Backyard Tall Coreopsis flowers - 2013

Peak bloom for our backyard tall coreopsis. They've been looking great for the past two weeks, and especially over the past seven days.

Huge expansion of the tall coreopsis in our backyard this summer for some reason. Back in May, I snipped out a lot of goldenrod and phlox. Maybe that made room.

We have other Oak Openings native plants growing too, but for some reason and surprisingly, the tall coreopsis spread a lot from last fall's seeds.

I like it. It's one of my favorite flowers.

This year, several stalks grew to at least seven feet tall, and a few dozen stalks grew to at least six feet tall. And then several dozen more stalks are in the four to six foot range.It's a crowded flower bed. Cramped. English garden-style, I guess.

The tall coreopsis possess thin stalks, narrow leaves, and small flowers about the size of a quarter to a half dollar coin. The flower petals are colored a light yellow, somewhere between lemon yellow and a cadmium yellow. The yellow is lighter than the yellow on the black-eyed susans.

The centers of the tall coreopsis are colored dark brown. Even the seven foot-plus stalks are thin. The stalks grew straight all summer until the blooms began to form and open.

With the weight of the flowers, some recent heavy rains, and the lack of sun in our backyard, the tall coreopsis stalks have obtained a noticeable lean toward the east.

Our yard is significantly shaded by numerous oak trees. Our backyard only gets about four hours of sunshine from approximately 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.