In May I needed some reliable front-of-the-border perennials for a new flowerbed. I immediately thought of Coreopsis ‘Sunray’. The plants reach a height of 18 to 24 inches with double, golden-yellow flowers that bloom for 6 to 8 weeks.
I purchased three plants and spaced them out along my border. June arrived but there were no ‘Sunray’ flowers. July made an appearance—still no flowers. Even lazy August couldn’t coax any blooms from my new plants. How unusual.
The foliage grew like crazy. The plants were bushy, thick and healthy-looking, but they just didn’t want to bloom. It sounds like a classic case of over-fertilizing (too much nitrogen produces leaves at the expense of flowers), but I never gave them any fertilizer. All the other plants in the bed bloomed just fine, but all three of my ‘Sunray’ plants balked. Finally, in late September, one of them sent up a lonely stalk with one flower bud. To spite me, it bloomed while we were on vacation.
I’m not sure if the plants had trouble adjusting to my soil, or if I have some mutant siblings that are never going to behave like normal ‘Sunray’ plants. They have a reprieve until next spring. If they aren’t dazzling me with golden-yellow flowers by next June, however, I’m going to have to give them a tour of the compost bin.