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| early summer 2013 |
I've been thinking about how much I like
Coreopsis. I mean really like them. They're dependable, have a long bloom period, are easy to grow and are usually trouble free and who doesn't like their colorful, daisy like flowers?
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| Goldfinches enjoy Coreopsis tripteris seeds |
Apparently, I didn't! At least for a while! I'm not exactly sure why I stopped planting them at Clay and Limestone. Maybe, it was that "too much of a yellow thing" I have going on with all the yellow composite flowers or it could have been that I thought they needed more sun and better drainage. Whatever! I reversed course and want more in the garden.
My favorite right now is
Coreopsis 'Redshift'. The name is apt, the first blooms in early summer are a lovely buttery yellow that shifts to red as the summer turns into Autumn and the evenings cool.
'Redshift' is a hybrid
(a complicated hybrid with many crosses)* and I appreciate the work that has gone into making this pretty flower that has survived the drought and deluge that is the hallmark of my Middle Tennessee garden.
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| Green metallic bee |
'Redshift' will rebloom all summer, often till the first frost, if regularly deadheaded. It forms a nice clump with its daisy flower dancing on sturdy stems above the foliage.
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| Bumbles visit it, too |
'Redshift' was the first
hybrid Coreopsis I added to my garden and I've been pleased with its performance for the past several years. Although, not a host plant for critters native to my garden, it does provide nectar to the many that visit it.
(Go here for a post about this: The Flower and The Bee)
But, seriously, I am loving the color change and almost constant bloom.
| No two flowers are identical |
'Redshift' has been such a success that I decided to try another
Coreopsis hybrid.
Meet
Coreopsis 'Garnet', a low-growing mounding plant (10 in. by 20 in.) with garnet-colored flowers.
Doesn't that color make your heart beat faster! So far the small bees love it.Keep your fingers crossed that it likes my garden, too.
xoxogail
*
Coreopsis, 'Redshift' is also the result of 8 years of intensive breeding work and the crossing of 8 species of Coreopsis by hybridizer Darrell Probst.
Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at
Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.
