So, please stand by for photos. But I will at least give you the gist of my thoughts on tall coreopsis.
Mine is about 4 years old now, and every summer it's one of the anchors of the prairie corner in my front bed. Cheery yellow flowers and bamboo-like foliage make it attractive from the time it peeks out of the ground until frost. It's between 3' and 4' tall and therefore easily noticeable without being domineering. This year, however, the poor thing is listing to the side, vainly reaching for the sunlight that has been so sorely lacking. It usually blooms by early to mid-July but it's just now setting out buds (it's almost August!!)
Nevertheless, I'm eagerly awaiting its saffron flowers with brown centers. The foliage has looked exotic and verdant all year, despite the slow blooming (which I can't blame on the plant itself).
I've read many times that this plant can be aggressive, but I have yet to see evidence of that. Sure, it's grown in width, but I haven't found any runners/shoots, it's not muscling out any of its neighbors, and in general it seems to be a well-behaved, well-adjusted plant. Perhaps my nutrient-poor clay is slowing it down, but so far I've got no complaints.
So that's my two cents about tall coreopsis. Has anyone else had any experience with this plant? I will post pictures once I have a working camera again. Hopefully by next Bloom Day it will have copious flowers on display!
And because I feel weird making a post without images, here's some random shots from a family friend's home in southern Baja California, Mexico.
Here's some huge aloes...
...and what is this pretty desert flower? (Southern bloggers, I'm looking your way!)
4 comments:
Sorry about your camera woes. How frustrating.
I don't grow any Coreopsis, not even C. rosea, which I had in my old garden. I'm just not into them now. Maybe you can make a convert of me.
I may not be Southern, but the last photo looks like a Bouganvillea to me.
I agree with MMD, bouganvillea it is. Those aloes are magnificent. Wish they were hardy here. Have you tried to reformat the memory card?
I don't know that coreopsis but it sounds like something we could use here in the switchover to more low maintenance plants. Tall plants mean the weeds below are shaded out so less weeding, crucial to low maintenance, right? :-)
Frances
MMG--I saw your comment and immediately thought "Duh!" It's fairly pathetic that I didn't recognize a bouganvillea. Anyway, I'm growing sand coreopsis too (C. lanceolata) but they're too new and small for me to make any informed judgment. I can't complain so far, though.
Frances--Tech Support (aka my husband) reformatted the memory card last night and it should be working now. And yes, I would definitely count the tall coreopsis as low-maintenance. It's bushy around its base so it does cut down on the weeds around there. Also, it's super drought-tolerant, which I somehow neglected to mention in the post.
I'm sorry about your camera;when my computer crashed last fall, I realized how dependent I was on both my camera and computer--I had to get creative to be able to blog!:)
I've seen the native coreopsis in wildflower books, but I have never tried to grow one here. I do hope you can show us one on Bloom Day; I'm all for native, low-maintenance plants!
I was all set to identify your bougainvillea, but MMD and Frances have beat me to it. I first saw these while visiting my daughter in Arizona. They grow them everywhere, such a beautiful flower.
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