Growing Coreopsis (Tickseed): A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 29, 2026
Coreopsis (tickseed) is a native perennial grown for cheerful yellow blooms and for how reliably it pulls in pollinators. It’s one of the better-documented native plants for supporting a wide range of bee species specifically. Buy it as straight species seed rather than a named cultivar: garden-center coreopsis is often sold under trademarked names bred more for compact habit or bloom color than for vigor, and at least one of the most common, ‘Moonbeam’, has turned out to carry a flower disease that’s spread through nursery stock over the past decade.
Starting it from seed
Coreopsis is flexible on start method: sow indoors about 7 weeks before your last frost, or direct-sow about a week after it. Scatter seed on the soil surface and leave it uncovered, since it needs light to germinate. Expect about 80 days to first bloom.
Keeping it blooming
Coreopsis is low-maintenance, and its main problem is more about longevity of bloom than disease. Deadheading spent flowers regularly keeps a planting flowering longer into the season instead of tapering off early. Overly rich soil or too much fertilizer can also push it toward floppy growth and fewer blooms; it prefers leaner soil than most garden flowers.
A pollinator border, planted near pepper
Coreopsis planted near pepper draws in pollinators and beneficial insects like lady beetles around that heavy-feeding vegetable. See the full companion guide for coreopsis. As a reliable native pollinator plant, it’s a solid border pick in the Garden Designer for a vegetable bed that wants more pollinator traffic without needing dedicated space.
Sources: Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ Trial Results, Mt. Cuba Center.
Companion planting guide for Coreopsis (Tickseed) · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 4-10. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Method: Either: Start indoors for an earlier harvest, or direct-sow outside for less fuss. Coreopsis (Tickseed) tolerates either.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Coreopsis (Tickseed) plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-2 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- Straight-species Coreopsis grandiflora, grown from seed rather than a named cultivar: Mt. Cuba Center's multi-year trial found 'Moonbeam', probably the most widely sold coreopsis cultivar, weak and disease-prone: a fusarium flower blight now shows up on most 'Moonbeam' plants sold, on top of a standing tendency toward powdery mildew. Plain seed-grown species coreopsis skips both problems and is the form most pollinator research is based on. (source)
Cited from the source shown next to each variety. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.
Where to buy coreopsis seeds
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page also go to other retailers we may earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a genuine consensus of positive, independent reviews. See the sources cited on each item.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing coreopsis (tickseed)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Coreopsis (Tickseed): A native perennial pollinator draw that supports dozens of bee species: reliable, low-maintenance color for a bed border.
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