Tuscan Sun is a proven, compact false sunflower with bright golden yellow daisies and orange-gold button centers. It blooms on strong stems from midsummer through late summer, bringing reliable color during the hottest part of the year.
It has earned top marks in university trial gardens, including Michigan State. Plant a few extras so you can cut flowers for bouquets without thinning the garden display.
What it looks like
Single daisy flowers about 2½ to 3 inches across with bright golden yellow petals around a domed, orange-gold button center. Flowers stand on strong, upright, branched stems above the foliage. Leaves are glossy, deep green, triangular and toothed. The plant is a bushy, well-branched clump 24 to 36 inches tall and 20 to 24 inches wide. At peak bloom it is covered in golden yellow flowers over dark green leaves.
Growing it with lavender
Tuscan Sun's golden flowers are a classic complement to purple lavender, and both thrive in full sun with good drainage.
Care
Grow in full sun to light part shade in average, well-drained soil; established plants tolerate dry spells. Hardy in zones 3 to 9. Deadhead spent flowers to extend bloom and cut the plant back after frost.
At a glance
-
Botanical name: Heliopsis helianthoides
-
Flower color: Golden yellow with an orange-gold center
-
Foliage: Glossy deep green
-
Growth habit: Bushy, well-branched clump
-
Mature size: 24–36 in tall × 20–24 in wide
-
USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
-
Light: full sun, part sun to part shade
-
Bloom start: Early-July
-
Peak bloom: Late-July
-
Bloom pattern: Long Blooming
-
Deer resistance: Moderately resistant
-
Pollinator value: Great
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.