Hi Digger, Nice to hear from you again. I have heard that once Helen's Flower gets established, it is an easy-care perennial. I'm at that stage of life, that I'm very 'into' easy care. Our town is on a water ban so watering is gonna be very minimal this year (like last year) and who knows about next year. I'd love to see a pic of your plant once it arrives. I did find some seeds I had for at least three years in a shoebox. I'll try to sprout those, but that means my plants are two years away! Oh well.... I've seen some real cuties called Marti Gras and Sombrero, with some pinks and purples in the Marti Gras, and bright yellow in Sombrero.

Here in Central Massachusetts, I have two Helenium clumps that I carefully "researched" as to their exact color/shade of red. I wanted them to be towards the blue end of the spectrum. Be Warned: There is not a true red available, even my best choice leans rusty-reddish. Quite disappointing for me, as it does somewhat clash with my color scheme, All the photos online (even allowing for differences in computer depictions) showed the red as being a lovely shade with purple tones, which was not true -- even the written descriptions implied that this was a true, clear red. Not a purple or pink tone at all in mine...!

That said, this is a lovely plant, nice for later season color and good insects love it. Mine are 4 years old, good-sized without outgrowing their location. About 3 -3 1/2 feet tall for me, in sunny bed that I water as needed so don't worry about it needing a pond nearby! Just haul your hose out now and then once it is established properly. Overall, I am happy with them (but that darn color...!).

Edit to add -- I believe my helenium are the Mariachi series, which depicts and describes the color as "bright bluish-red" on one site. Yeah, right. Oh, well, so it goes in gardening!

I agree with roxanna - ime, the reds have been rusty or copperish, which works for me. Although roxanna you have me wondering now that I also ordered some truer reds (other perennials) for that bed... I'll have to put them at separate ends of the bed lol.

:)
Dee

I also agree that everything in the genus has a yellower hue rather than bluer.

i grow a bunch of these, and have for many years. Some yellow flowering ones grow wild on the river bank, and I have seen them in a similar setting in Utah. These are all yellow, and they bloom in late summer. Some seed grown Helenium of unknown species, but ~3’ tall and late summer blooming, are in a relatively moist, organic garden bed. However, many of mine are in a relatively gravelly, south facing bed with little organic matter that never gets water. (To be honest, my ornamental beds almost never get supplemental water.)

My favorite so far, and the one I have had the longest is Mardi Gras which will start blooming in early July and end around Labor Day. I also have a rusty red one, I think Salsa, that is only about 3 years old in the same bed. My gardens have been pretty much ignored the entire time I have had it due to family health issues, so it has thrived with zero attention from me. In fact, it spent its entire first year in a 6” pot that was heeled in for the winter and didn’t actually get planted until its second year, and it still has thrived. I have found that voles will eat them if those little critters are an issue in your garden. I have lost a couple to obvious winter munching, though Helenium aren’t their first choice IME.

On the perennial forum you might want to do a search for Helenium. There are folks there who insist that they must be divided every few years in order to not peter out, but that has not been my experience, perhaps due to my sandy soil.

I was amazed at all of the info available on the perennials forum. Thanks to you NHBabs for directing me there!

I grow helenium and have for years. It is a very reliable perennial and most flower in August when many other perennials are finishing. I have a tall yellow, Mardi Gras and some shorter rust colored ones. The tall ones I cut down by 1/3 in June (just did this) so it is lower and more bushy with flowers. that’s about the only thing I do for them. They get water as I water their neighbors but I don’t make much of a point to water them. In my mind a great easy plant that can fill a flowering gap in August