Swamp sunflower is a beautiful native perennial sunflower that blooms later in the season than most of its relatives. It is a robust, easy-to-grow plant that reliably grows back tall and full of color year after year. Its flowers are small but plentiful, featuring yellow discs with black centers on stems of dark green foliage that can reach up to 8' tall! With this height and color, it can help make a seasonal 'living fence'. And though it is a large plant, it stays in a clump and does not spread underground.

This plant prefers moist conditions but grows just fine in our well-draining, often dry farm fields. In the late summer and early Fall, its blooms are an important food source for pollinators. It is also a larval host plant for native butterflies, and its seeds feed numerous bird species.

Usually blooming the first year it's planted from plugs, it also makes a wonderful cut flower managed as an annual or perennial.