Coreopsis Citrine

The Coreopsis 'Citrine' is a floriferous and hardy perennial that will delight you all summer with its small, bright yellow suns with a tawny heart. With its fine dark green foliage, undemanding and hardy, it will brighten up your sunny rockeries, even scorching ones, in any light and well-drained soil. It only requires a little deadheading to be at its best and also performs excellently in pots.

The 'Citrine' coreopsis belongs to the large family of Asteraceae (also known as Composites), and is part of a genus that is widely used in gardens: it includes both large species (Coreopsis grandiflora) and very small rock plants. These species are mostly native to bright clearings and meadows in North America, where they thrive in relatively poor but well-drained soils. They all produce delightful "sunflower" flowers, mostly in shades of golden yellow, but more recently also pale yellow, pink and red. The small species with narrow leaves have given rise to many hybrids that are not always very reliable: they fade after a few years or are sensitive to cold.

The 'Citrine' coreopsis is part of the Hardy Jewels hybrid series, which is known for producing long-lasting plants that are not very sensitive to severe cold. From June to October, it produces a mass of bright yellow flowers on a dense and compact shrub that will not exceed 20 cm (8in) in height and 50 cm (20in) in diameter. It slowly spreads through short rhizomes just below the soil surface.

Resistant and hardy, 'Citrine' will grow in full sun in any soil that is slightly acidic to slightly alkaline, as long as it has good drainage: in heavy, waterlogged soils in winter, its lifespan will be greatly reduced. It tolerates summer drought once established. To achieve long and regular flowering, remember to remove faded flowers from time to time: this will stimulate the production of new flower buds, until autumn if the weather permits. In overly rich soil, the plant may also become a bit floppy: in that case, trim the shrub in July to encourage branching and the formation of new flowers closer to the ground. Due to its compact size and undemanding nature, the 'Citrine' coreopsis is also an excellent variety for container gardening.

You can plant it in your rockeries, alongside small perennials that appreciate the same conditions, such as Alpine savory Acinos alpinus, Bertram Anderson lemon thyme, mountain alyssum, or graceful grasses like Festuca mairei.