The daisy or Compositae family is so large\u2014950 genera, 20,000 species and even more cultivated varieties and hybrids\u2014that you could fill hundreds of gardens with family members without even thinking about plants from outside the clan.\u00a0 Over the last three decades or so, individual daisy genera, including coneflower, asters, Shasta daisies and blanketflower, have caught the eyes of plant breeders, resulting in an avalanche of new introductions.<\/p>\n
Coreopsis, or tickseed as it is known to its oldest friends, is one of those daisy genera that has bedazzled plant breeders in the U.S. as well as Europe.\u00a0 As the result, the plant-buying public is now so spoiled for coreopsis choice that confusion inevitably results.<\/p>\n
It all started with a gang of between 50 and 100 annual and perennial species native to the Americas.\u00a0 The flowers of all coreopsis have the conventional daisy configuration\u2014flowerheads composed of a round or disk-shaped centers housing the tiny true flowers, surrounded by long petals or rays in shades of golden yellow, white or rose.\u00a0 The flowerheads may be quite small\u2014less than one inch across\u2014or larger, at up to two and a half inches in diameter.\u00a0 The green leaves range from thread-like to lobed or dissected.\u00a0 Coreopsis plants may be up to about four feet tall, but some hybrids and varieties are considerably smaller.<\/p>\n
Before all the hybridizing started, home gardeners grew only a few perennial species and varieties.\u00a0 Large-flowered coreopsis\u2014Coreopsis grandiflora\u2014grows up to two feet tall on slender stems, bearing golden yellow flowers and slender oblong leaves.\u00a0 Newer grandiflora varieties, like \u2018Early Sunrise\u2019 boast fluffy double flowers.\u00a0 Coreopsis grandiflora is very similar to another coreopsis often used in breeding, lance-leaf or Coreopsis lanceolata.\u00a0 Versatile thread-leaf coreopsis\u2014Coreopsis verticillata\u2014can grow even taller and also bears yellow flowers.\u00a0 The leaves are slender green filaments.\u00a0 Thread-leaf coreopsis is quite amenable to breeding efforts and new verticillata varieties abound.\u00a0 Coreopsis rosea features pink daisies.\u00a0 The rosea species is most likely responsible for the introduction of the pink\/red coloring now present in many coreopsis varieties.\u00a0 Like their daisy-family relatives, the common coreopsis types are very attractive to butterflies and other pollinators.<\/p>\n
The big news in coreopsis is the same as the big news in other flowering species\u2014wider color range, compact forms that fit better in containers or small spaces, increased hardiness and more flowers more often.\u00a0 This last feature is especially important, as many modern gardeners want perennials that perform like traditional bedding annuals, providing near constant bloom from spring through frost.<\/p>\n
Massachusetts-based breeder Darrell Probst grew up within shouting distance of the fabled Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 His work with coreopsis is characteristic of modern breeding efforts.\u00a0 Famed for hybridizing ground-covering epimediums as well as coreopsis, Probst created the Big Bang coreopsis series, including burgundy and yellow \u2018Cosmic Eye\u2019, yellow-flowered \u2018Full Moon\u2019 and deep red \u2018Mercury Rising\u2019.\u00a0 All are medium height\u201418 to 24 inches tall\u2014with large, colorful flowers and a repeat-blooming habit.\u00a0 Because the hybrids are sterile, they do not set seed, so there will be no offspring, wanted or unwanted.\u00a0 The sterile trait also means that deadheading is not needed to stimulate further flower production.<\/p>\n
Another big American coreopsis vendor is Terra Nova Nurseries, a company that has long aimed to increase the color quotient\u2014both from foliage and flowers\u2014in gardens and containers.\u00a0 Terra Nova\u2019s coreopsis introductions frequently feature a mounding habit that makes them good ground cover or container subjects.\u00a0 The company has developed annual coreopsis, like the compact Lemonade Series, with stems that rise to 8 inches tall and bear hot-colored blooms.\u00a0 The foliage is gold-tinged.\u00a0 Among Terra Nova\u2019s perennial offerings are the low-growing Jewel Collection, which also tops out at eight to nine inches tall and bears warm-colored flowers.\u00a0 Earlier generations of pink or red coreopsis varieties were not really hardy in cold-winter climates.\u00a0 Newer introductions in the pink-red-orange range are more reliably cold tolerant.<\/p>\n
The European and Japanese share a love affair with native American plants and have also produced new coreopsis varieties and hybrids.\u00a0 Like its relative, goldenrod, tickseed has become a world plant.<\/p>\n
Coreopsis is easy to grow and not fussy about soil type.\u00a0 Most species, varieties and hybrids are at their best and produce abundant flowers in full sun, though the vendors often like to broaden the appeal by specifying \u201cpart to full sun.\u201d\u00a0 If you plant in the shade, make sure it is very light shade.\u00a0 Once established, most coreopsis are at least somewhat drought tolerant as well.<\/p>\n
Most well-stocked plant merchandisers have an array of coreopsis on display this spring. \u00a0For Terra Nova retailers, use the search tool available at http:\/\/www.terranovanurseries.com\/gardeners\/retail_sources.php<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Find a good coreopsis selection, including some Darrell Probst varieties at White Flower Farm, P.O. Box 50, Route 63 ~ Litchfield, Connecticut 06759 , (800) 420-2852, www.whiteflowerfarm.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The daisy or Compositae family is so large\u2014950 genera, 20,000 species and even more cultivated varieties and hybrids\u2014that you could fill hundreds of gardens with family members without even thinking about plants from outside the clan.\u00a0 Over the last three decades or so, individual daisy genera, including coneflower, asters, Shasta daisies and blanketflower, have caught … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[1171,1168,970,1170,737,1161,1173,1172,1169],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-compositae-family","tag-coreopsis","tag-daisy-family","tag-darrell-probst","tag-perennials","tag-plant-breeding","tag-plant-marketing","tag-summer-garden","tag-tickseed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1332,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/1332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}