The Problem With Tickseed

This picture shows both the greatness and the problem with plains coreopsis, or tickseed. It's covered with brightly colored blooms that bees and butterflies love. It's easy to grow and reseeds itself like crazy. The problem (at least in my rich delta soil) is that the plants get too tall and lanky, then they fall over and look sloppy. My advice to all is to do what I failed to do on this plant: sheer them back to about half size early in the spring. That forces them to stay shorter and bushier. It also pushes back the bloom time a little, but it's worth the wait so you don't get floppage.