Common Name: sundrops
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Onagraceae
Zone: 3 to 9
Height: 1.50 to 2.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to September
Bloom Description: Yellow
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Dry
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Flower: Showy
Leaf: Colorful
Tolerate: Drought
Culture
Easily grown in average to moderately fertile, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun. Prefers good summer heat and dryish soils. Tolerates poor soils and light shade. If plant foliage depreciates in summer after flowering, stems may be cut back to the basal rosette. Slowly spreading rosettes.
'Summer Solstice' will form a decently sized mass over time, and can be divided as needed in the early spring or late fall to control its spread. Once established, this selection is tolerant of some drought.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Oenothera fruticosa, commonly called sundrops or southern sundrops, is an erect, day-flowering member of the evening primrose family. It is native to eastern North America. It typically grows 15-30” tall and produces terminal clusters of bright yellow four-petaled flowers in late spring on stems clad with lanceolate green leaves (1-3” long). Rosette leaves (to 1-4” long) are oblanceolate. Flowers are followed by distinctive club-shaped seed capsules. Flowers bloom during the day, hence the appropriate common name of sundrops. Each flower is short-lived, but flowers bloom in succession over a fairly long period of two months.
Genus name is unclear but may have come from the Greek words oinos and theras meaning wine-seeker in probable reference to an ancient use of the roots of genus plants in scenting wine.
'Summer Solstice' is a compact cultivar only reaching 2' tall. Unlike other sundrops, this selection is not aggressive, but will spread to form a manageable mass over time. The radiant, golden yellow flowers bloom continuously all summer, and are contrasted by the unique, red-tinged foliage which deepens and darkens into fall.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Borders, wild gardens, rock gardens, native plant areas or cottage gardens.