Coreopsis Species, Dyer's Tickseed, Golden Tickseed

These ferny looking plants appeared everywhere in my garden and growing among all my perennials. I thought they were weeds and I started...Read More pulling them up but kept a couple just to see if they bloom. I decided to ID it and they turned out to be Coreopsis tinctoria. I'm glad I didn't eradicate them. The birds must have brought them to my garden.

There are different varieties of this plant with pros and cons for each. Unfortunately in this forum they're all lumped together. I had...Read More "Moonbeam" variety because the buttery yellow was very appealing. But Moonbeam is the one that, if you don't plant in mass, will flop all over the place; it also has an oblong leaf vs the feathery type. It didn't seem to spread with rhizomes like the old fashioned and more common type, but it spread into a nice round clump. The old fashioned variety is a bright gold color with a feathery leaf and very up-right growth habit. When I tired of dealing with the floppiness of Moonbeam, I sacrificed the softer yellow, albeit messy appearance, in favor of the upright plant with its more garish gold and tidy appearance. It spreads by rhizomes and will fill in all kinds of nooks and crannies if left to its own devices, but I don't find it invasive along the order of obedient plant or some of the campanulas. It's easy to weed out or cut out (with spade) runaway trails. The newest coreopsis is one I've bought this summer, so the jury's still out on its behavior. But the color is a beautiful "cream" (not with the red center---though that's available also) but really comes across as a soft creamy yellow. It's very upright, blooms prolifically and is shorter (12-14") than the others. It forms a nice neat mound of about the same height and reportedly spreads (though not wildly) by rhizomes. I don't mind this as I intend to dig up the small clumps of 3 or 4 stems and transplant them in a mixed front border throughout my very large gardens. When the dead ones become too many and too unsightly on all varieties, I just shear the whole plant (even the remaining buds) rather than deadhead (lazy) and in a week and half I have more buds and blooms. My soil is good garden top-soil; winter temps get down to 10* (odd year may be 5*); it's planted in full hot summer sun (90's) and partial shade. Everything gets good watering. I have no idea why this is labeled an annual I live in the upper NW corner of Washington state (close to Canada's border).\

Very easy to grow from seed. Last year it flowered at only a foot tall. This year it is at least four feet and flowering in late June. It...Read More could be because I planted it later in the season last year and this year they were planted in spring. They are much too tall for my garden this year.

Thinning the seedlings will result in floppy, spindly plants. Thick plantings aid in upright masses. At bloom time, you will have clouds ...Read Moreof color. These flowers are one of my favorite for the dye pot. The more red the centers, the yellow color on cloth moves toward terracotta. They are a nuisance to pick for the dye pot as they are very small. When I strip the plants in the morning, they are full of open blooms by late afternoon. They look like I didn't even remove any flowers! I pick the flowers and keep them in paper bags, stirring the mass frequently so they don't clump and mold. When completely dry I keep them in zip-lock bags. If you are a dyer and want clear yellow on cloth, grow grandiflora - they are really easy to pick and don't have red eyes. Both are really beautiful on fiber. Protein fibers (silk and wool) are easier to color than cellulose (cotton, linen and rayon). Absolutely gorgeous on silk!