sure you’re eating the Hemerocallis daylily and not the true lilium lily. The later are poisonous.
Next week on the Vermont Garden Journal, I'll be talking about new controls for Japanese beetles. Until then, I'll be seeing you in the garden.
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