Each 1-to -2-inch flower looks like a daisy with a round flat central button of tiny fertile flowers surrounded by eight ray petals. (Photo by Ginny Rosenkranz)
Lanceleaf Coreopsis is a lovely upright herbaceous native plant that thrives in full sun and moist but well drained soils.
It is very tolerant of heat, humidity, drought, poor and or dry soils and deer are not likely to nibble either the leaves or flowers.
Like a lot of our native plants, this Coreopsis does not need to be fertilized once it is established.
If it is fertilized it can cause the plants to tip over and sprawl on the ground.
The foliage is dark green with lance shaped leaves start out as a rosette of leaves then develop thin stalks with the leaves attached opposite each other.
Each leaf can expand from 3-6 inches long and 1-3 inches wide with some leaves.
In the late autumn the leaves die back to the ground and wait for spring time to warm the soil for the plants to grow back from the roots, growing 1-2 feet tall and 1 to 1 1/2 feet wide.
As nice as the leaves are, the main event is the sunny golden yellow flowers that bloom from late-spring through summer.
Each 1-2 inch flower looks like a daisy with a round flat central button or disk of tiny fertile flowers surrounded by eight ray petals.
The golden yellow, non-fertile ray petals are notched or toothed at the top of the petals and provide a wonderful landing pad for the butterflies, skippers and other pollinators that feast on the nectar and pollen provided by the center disk.
Each flower blooms on top of a slender stem that is held above the foliage.
The flowers produce a lot of seeds which can be wonderful if they are planted in a naturalized native wildflower garden or meadow.
The seeds attract many native songbirds including the beautiful Goldfinches.
If they are planted in borders or more formal gardens, the spent flowers should be trimmed off or deadheaded to reduce the number of spreading seedlings.
The plants are fast growing and should be dug up and divided every two to three years to keep them robust.
There are some wonderful varieties that are worth looking for to plant with the species including “Goldfink” which has pure gold flowers and “Summer Sprite,” which has a broad mahogany red ring around the center disk.
(Editor’s Note: Ginny Rosenkranz is a commercial horticulture specialist with the University of Maryland Extension.)
