Helianthus ‘Mellow Yellow’

Swamp Sunflower is a clump-forming, upright, late-blooming perennial sunflower — the latest flowering of the sunflowers (October and even November). It is found in bottomlands, swamps, and other natural wet habitats as well as in disturbed wet areas, on roadsides and in ditches. It thrives in full sun in moist soils — but it can also withstand drought. In the garden, Swamp Sunflower is handsome, growing to a lofty 6 to 8 feet with attractive, roughly textured, threadlike foliage. The species, native to central and eastern U.S., is found in piedmont and coastal counties of NC. Although the flowers are not huge like some Helianthus sunflowers, there are a great many of them, and they attract a whole range of lively pollinators and then birds to consume the seeds. The flowers of the cultivar ‘Mellow Yellow’ are slightly smaller and of an unusual, softer and gentler yellow than the species, a different slant on fall color in the garden. Being such a late bloomer, the hue of ‘Mellow Yellow’ plays against the blues and purples of Climbing Aster, (Ampelaster caroliniana) and the Aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium), as well as the flaming fall foliage of woody shrubs such as Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) and the pink of Muhlenbergia. Gorgeous!