Helenium Poncho

The 'Poncho' Helenium is a recent variety of Helenium with a modest stature that ensures excellent performance in flowerbeds. An additional asset for this plant is its truly flamboyant long summer flowering period. Its head-like flowers, resembling daisies, display a corolla whose colour evolves from gold-edged red to flame orange with a touch of soft red, centered around a large heart that transitions from brown to golden yellow. The beautiful dark green foliage perfectly complements the warm hue of the flowers. It is a robust perennial, easy to grow in the sun in moist soil. Its flowers are magnificent in a vase.

Natural species of Helenium are perennials native to North America, typically found in marshes or in moist, sunny locations. The 'Poncho' cultivar offers an extended summer flowering period, renewing itself from early August to late September, with intense colour and compact growth. The plant forms sturdy, branched leafy stems, reaching about 60cm (24in) in height. The leaves are coloured olive-green, lanceolate in shape, with slightly dentate margins, and are arranged alternately along the stems. The flowers, organized in head-like clusters, bloom at the tips of the stems. These clusters, 6cm (2in) in diameter, are centered around a large cone that gradually transitions from brown to stamens covered in yellow pollen. At the periphery, brightly coloured florets finely bordered in yellow fade to shades of orange, brick, or muted red. These colours are most striking when illuminated by the sun.

The 'Poncho' Helenium is a very hardy and disease-free plant. It thrives in ordinary but moist soil and very sunny exposures. Easy to grow, it blooms just as well in slopes and flowerbeds as it does in pots on the terrace or balcony. Despite all these qualities, Heleniums remain rare in gardens, perhaps because their warm tones herald the arrival of autumn. This Helenium pairs well with yellow summer blooms (Goldenrods), blue flowers (Catmints, buglosses, perennial salvias), as well as asters and grasses. It can also be combined with plants with purple foliage ('Little Devil' Ninebark, Berberis atropurpurea 'Nana', 'Black Lace' Elderberry) or golden foliage ('Goldmound' Spirea).