For some hot, fiery colour add Tithonia Torch to your garden. Those fabulous orange-red blooms keep going until the first frosts. In its native Mexico it grows to 180cm, although here it tends to reach around 100–120cm unless it finds the perfect spot. That’s still quite impressive and the flowers alone are amazing. Colour, happy pollinators, cut flowers, or some natural dyeing, there’s much to love about Tithonia.
🌸 Flowering: mid-summer to first frosts
📏 Height: to 120cm, possibly taller
🌿 Annual
💧 Drought tolerant once established
Sow: March to April. Surface sow onto moist, well-drained seed compost and barely cover with vermiculite; some light is needed for germination. Put on a windowsill. Germination takes 7-21 days. Pot up if necessary. Harden off before planting outside once danger of frost has passed.
Grow: space the plants 50cm apart in full sun in lean, well-drained soil. If you are too kind this plant can become leggy and prone to flopping. Pinching encourages the plants to branch and deadheading encourages more flowers to appear. They may need staking if it turns windy.
Enjoy: this Mexican Sunflower puts on a great show: lots of fiery floral colour for remarkably little fuss.
🏡 In your garden
• Cottage and informal gardens
• Prairie-style planting
• Flower borders and beds, middle to the back
• Pollinator plantings
• Cutting gardens
• Vegetable gardens
✂️ Cut flower
• Fresh vase life 4 to 7 days
• Cut with a sharp knife to avoid squeezing or crushing the stems
• Pop straight into water
• Remove lower leaves before putting in a vase
🐝 Pollinator friendly
• RHS Plants for Pollinators recommended
• Popular with bees, beneficial insects and other pollinators, including Hummingbird Moths
• Flowering to the first frosts, it provides a valuable late-season food source
• Look out for some of our larger butterflies amongst the many visitors
🐞 Wildlife friendly
• Late in the season small birds will eat the ripening seeds
• The hollow stems can provide shelter for overwintering beneficial insects
🎨 Natural dye plant
• The blooms can produce colours ranging from yellows and golds to soft oranges
• Cotton, linen and hemp fabric need a tannin bath followed by an alum bath
• Extract the dye by simmering a large amount of flowers for about 45 minutes. After straining, simmer the fabric in the dye bath for another hour. For deeper, stronger shades let the fabric cool completely in the pot overnight
📜 Traditional uses
• Tithonia has a long history of use in traditional medicine. The leaves have been made into pastes for use on the skin, while preparations from the plant have been used in remedies for everything from digestive complaints and menstrual cramps to fever.
• That's part of the plant's traditional story rather than something we're suggesting you try. We don't promote plants for medicinal use; always seek appropriate professional advice and reliable health information.
Save
