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Bidens 'Madame Ganna Walska' (Lotusland Tickseed) A vigorous and dense evergreen (near frost free climates) perennial clumping subshrub that grows to an impressive 5 to 6 feet tall and wide or slightly bigger with freely-branching stems bearing lanceolate1 to 2 inch long dark green leaves with serrate margins. In southern California coastal gardens display a year-round appearance of flowers that have deep rose pink ray flowers that look like petals and bright yellow disk flowers raised up in the center that are held up and beyond the foliage on wiry peduncles - individual flowers don't last long but there are always more coming along to replace fading ones. In cooler climates the flowering is primarily summer through first frost.
Plant in full sun to light shade in a well-drained soil with regular to infrequent irrigation. Like other Bidens cultivars this plant should prove hardy and evergreen to around 25°F and root hardy possibly as low as 10°. Trim back to maintain shape and to deadhead spent flowers which promotes rebloom – can be cut back hard mid-winter to control size. This is a great small herbaceous shrubby perennial that is attractive in the garden and attracts a myriad of beneficial insects. Many of the species are native of North American but the origin of this plant is as yet unknown. It had apparently been in the Madame Ganna Walska Lotusland garden a few years before Pacific Northwest perennial growers Bob Lilly and Alice Doyle visited in 2003. Noting it to be different from any other Bidens that they knew of they got permission to take cuttings and it was introduced the next year at Alice Doyle's Log House Plants nursery in Cottage Grove, Oregon using the name 'Madame Ganna Walska' to honor the very woman who created the Lotusland garden. Bob Lilly described the introduction in an article March 2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article titled "Gardeners will shout bravo to these plant debuts" and also in the book he coauthored with coauthored with Susan Carter and Carrie Becker titled Perennials, The Gardener's Reference (Timber Press, 2007).
Corey Welles, who maintained the insectary and pollinator garden at Lotusland showed us this plant in January 2020, spoke to its many virtues and encouraged us to take some cuttings so that we could reintroduce this plant in the nursery trade that same year. We have heard from others since about how many pollinators this plant attracts.
The information about Bidens 'Madame Ganna Walska' displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
