Sneezeweeds won’t make you sneeze, but they will make you smile. Their cheery blooms come along to make you happy right when summer is starting to wear you down. One of the best of the bunch is ‘Zimbelstern’. Forming a tall clump, ‘Zimbelstern’ sports yellow flowers lightly streaked with orange and a prominent brown cone in the center. The 2-inch-wide blooms are the highlight of late summer, especially for pollinators and for birds who will feast on the seeds. ‘Zimbelstern’ excelled in a recent trial of numerous sneezeweed cultivars at the Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware, scoring high for its strong stems, prolific bloom, and lack of powdery mildew. As with all members of this genus, ‘Zimbelstern’ does poorly in dry soil, but if you give it average to wet soil in full sun, it will be as happy to be there as you are to see it.

‘Zimbelstern’ sneezeweed

(Helenium autumnale ‘Zimbelstern’)

Zones: 3–8

Size: 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide

Conditions: Full sun; average to moist soil

Native range: Garden origin

Source

• Digging Dog Nursery, Albion, CA; 707-937-1130; diggingdog.com

Check out these other super cool plants:

• A Compact Toad Lily for Late-Summer Blooms
• A Tough, Slender Oak Tree