Helenium Double Trouble

Helenium 'Double Trouble' is considered the first variety of double-flowered sneezeweed. It bears a large number of bright yellow heads, with a double row of ligulate flowers. The flowering of this perennial extends into late summer and early autumn. The habit is compact, making it an easy plant to grow in the sun and in moist soil, perfect for a cottage garden and ideal for flower arrangement.

Hybrid sneezeweeds are often derived from Helenium autumnale, a perennial native to North America, which is commonly found along marshes. The cultivar 'Double Trouble' has a fairly compact, upright habit with stems reaching 80cm (32in) tall. The colourful leaves, lanceolate in shape with smooth margins, are arranged alternately along the stems. From July to September, a myriad of flowers succeed each other at the top of well-branched stems. Resembling crumpled daisies 5cm (2in) in diameter, the heads have a prominent central cone. At the periphery, a double row of petals forms a sort of soft and colourful 'skirt', pure and bright yellow. This decidedly sunny flowering, attracting bees and butterflies, accompanies the beginning of autumn.

Robust, very hardy and rarely affected by disease, this sneezeweed likes well-drained, moist and ordinary soils. Easy to grow, it thrives in sunny positions, planted in slopes, borders or even containers. Despite all these qualities, sneezeweeds remain rare in gardens. Perhaps because their warm tones herald autumn; yet they are the perfect complement to asters. This 'Double Trouble' Helenium, of medium size, pairs well with the blue tones of 'Ideal', 'Little Carlow' or 'Boningdale Blue' asters. Try it in combination with Heucheras or with a deciduous Euonymus with sublime foliage. In a different setting, the velvety foliage of Stachys or salvias greatly enhances the warm hue of its flowering.