Carrying a Torch for Tithonia

As fall sets in, most of the perennials and flowering shrubs in our garden have decided that it's time to turn out the lights and go to sleep for a few months. The annuals, happily, have not gotten the memo. And one of the most dramatic of those is Tithonia rotundifolia 'Torch', or Mexican sunflower.

It's hard not to admire a plant that grows more than six feet tall in a single season. I direct-seeded my Tithonia on May 5, and by June 25, it was a good-sized seedling.

By the end of July, when it started blooming, it was about four feet tall, and kept getting both taller and fuller as the season progressed.

I planted it adjacent to the buddleia, and it happily provided a different flavor of necter to visiting butterflies.

And unlike regular sunflowers, which can be quite prickly, Tithonia has soft, fuzzy stems and leaves, like lamb's tail. For a tactile gardener like me, that's a definite bonus, especially since I'll soon be pulling it up to put the garden to bed.