Heliopsis helianthoides Orange Marble

Heliopsis helianthoides Orange Marble is a striking perennial that brings new interest to the false sunflower genus with its decorative marbled foliage. This selection is generous and undemanding, producing golden orange daisies with a chocolate centre on sturdy stems that hold up well in a vase. It is a robust, colourful, nectar-rich perennial, loved by bees, bumblebees and butterflies.

The species, Heliopsis helianthoides, belongs to the Asteraceae family. It is commonly called heliopsis, smooth oxeye, or false sunflower, due to its heads, which are like small sunflowers. This plant is native to a vast North American territory, from the central and eastern Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec…) to the Midwestern and eastern United States. It is found in prairies, roadsides, clearings and fallow land in rather damp but well-drained soil. It is a durable, herbaceous perennial, which can spread slightly via short running roots.

'Orange Marble' is a cloned cultivar, registered under the code 'Vensgc', obtained by Dutch breeder Marcel de Wagt. The plant forms a well-behaved bushy clump, with upright, sparsely branched stems, 60 to 80 cm in height. Its growth is quite rapid: in two to three seasons, a young plant reaches practically its adult size. The leaves are opposite on the stems, lanceolate to ovate in shape, coarsely toothed, measuring 6 to 10 cm long; in Orange Marble, they are marbled with creamy white and medium green, traversed by dark veins that form a network, tinged with pink or red on the young shoots. The foliage is deciduous: it disappears in winter and regrows from the base in spring. The inflorescences, in solitary or grouped heads, resemble large, 7 to 9 cm in diameter daisies: a nectar-rich central brown to reddish-brown disc surrounded by ligulate florets (petals) arranged in a single crown. In this cultivar, the ligules are deep orange at the centre, lightening towards orange-yellow tips. Flowering spreads from July until September, even October in a mild climate.

In the garden, Heliopsis Orange Marble is a small sun-loving perennial that can be placed in the middle of a border or at the front of a flower meadow. Its foliage brightens the base of taller plants and pairs well with flowering in warm tones. It can be combined with Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit', Panicum virgatum 'Northwind', Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Red Head' and Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies'. In a pot, a clump of Orange Marble surrounded by sedges and small salvias makes a beautiful summer composition on a sunny terrace.

The genus name Heliopsis comes from the Greek hélios (the sun) and opsis (appearance), in reference to the colour of the inflorescences, while the epithet helianthoides means "resembling a sunflower".