A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 My new favorite perennial

I think my new favorite perennial is helenium. I just love it's small daisy-like flowers and the colors it comes in. I have one called Butter Pat which is a pretty yellow, one called Mardi Gras which is a mixture of brown, rust and yellow, and another called Morheim Beauty which is a red/bronze. They usually grow around 3 ft. tall, although the Butter Pat gets 4 ft. tall, and are very easy to grow. I have had to order them because I haven't found a local nursery that sells them. I'm thinking about getting more!

I had to order one too. It took it 2 summers to get tall and beautiful. Its at my house in Indy. I want to go back and dig it up but my neice loves it. They are impossible to find in nurseries.

alanhart & Karrie

Is helenium related to the mexican hat?
You should like it too.Here is mine. perennial.
dodge

Alan, I love the Heleniums, too and you have picked three good ones. Another one in the same colors that is beautiful is Helenium autumnale. May I inquire as to where you purchased your plants? I would like to replace a couple I lost several years ago.

Dodge, Mexican Hat isn't a Helenium. It's classified as Ratibida columnaris. They are both in the Asteraceae family. Colorwise, your Mexican Hats would blend in beautifully with Alan's Heleniums.

Rosie, I got them from two different mail order nurseries: Busse Gardens and Joy Creek Nursery,
www.bussegardens.com and www.joycreek.com

I ordered them last fall and they are all doing well, growing nicely and starting to bloom now.

Have you considered growing them from seed? Specialty Perennials has a nice variety of helenium seeds and it would be MUCH cheaper than nursery plants. I plan to try a few myself now that I've looked at them. They are beautiful!

Joanne

Thanks for the info and links, Alan. I nearly fainted when I saw the prices though. I may have to check out Joanne's seed idea or hope I find some marked-down plants here at the end of summer.

The prices are outrageous...that's one big problem with mail order....the other being the plant size is smaller than what you'd get in your local nursery.
I wonder just how easy they are to start from seed....I may try that myself. Thanks for suggesting it, Joanne.

I started my helenium from seed planted outside in the fall. The first year there were no blooms but they have had blooms the past 2 years. They have just started to bloom this week...I could save some seeds for trading...