Plant profile: Coreopsis

Cheap'n'cheerful is the category usually assigned to Coreopsis, readily available at Home Despot and the like for a couple bucks per pint-sized plant. And of course they usually only have the double golden-yellow variety, and none of the cool burgundy-marked, pink or orangey ones. Oh well.

But what a little winner! Emily added one to the middle back bed and it went nuts.  I grabbed a couple more of these guys to replace the wallflowers who went to seed and looked sad right away recently in the middle back bed. Then I added a couple more, and paired with the blue Scabiosas they have been putting on quite the show. (See pic below, with CA Poppies in the foreground too)

Latin name: Coreopsis ("kor-ee-OP-sis")
Common name: Tickseed, Calliopis
Originally from: 28 species are native to North America, the other 7 are from Central and South America.
Blooms: Spring through Summer - the more you deadhead, the more flowers you get!
Light: Full sun
Water: Rain is plenty.
Where to find in P. Garden: In the middle back bed we have five plants.

The common name, tickseed, comes from the Greek koris (meaning bedbug) and opsis (meaning view) because the seedpod looks like a bedbug. In 1991 the flower of the genus Coreopsis was designated as Florida's official wildflower. And I think we can safely say it's the official flower of the middle back bed right now, too!