Dune sunflower
helianthus debilis

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per square foot
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: plant spreads 
harvest notes: not edible
season:
perennial

Dune sunflower is one of our favorite native flowering plants. You may have seen it along coasts growing along dunes besides grasses and railroad vines, but this variety is also very well adapted to non-coastal planting. This low mounding flowering plant will flower year round, so its always looking cute and covered in yellow flowers. Pollinators like bees, flies & butterflies use its pollen and its dense growth pattern provides habitat for many small animals. 

Plant dune sunflower in dry, well draining sandy soils. Plants grow to only about 2 feet tall, and while this does grow along the ground we don’t consider it a true ground cover since stepping on it will break and trample the brittle stems. Our recommended spacing for this plant is just a starting point for you to use. Plant them denser and it will become a large filled in planting earlier. Put more space in-between them and it will take longer for it to form a planting. One plant alone should reach about 5 feet across.