Our native perennial coreopsis is a stalwart in many American gardens.
It fits well in all types of gardens, and in the language of flowers its name means “always cheerful.” It is the state wildflower in both Mississippi and Florida. There are about 38 native species, and most are a sunshiny gold.
There are perennial species that are hardy to zone 3 such as verticillata and tripteris, and some, such as tinctoria, are self-seeding annuals. The coreopsis that has larger flowers is grandiflora ‘Early Sunrise’. Popular cultivars are Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’, which is a pale lemon, and ‘Zagreb’, which is taller and a brighter yellow, and I find it to be more vigorous than ‘Moonbeam’ in my zone 6 garden.
There is a newer series of plants designated the UpTick™ series because tickseed is the common name of coreopsis. It is the result of breeding efforts of hybridizers over many years and includes a handsome compact plant known as ‘Cream and Red’.
The newer introductions can be identified by the fact that they have a larger range of colors as well as yellow. For example, bronze, red, gold, cream, and rose-red. Grow all of these Coreopsis in plenty of sun and in well-drained soil. Insects and birds love them, and they are drought and deer tolerant too!
This is Moya Andrews, and today we focused on coreopsis.
