Name:  Bidens ferulifolia Goldilocks Rocks

Type of Plant:  An annual in northern climates that does best in full sun. You’ll find this plant wherever Proven Winners annuals are sold.

Why I love This: This plant is easy, easy, easy….a drought tolerant annual that is covered all summer and fall with bright yellow, daisy-like flowers. If you like the flowers on cosmos and coreopsis, and appreciate the zing that a golden yellow flower brings to the garden, you’ll love Goldilocks Rocks.

No deadheading, it’s fine in the heat, and each plant makes a mound of flowers that’s about 12” tall and 14” wide. Best of all, this plant plays well with others. The original Goldilocks might have taken over the three bears beds and presumptuously eaten their porridge, but this namesake plant coexists beautifully in containers and gardens.

A Word to the Wise:  Plant this after all danger of frost is past – it’s really happiest when night temperatures are reliably above 50 degrees. I used my usual one part time-release fertilizer and two parts organic fertilizer, scattered over the surface of the soil before planting. (I use about 3 tablespoons of this mix per plant, scattering this mixture well beyond where the “dripline” would be.)

Every year I plant a different combination of annuals around the edge of this garden. I usually go for bright, bold colors in this bed, and in 2014 I used the bright yellow Bidens Goldilocks Rocks with coral Sunpatiens, blue Victoria annual Salvia, and Frosty Knight Lobularia. You KNOW this was a hit because this garden made the cover of my new book, The Cocktail Hour Garden!