Tithonia and other plants

penne, funny (more like 'sad') you should mention it. Bunnies got most of mine, too!

I'm going to put seeds in the ground and try for another batch.

I planted out many of my seedlings last weed and I think the rabbits (or slugs, maybe?) had a field day!

I still need the tithonia for the late summer butterfly garden, though. (-:

Hi Guys
I just love reading everyone's different experiences. Out here nothing touches the Mexican Sunflowers. Last year the bunnies got all they wanted out of my veggie garden after eating their way thru the deer fencing. This year we're adding chicken wire all the way around and hubby has started a 'relocation' program. Helen

They've started to bloom! My tithonia that had been nibbled on has grown smaller leaves, but it is blooming. The first one is the smallest one - maybe 18".

The few that haven't been eaten look like they are closer to 24". No giant tithonia - yet!

Very pretty. Mine are still tiny- a few inches tall.

Karen

I've tried everything, and tithonia was one of my favorites. It was gorgeous for about 6 weeks, but it went downhill suddenly; I think it was spider mites. I never tried it again. I don't treat for diseases or insect pests; I just pull the plants up and put in something else.

DP

Tabasco! I love the photo of the tithonia with the butterfly! Did you take that?

Tithonia was the first flower I ever grew from seed some 35 years ago. I had no idea it was going to be as tall as a sunflower! I had never gardened before. I sort of read a book and then planted some marigold and tithonia seeds and they all grew so well I haven't stopped since! Can't grow them anymore because all I have is shade.

It's interesting that those of you in cooler climes than in Texas have good success with this wonderful annual from Mexico. I wonder if it's because spider mites are more active when it's hot hot hot.

Yes, rev, I took that photo of my tithonia! I'm glad you like it! My tithonias are still quite small right now~~ I wonder, penne, what you have in your soil~ kryptonite maybe?

But, I have to say, penne, I just returned from D.C. last night after visiting my sister's garden in Alexandria and my friend's in Georgetown, and I have to say you must have something special in the soil there. Their flowers were so large and voluptuos compared to my scrawny things! I probably went by your house, by the way...we spent quite some time being lost in McLean (thanks to our Garmin!) Had a lovely time, though!

Tab,

You should have told me! I would have at least given you my address to drive by and see the garden.

If I have time after taking the kids to their swimming lessons tomorrow night, I will take some updated pictures of my tithonia. One of them has already swallowed a stella d'oro, and is working on my new ornamental grass! I can't believe how wide these are getting.

By the way, I just came home from meeting friends for dinner in Alexandria.

Penne, Next time I'll let you know when we'll be in DC. We usually get there a few times a year. Sorry I missed you!

I had the ugliest seedlings with the 'Fiesta del Sol'. Started in late Feb. Just winging it this year since I wanted to establish my own seedling schedule for various and sundry flowers. I planted them outside finally with very ugly leaves, I kept cutting them off and some had barely enough to stay alive, but when I got them in the ground in early May, I knew they would make it. Right now, it seems like the plants are growing too big for their britches and the leaves cover the blooms that emerge farther down on the stems. I am cutting away a lot of extra stems and leaves to allow the flowers that are there to show!!!!

Another boo-boo on my part was the idea to use them as a "circler" around my Echinacea 'Pixie Meadowbrite'. I planted them too close. At first my Echinaceas bloomed and these were small and circling them okay, but now ... ... ... they shade them and it is hard to keep the Echinaceas in the sun. The Tithonias have overrun their space and exceeded my wildest expectations. Peope ask about them all the time. The leaves are beautiful and so are their flowers. If I can, I will grace their beauty with my digital camera. If not, you guys can use your imaginations on how lovely they are. I just love them!!

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S. I'm not any good with my camera, but I'll see ......................

Here are some Tithonias amongst some Echinacea 'Pixie Meadowbrites'. Don't know how they'll look at the end of the summer. I guess they're okay for now. The 'Fiesta del Sol' Tithonias look especially strong at this point.

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

greenthumb, are your Fiesta del sols attracting any butterflies?

My Winter sowed tithonias (don't know which ones I have growing anymore ~~ I lost track) are still small-- only a foot or so tall but leafy, anyway.

I hope they are "torch" but could be 'fiesta del sol'...

Greenthumb,

I think you may need to watch your pixie meadowbrites carefully so they aren't swallowed alive!

Tab, I haven't seen any butterflies on mine, but I just saw my first Monarch this week. Up until now, I've just seen the little white sulphers.

I have a bunch of butterflies on them. Can't identify them really. Mostly they are very small ... having a goldish-brownish color and flutter real fast and move away just as quickly. How do you identify those small ones? Zing they're gone!! LOL

An awful lot of butterflies are on the Tithonias. They are the tallest in that flowerbed and hinge an outside corner, so the butterflies get to those flowers first.

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh my gosh! My tithonia is now taller than me! It was only supposed to be a couple of feet high.

Underneath this tithonia is a zebra grass plug, and at least three daylillies. Thank goodness I really like these pretty orange flowers or this plant would be history.

I hacked a few stems off a different tithonia that was trying to strangle my sunrise coneflower.

That's just the way I remember them in my garden -- too big for everything!

Now, you good people go easy on tithonia! The tall varieties can't help it that tallness is in their genes.
When I see a stand of tithonia I feel almost like Tennyson did when he came across the field of daffodils.

OK, so it was Wm. Wordsworth! Give me a break!

Color me green with envy. I grew Tithonia 'Goldfinger' (which is orange, go figure) under lights this winter (which I see was probably not necessary since OHIO can winter sow them - outside I presume?).

The 4 that I have in full sun are okay, not great. And they need staking! One has already fallen to it's death at about 40". Mine are also not the nice dark green of your pics. I thought they liked it lean and fertilizer would not be good. Are you folks fertilizing? Some leaves are yellowing, then crispy-browning. Any thoughts?

I am not seeing the butterfly magnet situation but a MG friend who bought some of my seedlings at our plant sale said his Tithonia were covered in them.
thanks

Finally, some butterflies.

The butterflies seem to prefer the flowers are the very top.

I actually began hacking off branches so that my surrounding plants aren't smothered to death. I'm amazed at how thick the stems are.

Hi guys, I've been quietly watching this forum and having fun! I sowed a bunch of seeds las fall and now I don't what a lot of them are - but one, that's not flowering yet, definitely looks like these tithonias...are the leaves velvelty to the touch?
Roberta

Yes, Roberta they are, and very large. I think that the stems are too heavy for the stalk to handle. I noticed today that two stems were breaking off at the stalk. I will probably need to stake this sometime this week. I have three together, but it looks like a bush.

This message was edited Jul 22, 2008 8:47 PM

I have one plant, started inside in april, that is going nuts..the rest of them are just getting started.
I wanted something really tall along an ugly fence, and I coupled mine with purple amaranth.

yey! So now I'm almost sure it is a tithonia! It was driving me crazy not knowing what it was, but a very marked characteristic were the velvety leaves...

My tithonia update~~Weird, last summer my blooming tithonias were covered in monarchs and swallowtails. This summer the tithonias are in bloom but not much butterfly action.

The butterflies (the few we have this summer) seem more interested in the verbena bonarienses. Maybe the tithonias are blooming too early for the monarchs (that maybe haven't arrived or e-closed yet). I started these inside under lights. Usually I just winter sow them.

Mmmm...don't know. I am not sure of the variety of tithonia, but they aren't so tall this year~~ maybe just 4 to 5 feet...maybe the nectar was bred out of them when trying to make them a decently small size for a garden...

Nevertheless, I am developing a bigger and sunnier butterfly garden for next summer and I will definitely include a row of Mexican Sunflowers.

Is anyone getting loads of butterflies on their tithonias this year.

I am so, so sad! I have a fennel plant that was COVERED with Monarch catterpillars...so pretty....and this week I woke up one day and they were all GONE! Is that a bird's job or what could have done that?

tabasco: My butterflies always shunned all of my other plants, including butterfly weed, in favor of the verbena bonariensis. Because the verbena became so invasive for me I've been working all summer at eliminating it, and the butts are now visiting the other flowers instead. Seems if there's no verbena around they just go to the others.

I "wintersowed" my tithonia in spring (same method, but sown outside in spring) and they are just starting to bloom now. Most are about 5 ft. tall. Have been out of town so I'm not sure if the butterflies are visiting them yet. They sure are liking the zinnias, though.

Karen

So too bad, rob. I think the birds patrol the fennel fair well and probably enjoyed a good dinner party from yours.

But they were probably Swallowtail caterpillers. Monarchs lay their eggs on various Milkweeds.

kqcrna, interesting about the timing on the Tithonia seed sowing and bloom sequence. I bet I had a lot of butterflies on the tithonia last year because it bloomed a bit later when the swallowtails and monarchs are in full flight.

We are beginning our first steady stream of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails right now. They seem to be going for whatever bloom is left over on the Buddleias and the verbena b. I expect more BFs later in August, though, and I wonder what I will still have in bloom...?

I don't have enough zinnias this year. I don't know what happened to them~ it seemed like I sowed a lot of seed.

My wintersown Tithonias are blooming nicely now too and are getting lots of attention from the butterflies and hummers. They're about 4' tall. Tabasco, thanks so much for sending me those seed- I'm enjoying them so much! I have orange zinnias growing with them that are getting some attention too, but the critters seem to prefer the Tithonias. Swallowtails have been regular visitors on them, but the Great spangled frittilaries seem to prefer the zinnias. There were also several Monarchs hanging around, but they seemed more interested in lighting on leaves and poppy seed pods than any of the blooms...seemed odd to me.

I'm the one who unwittingly encircled my Echinacea Pixie Meadowbrite with my Tithonias. Well, I have been pruning the Tithonias so that the Echinaceas still get sunlight. Don't know if they've been getting very much, though. Well, at this point, the Echinaceas have dropped all their petals and look like they're going into fall. Hope they survive the winter, or as far as that goes, hope they survive the rest of the summer. LOL

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Karin, I have thithonia looming over my one sunrise coneflower, which as I'm sure that you can imagine isn't doing very well because it isn't receiving enough sun. I have trimmed the tithonia back, but it keeps growing! I have the same situation happening with some daylillies, and a new ornamental grass as well.

I did notice last night when I was pulling into the driveway at least three butterflies were hovering around the largest tithonia. I was running late, so I didn't get a chance to see what type they were, but it looked pretty busy. My entire garden is devoted to butterflies and hummers, so there is always someone visiting.

Hoping for some input on fertilizing Tithonia. Mine have yellowing/brown lower leaves. They are in full sun and have good air circ (altho it does look like what Vernonica does for me in part sun).

Anyone else have this issue?

I've been trimming lots of leaves off so mine has ugly leaves where I've been doing that. I don't always get a clean cut of the leaves and/or flowers and so I expect it to "not to look very nice" because of my actions. Otherwise where I've not cut, the leaves look fine.

Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is my first year growing torch flower and I was unprepared for how huge they get! I have 5 plants that have taken over an area about 5x8 feet. They’re really pretty, but due to recent rainstorms (not that I’m complaining about the rain!), they have toppled over. I staked a couple of them, but some have broken off in places. Consequently, it’s kind of an unwieldy mess right now. I’m wondering if I whack them down to about 2’, leaving the side shoots, will I still get blooms? I don’t want to miss any flowers, but it’s just too untidy the way it is. Not that the butterflies mind! I think next year I will limit myself to 3 plants, and cut them back in early summer before buds form.

Thanks Karin, I feel a little better!

Hi erdooley - beautiful photo. What cultivar is that? Fiesta del sol? I'll be interested in the answer to your question. I do plan to grow Tithonia again but mine are just not as full and robust as everyone else's pics. The soil is terrible - almost all 'fake rock', some kind of sandstone where my surviving Tithonias are. The one in good soil is the one that fell over breaking its main stem.

cedar, I'm curious as to what's causing the issues with your tithonias. Mine are growing in clay with a lot of rocks and they seem very happy. I haven't fertilized or watered them, but they are mulched. They're in an area where the top soil was turned over exposing the clay subsoil when the water line went in a couple of years ago, so the roots may have reached the richer topsoil (I'm not sure how deep the clay is there). My thinking was that they may not get so tall and unwieldy in leaner soil, which seems to have worked.

erdooley, I would trim the ones that have fallen over to whatever you can - 2 feet is fine - leaving side shoots. They may or may not bloom again this year. But when you plant them next year, pinch the growing shoots - even if they have buds on them - as soon as they're in the dirt. If you plant by seed, pinch as soon as you have four true leaves. You may want to pinch two or three times again. They're going to get big no matter what you do, but you can control the sprawl a little by pinching.