Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Learning about a new plant that enchants
I learned a new plant a few weeks ago, thanks to reader Randy Emerson. Randy wrote, “I enjoy reading your column in the Daily Local News. As I was reading the 7/12/20 column, I noticed the picture of the butterfly on a flower. The caption was, ‘A monarch butterfly is seen here feeding on a zinnia flower’. I recognized the flower right away as a Mexican Sunflower, not a zinnia. I plant these every year, and get comments about how vibrant the orange petals are. . . I’ve had them grow 4-7 feet tall and the bees and butterflies love them.” I thanked Randy for setting me straight, then turned to the internet to see what I could learn.
Here’s some of what I found at the website of the Missouri Botanical Garden, my favorite source for plant information. “Tithonia rotundifolia, commonly called Mexican sunflower, is native to Mexico and Central America. It is a vigorous annual that typically grows in a single season to 4-6’ tall. Showy sunflowers (to 3” across) with orange to orange-red rays and orangeyellow disks bloom from mid-summer to fall … Good cut flower.”
Further, this plant is “easily grown in average, dry to medium, welldrained soils in full sun. Plants thrive in summer heat…tolerate poor soils. Avoid rich soils which tend to produce weak-stemmed plants with excess foliage. Plants may be grown from seed sown directly in the garden at last frost date or, for earlier bloom, started indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost date. Thin plants to at least 2’ apart. Plants appreciate staking or other support. Deadhead spent flowers to prolong bloom period.” I found elsewhere, that plants should be placed 3-4 feet apart.
I also noticed that the plants have a long bloom period (July — September), attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and tolerate deer, drought, and dry soil.
I was stunned. Why had I never heard of this eyepopping, easy-to-grow plant before? Why hadn’t I seen it on the many lists I consulted of best flowers to grow to attract butterflies and other pollinators? There’s no answer for that, but it seems that now that I know about the Mexican sunflower, I’m coming across them everywhere. My friend Debby just told me about the ones she’s growing that are taller than she is, and sent some photos to prove it. (She’s petite, but still!) And how much the butterflies love the flowers. Another friend, Deb, listed them as one of the new flowers she added to her garden this year to attract butterflies.
So, I guess I will get some seeds to plant next year. Happily, Randy very kindly gave me information on that in his email:
“[Tithonia] are usually orange with a yellow center but there is also one that has yellow petals with a yellow center. You can find the seed at the local stores that sell seeds in the spring such as Walmart, Lowes, or most hardware stores. They sell the most common type, the orange one. The only place I’ve been able to find the yellow seed is from a company called Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. (P.O. Box 460, Mineral, VA 23117 or at www.Southern Exposure.com) I’ve always loved the orange ones best but the yellow ones are great also.” He pointed out that the seed is easy to save, year to year. Also, that Longwood Gardens has a few of them planted on the hillside gardens behind the main water fountains. I’d love to go take a look.
Note: Plants and pollinators don’t observe political boundaries. Just because Tithonia is native to Mexico and Central America does mean that it’s not useful to the pollinators we see here. And some pollinators — monarch butterflies being the prime example — migrate south of our border.
Pam Baxter is an avid organic vegetable gardener who lives in Kimberton. Direct e-mail to pamelacbaxter@gmail.com, or send mail to P.O. Box 80, Kimberton, PA 19442. Share your gardening stories on Facebook at “Chester County Roots.” Pam’s book for children and families, Big Life Lessons from Nature’s Little Secrets, is available on Amazon, along with her new companion field journal, Explore Outdoors, at Amazon.com/author/pamelabaxter.