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Sat, Jun 10, 06 at 18:41
| For great vigor and performance year after year, you can't beat a coreopsis. My favorite is Moonbeam, which has the very ferny foliage. Here it is, just starting to bloom.
Which coreopsis is your favorite? Lainey |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I also love Monnbeam, though this year I added six pink coreopsis plants. They're too small for flowers yet. |
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| I love Moonbeam- and many other Coreopsis. Unfortunately, none of them love me. I've planted different ones several times and they don't come back. |
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| Thanks for posting your pic, mine is about to bloom any time now! They are really great plants : ) Jen |
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- Posted by botanybabe 6b (My Page) on Sat, Jun 10, 06 at 22:44
| Karmann, Is your soil heavy or clay? They don't usually like heavy soil. Or, if you have had cold, wet springs the last couple of year, they really hate that. Sometimes the crowns will rot in wet conditions. I'm sorry you've not had luck with them. They really are usually dependable. Lainey |
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| I too like moonbeam. I have wet clay and it does surprisingly well in that bed. In the more sandy dry bed it does not do much of anything. Weird!! |
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| One of my favorite perennials. I've had it for 9 yrs now and I still love the flowers and foliage. Another week and it'll start blooming and continue until hard frost. Mine gets sun all day and is in amended clay soil. I don't water much either. And it just keeps blooming. Kat |
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- Posted by barefootinct 6a (My Page) on Sun, Jun 11, 06 at 7:14
| Question for fellow Moonbeam lovers. I love mine too and let it "weave". I understand it is a good weaver, and while it moves in and out of other plants will not choke them. Right now, it has woven it's way into may night salvia, shasta daisies, moonshine yarrow, day lilies, and veronica blue border. So far, it doesn't seem to have taken out anything. Have you found this to be true as well? Patty |
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- Posted by botanybabe 6b (My Page) on Sun, Jun 11, 06 at 11:10
| Yes Patty, I let mine weave in and out of my two perennial gardens and also in the daylily bed. None of the other plants seem to mind, probably because Moonbeam has such shallow roots. Lainey |
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| Do you shear off the spent flowers as they fade? do you cut back any of the foliage or just the flowers? I have a bunch that is almost ready to flower, and I'd love to keep them blooming as long as possible. Thanks. |
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| Hi Anita, It's best to deadhead the spent flowers for maximum bloom, but it does very well without this too. Sometimes there are hundreds of flowers at once, and you can ignore it and it will keep blooming nonstop. Jen |
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| Moonbeam coreopsis is da man! LOL |
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| here's my lanceleaf coreopsis. i planted a moonbeam last fall but it didn't take... so i divided this plant which was in the back and planted it in the front. it's looking great, but boy,it spreads!
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| This is all really interesting -- I have Zagreb, which is very similar to Moonbeam -- but I have to keep it contained -- no "weaving" for mine, because the roots take over anything in their paths. Anyone else have that experience? |
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- Posted by barefootinct 6a (My Page) on Mon, Jun 12, 06 at 6:14
| Anita, I usually just use the hedge clippers and shear off the entire top of the whole planting when it starts to look ratty; snip, snip, snip, in a few minutes, rather than trying to individually dead head each flower. It seems to work well and I get a second bloom. Patty |
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| I have several types of Coreopsis now. I started with the Moonbeam and just LOVED it and so now I'm drawn to others. I have the Dwarf kind and one that I can't think of the name for but it's just starting to bloom and just bought a Tequila Sunrise off the reduced rack at Lowe's. It's in SAD, SAD shape. The Moonbeam is definitely easy to start somewhere new! It will go right off of cuttings. I have it in about 4 different beds now and each grows a little bit differently. The newest one is actually one of the biggest! |
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- Posted by vera_eastern_wa 5b-6a (My Page) on Mon, Jun 12, 06 at 9:46
| I love the Moombeam but unfortunatley I don't have one...YET! I do get almost the same effect, hundreds of blooms and ferny foliage from the re-seeding annual C. tinctoria; 3 different colors: burgundy, yellow/burgundy eye and yellow/yellow. I did have Coreopsis grandiflora 'Early Sunrise' but during it's 2nd year a 100 mph wind/dust storm ripped them up out of the ground! Vera |
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| Love your Moonbeam. I have Creme Brule and am loving it for the soft yellow color. So delicate looking. Tracy |
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| Sweets, re: cuttings Do you just stick them in the ground like the easy rooters or do something a bit more complicated to a mooonbeam cutting? Fay |
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| I have zagreb, moonbeam, creme brulee, and I think american dream.I like zagreb best so far because it's so early and vivid which I like in the spring ( not so much in the summer) but I'm begining to worry about it's spread.Here's a picture in bloom with it's neighbors. There's another in the album, not yet in bloom, but showing a little more how it's moving in with the neighbors. |
Here is a link that might be useful: zagreb in a yahoo album
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| I have several "zagreb" and I love the sunny bloom, but they are aggressive spreaders and do choke out other plants. And they're hard to dig out to divide. This year I took a big knife from the kitchen and carved through the roots to dig out what was spreading too much. They haven't missed a beat (budding beautifully right now), and the plants near them are much happier for the extra space. |
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| I mistakenly grew Early Sunrise Coreopsis thinking it was Moonbeam from seed this year. Got lots of them too! Anyway....I usually buy my seeds from Parks or Pinetree. Can't say I remember seeing Moonbeam variety seeds. Does anyone have a good source? Or are they difficult to grow from seed? |
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- Posted by tidezealot z6 PA (My Page) on Sat, Jun 17, 06 at 12:32
| Creme Brulee is far superior to Moonbeam in my estimation. I prefer it's brighter color, longer bloom and vigor. I also love 'Sweet Dreams' and 'Zagreb'. I also just finished planting a mass of heavy 1 gallon 'Heaven's Gate' this morning.....we'll see how the do. ~TIDE~ |
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| I agree on the Creme Brulee! It is so beautiful in color and the foliage is nicer too. I had one for 2 years but it didn't come back this spring so I bought a new one. I need to buy a couple more! I also have lots of moonbeam, Limerock Passion (pink), early sunrise, golden showers, dwarf, and tequila sunrise. (TS is slow to bloom I guess? it has some short foliage right now and that's it, while ES is already losing its first blooms)
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| Here's the photo. Sorry. Actually this one I bought this year, has a deeper color than the one I had that died. The first one was a nice pale yellow. So it might vary a bit?
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- Posted by diggingthedirt CapeCod Z6 (My Page) on Sat, Jun 17, 06 at 18:10
| I like them all - lanceleaf, threadleaf, and the taller tinctoria. My absolute favorite, though, is Sweet Dreams, because of the phenomenal flower color. I had one that got clobbered when a wall was reshingled last spring, but after I replaced it (with 4 new ones) it surprised me by coming back beautifully. It's in a warm corner of my yard, because I think it's only marginally hardy here, though I've had it for about 6 years. If you like coreopsis, and you like pink, you'll LOVE Sweet Dreams.
This image is from PDN's website. |
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- Posted by tidezealot z6 PA (My Page) on Sat, Jun 17, 06 at 21:09
| Diggingthedirt, Have you really had 'Sweet Dreams' that long ? I sell liners to greenhouses for a living, and I'd swear that it hasn't been commercially available for that long. My 'Sweet Dreams' are more of a White flower with a Crimson center, I love it to pieces. I'd say my favorite Coreopsis hands down, and one of my favorite perennials period. One thing I've found out is it will not tolerate wet feet at all !!! Alas, all beauty comes with a price. ~TIDE~ |
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| I had Sweet Dreams too around 2 years ago. Mine died though. I found it locally at the Farmers Market, where you get sellers from the Wisconsin area, who often sometimes have some really unique and hard to find plants. |
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| I use Moonbeam and Zagreb in places where nothing else will grow. I have an enormous and thriving patch of Zagreb (or is it Moonbean?) in heavy, dry clay soil right next to a sidewalk. The soil in that spot is horrendous, yet the coreopsis just love it. Every other threadleaf coreopsis in my garden died, and I can only blame the loamy, rich and well-drained soil in those spots. |
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| I have been a long time fan of coreopsis moonbeam. My favorite combination in the garden is moonbeam c. and delphinum butterfly. Here are my pics to share:
and
And here, the Hidcote is in the foreground. |
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| Dang! You all frustrate me so much! I can't get any threadleaf Coreopsis to live! I gave up on the pink ones after trying them at least 4 times: those didn't live more than a month or so, then the MoonBeam I bought last summer didn't survive til spring either. I have lanceleaf coreopsis, but could REALLY use the lighter yellow. I don't know what they want, but I don't have it. Probably poor drainage in my raised bed. Proudgrma, I really like your delphinium butterfly with it. |
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| Proudgma, that looks beautiful! I love the color combinations. My oldest MB coreopsis has buds, and now I'm just waiting ..... |
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- Posted by cindee11461 z9CA (My Page) on Tue, Jun 20, 06 at 1:01
| I love your pictures Proudgrma! I have several too and just bought a red one today so will see how that does. Some I have in pots and they do well too. Moonbeam has always been my favorite though(-: |
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| Botanybabe, that is a lovely coreopsis, but as soon as I saw it, I thought, I don't think that's Moonbeam – it looks like Zagreb (unless your camera just didn’t get the colour right). Proudgrma’s coreopsis looks like the real Moonbeam, though. Of course, I could be totally wrong, but just to let you know… |
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- Posted by barefootinct 6a (My Page) on Tue, Jun 20, 06 at 8:52
| Dee, the color of Botanybabe's moonbeam is quite close to mine. Proudgrma's is lighter than mine. I know that mine is in fact moonbeam since I bought it from a very reputable nursery near here and my neighbor bought hers from another nursery a year later and they are virtually identical. Could it be that the slight variation in color you are noting has to with soil or region or growing conditions? Curious, isnt' it? Patty |
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| These are pretty plants and long bloomers. Moonbeam is iffy for some people. It took me a few tries before it took hold. If anyone has a hard time growing Moonbeam or Creme Brulee, try Zagreb. That's one tough plant. A stronger yellow and an excellent performer once established. |
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- Posted by vera_eastern_wa 5b-6a (My Page) on Thu, Aug 31, 06 at 16:09
| Whoo hoooooooooo!! I'm getting some of the Moonbeam in trade this year! So exciting :D I think I will replace the Lanceleaf Coreopsis that I moved in front of the Purple Coneflower with the Moonbeam? How does that sound? I can put some in front of the tall daylily patch too and.... oh boy....everywhere LOL!! Vera |
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- Posted by gottagarden z5 western NY (My Page) on Thu, Aug 31, 06 at 18:01
| I love my moonbeam, more than creme brulee or zagreb. It has the nicest, soft yellow hue. botanybabe's looks like zagreb to me, my moonbeam is much lighter. This year I divided one clump into 6 pieces. Each one is as big as the original, all in one year. I need to make lots more, because it makes the loveliest edger. |
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| I love the profuse blooms and light yellow of my moonbeam, but my plants always lay over. My neighbors and those in your pictures are all upright. I had a plant in Seattle that was in dry sandy soil and received little to no care. It grew just fine but always fell over onto the sidewalk even though the foliage was brisk and full. We live near the mountains now, where the rain is heavy and saturating at times and frosts can be heavy well into May. The plant is in sandy loam and, like the first one, in hot afternoon sun. It receives more water and care than the other, but I can see no difference in performance. It too blooms beautifully but lays down on the sidewalk. I don't like the appearance when flowers are staked. What's your secret?? |
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| I have both red and a tall deep purple/blue cardinalis. Both are supposed to like plenty of water but good drainage and some dry in the winter. Very hard situation for this state. The blue bloomed beautifully in mostly shade and moist to dry conditions all summer. I have always had poor luck with the red. They put up one scrawny stem with the most beautiful red flowers I've ever seen, never to return the following year. This year they get 6hrs. of morning to early afternoon sun, then shade, in sandy loam, so it's a struggle to keep the ground moist. I'm afraid if I move them to a spot that retains the moisture easier, the winter wet will do them in. Any advice? |
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| FYI, botanybabe, I believe the picture you have is of C. "Zagreb" It's a great grower and more of a medium yellow. 'Moonbeam" is lacier, more lemony yellow and not as dense a grower. Zagreb squashes weeds. Moonbeam requires some weeding. proudgrma's pics seem more like the "moonbeam" in my garden. Hope this helps.... |
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- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6/MA (My Page) on Sat, Sep 8, 07 at 20:19
| I just took this one this morning.
I was just thinking the other day how happy I am with the coreopsis this year. I was getting tired of it and moved it to a new location and I love it all over again. I also cut it back after the first bloom and this is the rebloom. I am thinking of adding another one this fall to make it a larger bunch. I was wondering if anyone has some of the newer pink versions of coreopsis verticillata? Isn't there an 'American Dreams' and a 'Limerick?' I was considering getting some and wondered how they perform. pm2 |
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| Moonbeam rules! It seems to grow in so many locations if you have good soil and some sun. Since it spreads so easily, I now grow it in containers, (12-inch diameter or larger), with asiatic lily bulbs. The soil mix is compost/manure well mixed with perlite. I deadhead rather than cut back the plant. It blooms from June through October. Enjoy. |
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