There is a flower blooming in my garden that has quietly captured my heart. It is a North American native wildflower called helenium. I have admired this perennial growing in other herbaceous borders, so when I came across a few quart containers at a garden center, I grabbed them for my own garden. Because heleniums prefers moist soil I planted mine in an area that stays wet because of poor drainage. This has always been a problem spot in my garden, but the heleniums seems to love it.

Heleniums grow in a large portion of the country (zones 3 – 8). To find plants in your area, check with your favorite local garden center, or you can grow them from seed as well. Give the plants plenty of sunshine and moist, humus rich soil and they will reward you with bouquets of blooms beginning in mid- to late summer and continuing through fall.