For Your Garden - February 2017

Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.

sand coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)

Sand coreopsis is also known as lanceleaf coreopsis or tickseed. It grows statewide in dry prairies and areas with dry, sandy or rocky soil. The mature plant may reach a height of one to two feet. Leaves develop at the plant’s base with a few pairs of opposite leaves also on the stem. Leaves are lance-shaped and may have two projections at the bottom. Flowers are produced from May through August on individual stalks at the top of the plant. Each flower has eight to 10 yellow ray flowers each with four to five jagged projections at the tip.

Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.

​Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae