Another Z6-er here. I've had 'Early Sunrise' & 'Sunray' since 2006 and have had no problems or issues with them. I've divided 'Early Sunrise' more than once and have the divisions planted in several different beds.

Cozy, I'm glad to hear you've had these for three years. So I guess it's something about my garden. We did have a busy mole nearly all year, plus a terrible hotttt dry two weeks and otherwise nearly constant wet. I love them, will definitely try again next year.

BTW, cuttings of coreopsis take very easily if you want more. They root in 3-4 weeks, and bloom soon after. This includes Star Cluster and Full Moon.

Gardenweed, I've had Early Sunrise for 5 years, a really lovely plant.

Good to know about rooting the coreopsis! Thanks for the tip.

Wondering about drainage.

I consistently fail with coreopsis...only the taller yellows survive for me - tripteris, lanceolata and so on. Verticillata might struggle through a winter while the likes of Limerock Ruby, American Dream etc. are hopeless. Often don't even manage to get through the summer, let alone over-wintering. I do grow annual coreopsis/ thelesperma/cosmidium (those tall yellow things with a chestnut, bronze centre). Dunno why it's so rubbish - nice friable soil, sunny, good drainage.

Marie - all mine have excellent drainage. I have extremely healthy sandy loam so water doesn't pool anywhere in my garden beds. One or two clumps are growing on a very gradual slope as well.

I consistently fail with coreopsis

Me too, me too.

I have had many but none last beyond...say three seasons.

(I really liked "Cosmic Eye").

Marie-- could be. We have the usual heavy clay midwest soil. But, it's a raised bed, raised 9", plus app 3" of mulch. The soil gets better every year as the mulch rots down. I 'll try again next year

Rouge and campanula, thanks for your remarks. I do suspect they may be short-lived. I had a thriving patch of 'Early Sunrise' for maybe 5 years. They self-seeded like crazy because I couldn't keep up with the deadheading. Then last year I kept cutting off all the seed heads to put in a new bed, and the old patch practically disappeared, tho the new one thrived. The Big Bang are sterile, so they can't renew with seeds.

I appreciate all the comments. It's not quite such a mystery any more-- some things just don't live long, and the nurseries might not know or want to tell you.

Hi Mehitabel,

Would you be interested in sharing some 'Star Cluster' for postage?

lmk - thanks!

(boston701@yahoo.com)

I scavenged a huge amount of seeds from the annual coreopsis this week, but will just be treating them as annuals...along with cosmos, red flax, cornflowers and larkspur, they were in a seed mix one of the colleges has been experimenting with on the college greens. Bags of them...I went a bit mental for a few hours.