Coreopsis, the tickseeds, are among the most generous and undemanding of flowering perennials, native daisies grown for months of bright, mostly golden bloom. The flowers, in yellow, gold, and increasingly pink and red, come in such profusion that the foliage all but disappears beneath them, and they keep coming through the hottest part of summer. Fine-leaved or broad, low or tall, they are cheerful, forgiving, and hard to grow badly.

In the landscape coreopsis are the workhorses of the sunny, low-water border. They fill beds with long-season color, edge a path in gold, spill happily from a container, and hold their own in a meadow or naturalistic planting. Their airy, daisy-flowered habit mixes easily with grasses and other prairie plants, and a light shearing after the first flush brings on another.

We grow coreopsis for their long bloom, their toughness, and their value to pollinators. Open, nectar-rich daisies feed a wide range of bees and butterflies through the season, and the seed that follows feeds small birds; as native, drought-tolerant plants they thrive on sun and neglect. For dependable color that gives back to wildlife, few perennials are easier.

Give them full sun and good drainage, deadhead or shear to prolong the bloom, and go easy on water and feed. Set them among our Sun Lovers and Drought-Tolerant Plants, and find more native perennials in our Southeastern Natives.