#807 Heliopsis helianthoides Common Names: oxeye sunflower, false sunflower, rough heliopsis, hardy zinnia, orange sunflower Family: Asteraceae/Compositae (aster/daisy Family) Get link to this Profile or click for data record #807

The oxeye sunflower has big beautiful blossoms beloved by bees and butterflies.

Location
Oxeye sunflower in native to North America, from New Mexico east into South Carolina and north into southern Canada. Oxeye sunflower was originally a species of tallgrass prairies and savannas. It is now most commonly encountered in prairie remnants, woodland edges, open or rocky woods, and along old roads and railroads. It may grow at elevations up to 7,000 ft (2134 m).

Culture
Oxeye sunflower will grow in most any moderately fertile soil, including moist sands. New shoots may be slow to emerge in the spring, so you need to mark their locations and not be too quick to give up and plant something else on top of them. This is an erect growing, sturdy stemmed plant that can get by without staking a lot better than most of its back-of-the-border brethren. Lifting and dividing the plants occasionally will help keep them vigorous. This species is presumably adapted to near-annual prairie fires and should do well in meadows maintained by prescribed burning.
Light: Oxeye sunflower prefers full sun, but will tolerate partial shade.
Moisture: Oxeye sunflower likes good drainage and will tolerate dry conditions, but it performs best where the soil stays moist all summer.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 2 - 9. This species tolerates both severe winters and hot summers well.
Propagation: Heliopsis is easy to grow from seed. Sow the seeds outdoors about two weeks before the last frost. To produce transplants, start them in a greenhouse six to eight weeks before last frost. At 68-70ºF (20-21 ºC), the seeds will germinate in 1-2 weeks. Be sure to keep the young plants evenly moist. To propagate oxeye sunflowers vegetatively, take cuttings from non-flowering shoots in the summer or divide the clumps while they are dormant. New plants can be potted up in the fall and set out in the spring.

These oxeye sunflowers anchor a native plant demonstration garden at the Big Bone Lick State Park, Kentucky (heh, heh - I know I'm immature enough to think that's funny name...-Jack).

Features
This is a great plant for the busy home gardener who expects his plants to give him more than he deserves. It will produce arm loads of flowers all summer long and never once ask for decent soil or proper care. It will even thrive on heavy clay where other flowers refuse to grow. And bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies will feed on the nectar and enjoy it while the "gardener" is away doing real work.

WARNING
Left to its own devices, oxeye sunflower reseeds abundantly and tends to become a weed. It can easily be kept under control by autumn deadheading since it does not spread from rhizomes.

Linda Conway Duever 9/17/00; updated 2/20/04

Copyright 1996 - 2009 Floridata.com LC Tallahassee, Florida USA