Last Chance To Plant This Annual Flower Before The Cold Weather

The northern hemisphere officially shifted into fall, and that means it's time to get the last of your gardening underway before the first frost. Fall can still be a great time to garden offering cooler temperatures and moist, soft soil to work with. You still have ample time to grow hardy vegetables in autumn, separate perennial clumps, and plant new additions to your landscape in preparations for spring and summer. Now is also the perfect time to plant plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria) in your garden. With colder weather rapidly approaching, this is your last chance to plant this showy, annual flower.

Also known as the calliopsis, garden coreopsis, or golden tickseed, this wildflower features sunshine yellow petals with a brownish-red center disc. While this plant is an annual, it comes back year after year through self-seeding. This resilient plant can comfortably grow in wildflower beds and along roadsides, peppering large swatches of prairies land. You can enjoy this long-blooming flower from spring to fall. Don't miss your opportunity to grow this beauty in your garden.

Plains coreopsis is abundant throughout North Americas, thriving in USDA Hardiness zones 2 to 11. Its slender stems sprout generously from pinnately-compound foliage, typically reaching 1 to 2 feet in height. Plains coreopsis thrive in dry to medium moisture soil in full sun. You can plant it in rocky soil, sandy soil, or loam. Once established, this wildflower will self-seed at the end of fall, reestablishing itself on any bare ground around it. To mimic this behavior, plant your seeds after the last frost date. They will happily sprout up in the fall, adding a spattering of bright color to your garden.

Once established, the plains coreopsis doesn't require a lot of maintenance. While this flower is drought-resistant, it does prefer moist soil, so water it regularly. Deadhead spent flowers throughout the growing season to encourage more blooms. You can collect seeds at the end of fall or allow it to self-seed. Your plains coreopsis will attract pollinators and provide months of beauty. Be sure to plant it this fall before it's too late!