Tip #7: Coreopsis (Tickseed)
Coreopsis offers an airy, delicate texture that contrasts beautifully with the broad, heavy leaves of other summer garden staples. These resilient perennial flowers feature slender green stems topped with hundreds of starry, yellow, pink, or bi-colored blossoms. They bring a lively sense of movement to your yard, swaying gracefully in the lightest summer breeze.
You will find that coreopsis is highly adaptable to poor, rocky soils. In fact, planting them in heavy, overly rich soil often causes them to rot. They demand excellent drainage and full sun to perform their best. The popular Moonbeam variety, with its pale buttery-yellow flowers, has remained a gardener favorite for decades due to its nearly continuous blooming habit.
To maximize the bloom time, give your coreopsis a light shearing in mid-July. Use a pair of hedge clippers to cut the entire plant back by about one-third. This removes all the spent flowers at once and stimulates a massive secondary explosion of blooms that will carry you straight into the autumn months.
