Your Home, Garden and Travel

The weather is hot and humid and Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' is in full bloom. Even with all the rain storms of the last few weeks, this perennial is standing straight and blooming profusely.

'Autumn Blush' is a butter yellow coreopsis with a strawberry red eye that changes with the seasons. When the cooler temperatures arrive in autumn, the strawberry "blush" will cover more of the bloom.

Terra Nova Nurseries sent me four small trial plugs of Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' in September 2009. I made no heroic efforts to overwinter the coreopsis. Three were planted together in the butterfly garden (southeast) and one was planted by my sidewalk (southwest).

Not only did the coreopsis survive our zone 7 wet winter, torrential rains and snow, but all four plugs were fast-growing to an impressive size. A group planting of only three coreopsis makes a huge impact!

Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' is rated as a perennial for for zones 5-9 in full sun. The mounding habit spreads to around 32" with a height of 24". In my garden, this coreopsis is also proving to be both deer and rabbit resistant.

Coreopsis prefers a well-drained, sunny location. I plant these in locations that are also favorable for agastache—which is a great companion for coreopsis.

I already had an Agastache 'Summer Glow' that I purchased at a local nursery. The agastache, coincidentally another Terra Nova plant, is just beginning to bloom. I recently moved it to a grouping of three coreopsis. The colors are perfect together—probably not a coincidence, after all!

Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' plants, provided by Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. were planted on September 29, 2010. Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.