Helenium autumnale
Growing Information
• Plant Type: Perennial
• Sunlight: Sun, part shade
• Soils: Average, moist to wet
• Bloom Time: Yellow flowers in July, August, September
• Size: 1-3 feet in height; 2-3 foot spread
Plant this clump-forming perennial with daisy-like flowers in borders, meadows, and wild gardens. It blooms later in the summer when other blossoms have faded. Sneezeweed pollen does not cause allergies, but the leaves were crushed for snuff to induce sneezing for congestion or headaches. Not native on Cape Cod but is found in parts of New England.
Garden Companions
Rose Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium maculatum), Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana), New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
Nature Benefits
• Attracts bees and other pollinators.
• Foliage is toxic and bitter, so mammalian herbivores don’t feed on it.
Natural Habitat
Occurs in meadows, shores of lakes, wetlands