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Berlandiera texana

 
Berlandiera texana
green eyes
Berlandiera texana

Common name green eyes
Family asteraceae
Life cycle perennial (Z6-8)
Flowers yellow
Size 18-36"
Light sun
Cultural notes heat and drought tolerant

Dark-centered yellow flowers, not unlike those of coreopsis, over course, somewhat hairy mid-green leaves. Although it is native to Texas, its range is really more the northern plains of Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Ozark, but it has held up well enough in the steamier climate of the Texas Gulf Coast, even self-seeding a bit in our back border. It's not a refined plant, looking a little gangly with its tall straight stems carrying flowers only near the top, but it fits in well enough in the jumble we call our back fence border.

green eyes

In early September of its first year with us, our plant suddenly declined and died back to the ground. I'm not sure if it was the deluge of rain brought by hurricane Harvey or the hot and humid weather that followed, but I thought I had lost yet another plant to Houston's climate oddities. So I was pleased to see, on a stroll through the garden in early November, that it had made a healthy comeback (photo at left). Since then our plants seem to do just fine through the warm season, dying back in winter.

Berlandiera texana
green eyes
The spring after its sudden decline, it returned early and strongly, coming into bloom as April got underway (photo above left). A single volunteer popped up nearby as well. By late April, the plant had charged upwards in somewhat unruly fashion (above right). It doesn't exactly put on a stunning floral display, but I'm glad to have it in the garden.

Berlandiera texana
Cool look just before flowers unfurl, with strappy petals wrapped across the central disk
green eyes
Little burgundy flowers lining the central disk attract pollinators – like this potter wasp

In our garden, this plant grows in the following area: back fence border

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Seed-starting details for this plant

self-seeds modestly in our garden

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