Goldenwave of July – Coreopsis tinctoria

 

1.

Is it a coincidence that July is full of yellow flowers? The golden sun is hot and high, saturating the days with radiance. Wildflowers and garden blooms respond in kind, echoing the open-hearted hue.

Sticky-budded blooms of tarweed and gumweed open this month in the wild fields. Their resin reminds me of sweat and campfires. Pollinator gardens glow with coreopsis, blanket flower, and lillies. It was the pale yellow of giant cephalaria that most enchanted me on a recent garden tour. The hummingbird enticing tubes of lemon frost cape fuchsia are a cool match. As are the low-growing discs of moonbeam coreopsis.

To celebrate the color yellow this month, dive deeper with me into a fabulously garden-worthy native annual: Coreopsis tinctoria also known as Columbia or plains coreopsis, dyer’s tickseed, or, my favorite, goldenwave.

 

 

2.

After an evening soak from the dented yellow “can’t bust ‘em” sprinkler, I greet you come morning. You stand refreshed, ready to expand your rounded buds into bloom.

Dear coreopsis, it’s so nice to see your golden light brightening the greens, warming the white sparkle of your neighbor calamint. Without my glasses even, from my far bedroom window, you draw my hazed gaze.

And closer, bent at the waist to admire the arms of a furrow bee tickling your chocolate-centered blooms. As she forages, she shuffles the harvest efficiently to her pollen-basketed hind legs.

 

 

This July is hot, so much so that I enjoy the sun-drenched pollinator meadow only in the mornings or much later after dinner when I inspect the depth of soil moisture with one prodding finger. But, sometimes, the flying activity pulls me into the heat mid day. Irresistible.

Your yellow blooms, centered with dark velvet spotted with gold pollen, harmonize perfectly with the season’s weather. As if you were made to be an emblem of July. Golden, nectar-filled abundance.

So abundant that you grow widespread in wild watersheds and prairies across North America. You are an icon of beauty and generosity, uniting this troubled country across political boundaries.

The gardeners who sow your seeds anew each fall, sow trust, hope, and the warm-hearted joy of participation in a thriving ecological community.

“Long may you bloom,” I whisper as I shear off your first round of flowers, spent now. A new golden wave is rising.

 

3.

More July yellows: