‘Lemon Queen’ Perennial Sunflower

Sometimes, you just need a large, sunny statement plant in a flower bed. If that’s the case in your garden, Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ might just be the one you’re looking for.

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ is one of my very favorite large perennials. This plant has so many wonderful qualities, it’s surprising that it isn’t better known. ‘Lemon Queen’ is easy to grow, pollinator friendly, deer resistant, clay tolerant, works well as a cut flower, and generally just makes you happy every time you see it.

‘Lemon Queen’ gets 6-7’ tall and about 3’ wide, making it a perfect choice for the back of a garden bed. It thrives in full sun with average water, and provides a glorious explosion of 2” wide sunny, lemon-yellow flowers from mid-summer on up to frost.

Pollinators like bees and butterflies aren’t the only ones who love this plant; overwintering songbirds will thank you for leaving the plant standing through the cold weather so they can snack on the seeds. The old top growth can then be cut to about 2” tall in early spring, once the new shoots start to emerge from the warming soil.

‘Lemon Queen’ is a cultivar of a native prairie sunflower, and it looks great when combined with other prairie natives like ‘Autumn Sapphire’ Salvia or grasses like Andropogon (Big Bluestem), Schizachyrium (Little Bluestem), and Panicum (Switch Grass).

See if you can find some room to bring this ‘Queen’ home to your garden!