Odd Red Coreopsis in the Garden Today

Red flower amidst yellow Coreopsis tinctoria

On Monday morning, I usually step outside with my camera and capture as many images as I can of the garden, the wildlife and the woods; most of the picture accompany various articles I have due during the week.  As I stepped down the new (and spiffy, I might add) garden path, I stopped to take some pictures of the Coreopsis tinctoria or "Plains Coreopsis" I have growing throughout the garden. I planted one small seed package, and it reseeds so prolifically that I have it growing throughout the garden now. I used to dislike it, but now I like it - mostly because the flowers smother out weeds. I remain suspicious of it, however, mostly for its tendency to reseed so freely I'm pulling plants out of our gravel driveway. Tough as nails, that Coreopsis.

A flash of red caught my eye and I bent closer to inspect it. Imagine my surprise when I found a red coreopsis growing among the yellow ones. At first I thought it might be a stray cosmos, but no - the leaves are identical to Coreopsis tinctoria.

Have you ever heard of this? I know red is another common color, but I have never grown red in my garden - and none of my neighbors have red either.  Is this just a typical genetic fluke or what? The only ones I could find online claim to be dwarf red Coreopsis tinctoria, but this one isn't dwarf - it's nearly 3 feet tall, as tall as its neighbors.

I'm just glad I happened to photograph that Coreopsis and not another patch in the garden!

Red - growing among the yellow - Coreopsis-like foliage....

More in the same area. I couldn't find another red one!

Self Seeding Tough Plants: Coreopsis Tinctoria

Gardening this weekend focused on plant rescue. Specifically, rescuing dozens upon dozens of plants that self-seeded throughout the perennial garden last fall and are now producing seedlings in unwelcome spots. After digging up my third bucketful of plants, I thought that self-seeding plants would be great topics this week, since not many people know about them. Today's focus is on the toughest sunny plant I've found: Coreopsis tinctoria.

Coreopsis tinctoria (Golden Tickseed)
Looking at the USDA map of North America, it's amazing that Coreopsis tinctoria grows wild in all states except for Alaska, Nevada, New Mexico and New Hampshire. How New Hampshire escaped I cannot fathom, since the weather conditions are so similar to Vermont and the nearby states. I can understand Alaska, for the winters may be too cold, and Nevada and New Mexico have such hot, dry climates that it's possible the little tickseed doesn't like it.

In Texas, according to the Wild Plants of Friendswood blog, Coreopsis tinctoria grows wild by the roadside.

The plants like firm, dry seedbeds, but not too dry. They flower more with fertilization, but be warned - they also produce more seeds. The plants grow wispy stalks one to four feet tall and produce small, sunflower-like blossoms. They do need full sun - the more sun, the better.

The seeds will spread out around the Coreopsis plant, but be warned; they can be terribly invasive.

In my garden, for example, I not only have new Coreopsis plants coming up around the circumference of where last year's mother plant was growing, but I have Coreopsis coming up in the driveway (I'm not kidding - in fact, these plants look the healthiest!) and among many of the other perennials. These have to be dug out, since I don't want coreopsis overshadowing the Echinacea, gaillardia and yarrow.

Too much Coreopsis? Try moving these tough plants to areas where they can naturalize. If they get too invasive, you'll have to weed them out.

For novice gardeners, Coreopsis is super-easy to grow from seed. Seeds are available from Parks, Burpee, and the other major gardening catalogs.